Core's Attack Read online

  Core’s Attack

  Cosmos’ Gateway Book 6

  S.E. Smith

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Copyright

  Synopsis

  Cast of Characters

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  Experience The Stories

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to thank my husband Steve for believing in me and being proud enough of me to give me the courage to follow my dream. I would also like to give a special thank you to my sister and best friend, Linda, who not only encouraged me to write, but who also read the manuscript. Also to my other friends who believe in me: Julie, Jackie, Christel, Sally, Jolanda, Lisa, Laurelle, Debbie, and Narelle. The girls that keep me going!

  * * *

  And a special thanks to Paul Heitsch, David Brenin, Samantha Cook, Suzanne Elise Freeman, and PJ Ochlan—the awesome voices behind my audiobooks!

  —S.E. Smith

  Montana Publishing

  Science Fiction Romance

  CORE’S ATTACK: COSMOS’ GATEWAY BOOK 6

  Copyright © 2018 by Susan E. Smith

  First E-Book Published December 2018

  Cover Design by Melody Simmons

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission from the author.

  * * *

  All characters, places, and events in this book are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations are strictly coincidental.

  * * *

  Summary: From the moment Core met Avery, he was captivated by the human woman who shields herself with an icy demeanor and a gun….

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  ISBN: (KDP Paperback) 9781791898946

  ISBN: (Independent Paperback) 9781944125608

  ISBN: (eBook) 9781944125592

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  Published in the United States by Montana Publishing.

  * * *

  {1. Romance—Fiction. 2. Science Fiction Romance—Fiction. 3. Paranormal Romance—Fiction. 4. Urban Fantasy—Fiction.—5. Contemporary Fantasy}

  * * *

  www.montanapublishinghouse.com

  Synopsis

  Thrust into a deadly game….

  * * *

  Avery Lennox has been called many names, but bond mate was never one of them. Her position as Chief Security Officer for Cosmos Raines guarantees that her life will never be boring—especially after her genius boss decides to open a portal between Earth and Baade, a world filled with an annoying, male-dominated species called Prime—but after meeting one particular alien, Avery decides to pursue him through the portal.

  * * *

  The trip to another world was…indescribable, but it’s when she returns home that Avery is in the most danger. Someone else is as fascinated with Core as she is, and believes Avery is the perfect bait.

  * * *

  From the moment Core Ta’Duran met Avery, he was captivated by the human woman who shields herself with an icy demeanor and a gun. Avery knows he wants a lifetime with her, and even though she is fighting their bond, she still appears on his world with a tantalizing offer: three days together with no questions, no ties, and no regrets.

  * * *

  When he follows her back to Earth, instead of finding Avery, he discovers a menacing message left for him: agree to be hunted or Avery dies.

  * * *

  Can Avery and Core turn the tables on the ruthless killer who wants to display Core as a trophy in his private collection, or will Core lose the most crucial battle of his life?

  Cast of Characters

  Characters’ Relationships:

  Teriff, Leader of Baade - mated to Tresa:

  four sons, J’kar, Borj, Mak, and Derik and one daughter, Terra

  Angus and Tilly Bell, humans—married:

  three daughters, Hannah, Tansy, and Tink

  Warriors of Baade: Ruling family:

  J’kar ‘Tag Krell Manok mated to Jasmine ‘Tinker’ Bell:

  twin daughters, Wendy and Tessa

  Borj ‘Tag Krell Manok mated to Hannah Bell:

  twin boy & girl, Sky and Ocean

  Mak ‘Tag Krell Manok mated to Tansy Bell:

  twin daughters, Sonya and Mackenzie

  Terra ‘Tag Krell Manok mated to Cosmos Raines

  Derik ‘Tag Krell Manok mated to Amelia Thomas aka Runt

  * * *

  Members of Cosmos’ Security Team:

  GarrettAvery Lennox

  Trudy WilsonRose Caine

  Rico GarciaMaria Garcia

  Amelia ‘Runt’ Thomas

  * * *

  Prime Warriors of Baade:

