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Jennifer McKenzie Reviews For MEN OF ALASKA: EYE OF THE STORM by Jennifer McKenzie Hot, heart pounding suspense that will
leave you stunned. No could guess how it all plays out. .Jennifer McKenzie has written a fabulously pulse-pounding story of sexual tension, suspense and intrigue. Magda’s dogged determination and pluck is just the right combination for Kevin’s hardened heart. The explosive heat between Magda and Kevin is deliciously arousing. Fierce and intense, theirs is no timid mating. Like acid to an open wound, the author reveals Kevin’s mother’s involvement in the attempt on his life. It’s something that surely would have brought a lesser man to his knees. Kevin, however, refuses to concentrate on this matter and only wants to find those holding the purse strings. Non-stop action and unexpected reveals abound in this tense, sexy read. Typically, an eye of a storm indicates clear skies and calm winds. A misnomer to be sure, because this Eye of the Storm is all action and sensuality of a three alarm fire and hurricane combined. Bella--Fallen Angel Reviews Sample Chapter For MEN OF ALASKA: EYE OF THE STORM by Jennifer McKenzie “I don’t know who to trust.” Agent Victor Conrad slapped shut the file on his desk and set it aside. Magda Karlson shoved a loose strand of black hair from her face as he scrutinized her. What did he want anyway? Her file was in front of him: ex-CIA, private investigator, worked out of San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. And she wanted nothing to do with any secret service shit. That about covered it. “A frequent problem in your profession.” He gave her a pointed glance. “Not from one of my own. Agent Sebastian Fowler was a good agent, or so we thought. Somebody turned him and I want to know who.” “What does this have to do with me?” Conrad reached for a file on top of a stack to his left and flipped it open. “You’ve been investigating the Trillian family.” “Yes.” She frowned. The man’s muddy brown eyes were sharp when they caught her gaze. “Why?” “For a client,” she said shortly. “For yourself, you mean.” He glanced at the file. “You’ve been trying to put Stefos Trillian away for the murder of your brother.” “Stepbrother. Same mother, different fathers.” “You know he was a Trillian hit man.” It was a statement, not a question. She shrugged. No matter what Conrad said, she knew deep down her brother had been a good man. Trillian had discarded him like garbage. She’d never let that pass. “You know Kevin Henderson?” Her eyes narrowed. Where was he going with this? “I’ve met him.” What a joke. Met him? Collided with him is a better way to put it. “But you were his contact,” he accused. Her answering smile was humorless. “One meeting for an exchange of information didn’t make me his ‘contact’.” Contact. Collision. Whatever that was. “When he worked undercover for the FSB, I was working an angle on the Trillian family for the CIA. They sent me in to get information from one of Stefos Trillian’s men. I managed to corral Kevin Henderson, though we knew him as Kevin Church.” “And what happened?” What happened? There was no way in hell she was going to tell this uptight desk jockey what happened that night. “It just happened that Kevin Church was willing to talk. He gave me the information I needed and that was it.” “But it was enough to give you a promotion.” “You read the file; you already know what he gave us was invaluable.” How easy it was to slip into the old ways. The secretive ways. God, she hated this. She shifted in her seat and glanced away. “I want you to work with him again.” He dropped that little bomb on her as if it were no big deal. “Actually, I want you to get him to work with you.” She had to steel her reaction, wipe any expression from her face before she blurted out her first thought of No fucking way, buddy. Instead she took a deep breath. “I don’t work for the government.” “Then why are you here?” “Because you’re paying me two hundred dollars a day plus expenses,” she told him calmly. And because you promised me information on that Trillian rat. There was more to this. There always was. “You’re not here because of your brother then?” Conrad pinned her with those lasers he called eyes. “You have the file on my stepbrother,” she said, trying to contain her anger. “He died in an explosion three years ago when Trillian put out a hit on him.” She crossed her legs. “What does any of this have to do with Kevin Henderson?” “I think Kevin Henderson may know where your brother is.” Her very soul froze. Not possible. Her brother was alive? “And you don’t?” Conrad shook his head. “Let me give you the whole story.” He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a file. “Kevin Henderson was a crab fisherman and his boat was hijacked by smugglers.” He glanced up from the papers. “Kevin’s own mother put the hit out on him. They murdered his best friend, scuttled his boat and left him to die on Little Diomede Island in Russian waters. All this happened almost nine years ago.” Conrad placed his fingers in a steeple position. “When you exchanged information with him, we only knew him as Kevin Church, a Trillian thug. When we discovered he was a Russian Federal Security Service agent, we found out his real identity.” “Did you bring him in?” Conrad met her furious stare with a calm one of his own. “No. Perhaps we should have, but—” “Perhaps? You know how the Russians got him into the FSB,” she spat out. “They told him he’d rot in the Gulag or he could get back at the ones who tried to kill him. How could you hang him out to dry?” She was aware she spoke with more emotion than she should. “We thought he’d be more useful where he was.” She shook her head. “And that is the very reason I’m not working for the government anymore.” She stood. “I don’t know what your game is, but—” “It’s no game and it wasn’t my decision.” “You would have made exactly the same decision if it had been yours to make.” “Sit down, Magda. This is why I’ve called you.” She frowned and sat despite the urge to storm out the door. “I