We’ve seen Allison Allan fight terrorists with her husband Bart at her side. This time, she’s on her own. As the newest member of Anastasia, the anti-terrorist organization run by her parents, she is the least experienced and the least trained, and she’s just been given an assignment she’s not sure she can handle. Coming home from an afternoon of running errands, she gets a phone call – she is to leave the house immediately, taking nothing with her but some money, fake IDs, and credit cards. She knows she has minutes to get out, but what can she do with Duchess, the tiny new kitten she just adopted? She wishes Bart was home, but he’s off in Africa, and she’s alone. He did remember her, though – he sent a beautiful jade lion to her as a memento.
Taking just minutes to grab a carrier for the cat, Allison heads out, wondering why she’s been told to leave. She’s in danger, obviously, but from whom? And what do they want?
Riding the bus, she meets a single man in a wheelchair who tells her all about his daughter Morgan, who will be celebrating her sixth birthday the following day. But as he’s getting off the bus, he gets hit by a car, right in front of his daughter who has come to meet his bus. Allison feels responsible for the girl, and takes her under her wing until the dad is released – but she doesn’t realize just how long that will be.
Allison catches a glimpse of a man following her – and she realizes in a flash what is going on. Raven, one of the most deadly assassins in the world, is on her tail. Calling upon some friends from a nearby retirement home, she manages to hide for a little while, but Raven is everywhere, and so are his men.
I really enjoyed this installment in the series. Allison is really growing into her own as an agent, and with Bart absent for most of the book, she fully manages to take care of herself as well as the little girl, and the kitten. And, in the end, she comes up with a trap that renders the assassins useless, just as Bart pulls up to save the day, unnecessarily. Who says a rookie can’t bring down the bad guys?
(This book was published in 2000 by Covenant.)
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