  Core Ta’Duran mated to Avery Lennox

  Merrick Ta’Duran, Eastern Clan Leader, mated to Addie Banks

  Hendrik, Northern Clan Leader, mated to Trudy Wilson

  RITA (Earth) zapped by FRED

  RITA2 (Baade) zapped by DAR

  * * *

  Eastern Clan:

  Nadine Ta’Duran - Core’s younger sister

  Nadu Ta’Duran - Core’s mother

  Trainer Ta’Duran - Core’s father

  * * *

  Humans:

  Karl Markham: Assassin/Mercenary for hire/older half-brother to Weston Wright.

  Weston Wright: Assassin/Mercenary/half-brother to Karl Markham.

  Priscilla Housing: Mother of Karl and Weston

  Afon Dolinski: Former right-hand man to Boris Avilov

  Boris Avilov: Russian Mafia boss

  Richmond Albertson: Secretary of State

  Askew Thomas: President of the United States

  Markham’s soldiers: Owens, Carter, Grant, and Bradley

  Walt: Markham’s Pilot

  Rex: CRI’s pilot

  Doughboy: Hacker

  Robert: Avery’s driver

  Carol: Hostess on CRI’s corporate jet

  Prologue

  Twenty years ago:

  * * *

  “Avery, do you remember what we told you?” Donna Lennox asked, brushing loose strands of brown hair back from her face.

  Twelve-year-old Avery Lennox nodded, her face devoid of expression. She didn’t want her parents to know how scared she was or that she had any doubts. Returning her mother’s intense gaze, she lifted her chin.

  “Never hesitate. Make a decision and follow through with it. Double check your surroundings. Move with precision, and never let your foe know that you are scared,” she repeated.

  “That’s right,” her father said with a proud smile. “Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by anything other than your mission.”

  “I won’t,” Avery promised.

  “Good luck, sweetheart. We know you’ll do the best you can,” her mother added, giving her a hug.

  Avery allowed herself to enjoy her mom’s embrace for a moment, then gripped the ball in her hands and ran out onto the field. Dropping the s
occer ball to the ground, she executed the moves she and her dad had been practicing. Three girls ran over to join her, and Avery ruthlessly pushed down her nervousness.

  She was in another new city with new kids, a new school, and a new home. Her parents did the best they could to give her a normal life. Playing sports was one of their concessions.

  For the next two hours, Avery focused on her mission: kicking the other team’s butt… without being too greedy about it. By the end of the last quarter, she was glowing, and the other girls on her team were energized by the six-point lead.

  When the final whistle blew, Avery turned to her parents with a huge grin and lifted her arms up victoriously. Her team surrounded her, but Avery’s shining eyes were on the grinning faces of her parents. She turned when her teammate Kassy called her name.

  Kassy’s eyes widened with shock when Avery suddenly jerked and stumbled into her, the glimmer of excitement fading as Avery felt something warm and wet seeping through the fingers of her left hand as it touched her side.

  She looked down, and her legs trembled as she noticed the bright red blood saturating her shirt. The numbness was giving way to intense, burning pain. Avery distantly noted the screams that filled the air as Kassy’s fist clenched around the fabric of Avery’s long-sleeved soccer jersey and the girl’s weight pulled them both to the ground.

  “Get down! Get down! Shooter! Everyone, GET DOWN!”

  Avery rolled onto her back, pressing her hand against the wound in her side the way her mom had taught her to do if she didn’t have anything else to apply pressure with. She could hear screams, yelling, and sirens wailing, an odd cacophony against the stillness of the blue sky above her. She turned her head toward the bleachers where her parents had been watching her play.

  They were the only ones still on the bleachers. She knew it was them by their matching black coats. Her father’s upper body was leaning awkwardly against the seat behind him. Her mother struggled to push herself up from where she was lying on the plank between two rows of seats.