don’t work for the CIA for a reason. I won’t lie to anyone for you and I sure as hell won’t fuck anyone for you.” Been there. Done that. “I’m not asking you to.” Conrad looked down at the file open in front of him. “Kevin Henderson became Kevin Church and worked for Trillian for five years. His information finally convicted Stefos Trillian.” “Fat lot of good that did.” She sneered. “Trillian disappeared in the Bahamas. He’s living it up and still in business. Your conviction means nothing to him.” “To continue,” he gave her a steady look and went on, “Henderson discovered that Kenneth Stabler was the man who gave the orders for his best friend’s death when Trillian tried to make a weapons buy on the Bering Sea. For the first time, Stabler made the delivery himself. He hijacked The Celtic Rose, a crabber captained by Ethan Shannon. This time, things didn’t go according to plan. Shannon and his crew, which included Henderson’s sister, stopped the exchange and Henderson made the collar.” Conrad flipped a page over. “It turned out that Kevin’s mother and Stabler were related. A nasty pair of criminals. Mona Henderson is currently in a maximum government facility. She’s been close-mouthed. Stabler wasn’t. He talked but not enough. He informed us that he and Mona were working for somebody else, somebody bigger.” Conrad paused. “Henderson was after that person.” Magda took a deep breath. “This doesn’t concern me.” Conrad went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Last year, we found out that Homeland Security had a traitor. Agent Sebastian Fowler.” She shrugged. She hadn’t known Fowler so this meant little to her. “So, what happened?” “Henderson discovered Fowler was a traitor and saved an innocent man’s life.” “Good for him.” She couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her tone. “This is the part where you might be interested. Matthew Sands was a prime suspect in a murder and diamond smuggling. Henderson cleared him, but not before Sands was on the run.” “I’m losing interest.” “While he was on the run, Sands was given help from someone who knows how to forge passports. Your brother was particularly adept at that activity.” He sat with his fingers tapping on the table. “We were unable to trace where the documents came from but the signature forgery on them was unmistakable. Your brother made them.” As she raised her eyes, she knew Conrad had her right where he wanted her. It chapped her ass that she couldn’t tell him to stick it. But then again, she now knew her brother was in Alaska. How hard would it be for her to find him herself? “I can see the speculation in your face, Magda.” Conrad smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. It resembled a shark’s grin. “One word from me and the Trillian family knows what we know.” Her eyes narrowed and she scowled at him. “I should have known. You’re just like all the rest of them. Why won’t Kevin help you?” “We…made a calculated error.” She raised an eyebrow. “Which was?” His lips tightened. “We questioned Trillian’s daughter.” “Serena? Why?” “We believed she had information on the conflict smuggling.” Magda was pretty sure she knew how Homeland Security had screwed up. “And?” “And Trillian tried to shut her up.” Conrad’s fingers twisted together. “We underestimated our ability to protect her.” “So, Kevin had to rescue her.” She shook her head. “You guys sure know how to fuck things up good. Where is she now?” “We don’t know. Henderson buried her just like we think he buried your brother. But once we botched that situation, he gave up. He told us to shove it and went fishing.” “Good for him.” She shrugged. “So far you haven’t said anything to convince me to do a damn thing for you.” “I have one more thing.” He slid a file toward her. She opened it. Grainy black and white pictures, unmistakably from her mission to Thailand. She slapped it shut. “You bastard! You can’t be serious.” “I have a video as well.” Conrad retrieved the file from her clenched, white fingers. “All you have to do is help Kevin Henderson find a criminal mastermind. Simple.” “It’s never that simple.” Bitterness tinged her deep voice. The sound of Conrad’s fingers strumming on the desk seemed too loud in the silence. Finally, he unbent enough to say, “I want you to interview Henderson’s mother.” She could barely believe what he was asking. “Why me?” A heavy sigh escaped Conrad’s lips. “She isn’t talking to any agents, but your relationship with her son might give you an advantage.” “I don’t have a ‘relationship’ with Kevin,” she said stonily. “Still, she might give you information she hasn’t given us.” She glared at Conrad. “Why don’t you ask Kevin to talk to her?” “He is reluctant to help us.” “I can’t imagine why,” she bit out sarcastically. The man squirmed a bit in his chair. “Your job is to convince him to find out who paid his mother.” Then he leaned forward. “And find out what Fowler told Kevin before he was shot.” “How am I supposed to do that?” But she thought she already knew. Sure enough, he tapped the file on his desk with his long fingers. “The contents of this file might motivate you.” Magda was shaking and white as she got to her feet. “If I could kill you, Victor Conrad, I would. I’ll do it, but after that, you can fuck off. And frankly, you’d better watch your back.” With as much dignity as she could muster, she turned her back to him and strode toward the door. “Don’t you want information about Henderson’s investigation?” Conrad’s voice stopped her. She faced him and let her disgust for him show in her face. “Just email me the information for the interview with Kevin’s mother. Whatever you’d tell me is shit anyway.” He winced, but she got very little satisfaction from it. “You make sure you pay me or you’ll hear from my lawyer.” She slammed the door behind her and managed to keep her cool until she reached her rented jeep. Then she broke down and sobbed. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t face him. Not after what happened in Thailand. She straightened her shoulders. It was time to investigate Kevin’s smuggling mother. |