  Avery’s eyes followed the man walking toward her parents. Unlike everyone else, he didn’t appear alarmed. She took in every detail of his features: his exclusive, name-brand sunglasses; the thin scar on his clean-shaven jaw; his black hair and high cheekbones; the European cut of his clothing; and his Italian-made shoes, possibly size eleven. He wasn’t American. His left ring finger glinted with a gold ring—not a wedding ring—it was decorated with the head of a lion with red ruby eyes—no, not a lion—an intricate series of connecting circles—infinity.

  The man paused by her father and aimed his gun. The barrel looked funny. Silencer—9mm handgun.

  A silencer is used to reduce sound intensity and minimize flash by cooling the propellant gases, she remembered.

  The man turned the weapon toward her mother. He said something to her mom. Avery followed the motion of his lips, picking out several words—spoken in a language she was still learning: Croatian. She mentally put together the pieces she understood to find the meaning of his speech—betrayal comes with a price. You should not have had a child. She led me straight to you.

  Her mother turned her head and looked at Avery, her eyes flashing with pain, grief, and regret. Avery didn’t close her eyes when the man pulled the trigger. She saw her mother’s head jerk to the side before her body collapsed back between the seats.

  The man turned his head and looked at Avery. She returned his gaze with unblinking eyes devoid of emotion. The man must have thought she was dead because he slid the pistol under his coat and walked away from Avery’s murdered parents. The first responders arrived on the scene and no one stopped him as he continued along the nature trail that wound through the park. To them, he was an elegantly dressed foreign businessman, not a rampaging madman.

  Leaving her alive would be the man’s fatal mistake. Avery was weak and seriously injured, her blood soaking the ground along with Kassy’s, but still alive, and she had been studying and memorizing every detail of his appearance. She replayed the incident over and over in her head to make sure she would never forget any critical detail. Someday she would hunt that man down, and when she looked him in the eye during his last moments, she would have no doubt that she was killing the guilty man.

  Beside her, Avery heard Kassy’s mother hysterically wailing. Two men rushed over to them. Avery tensed, but otherwise remained still as they passed by her and went to Kassy.

  “She’s gone,” the uniformed man leaning over Kassy said.

  “No! My baby…. My baby…. Oh, God, no!” Kassy’s mother sobbed uncontrollably.

  Avery forced herself to remain still when she felt fingers against her throat. The uniformed man leaning over her released a hissing breath. He turned her head and looked into her eyes. She tried not to blink against the blinding light of the sun, but her eyelids slowly lowered.

  “This one is still alive! Get the stretcher over here.”

  “Helicopter ETA one minute.”

  Overhead, a shadow blocked the sun. For a brief moment, Avery looked into the compassionate eyes of the EMT bending over her. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. Her mind registered that this man’s eyes were too compassionate for him to be a cold-blooded killer. Then she remembered the expressions in her parents’ eyes and their training.

  No, even killers could make you think they cared if they were trained well enough.

  A new sound could be heard above the crying. She heard voices in the background, and the man was replaced by a woman. Avery looked into the woman’s blue eyes. Now this was what she was expecting to see: distant and detached eyes with no emotion reflected in them.

  “Targets?” the woman asked as she took over from the EMT.

  “Targets? Oh, you mean victims? This girl and the other one who was standing next to her. The other girl didn’t make it. They have her mother over at the ambulance. There was also a man and a woman in the stands,” the man continued with a shake of his head. “When will the nut cases just decide to take themselves out instead of innocent bystanders?”

  “Load her in the helicopter and alert the hospital that we are transporting one in critical condition and two fatalities,” the woman ordered.

  “What unit are you with? That looks like a military medevac. Which hospital are you taking her to?” the startled EMT suddenly demanded, growing uneasy.

  “The child is under our jurisdiction now,” the woman replied.

  Avery could feel her body shutting down even as her mind balked at the woman’s statement. Danger—she was in danger. The man in black was out there. He would find out she was still alive and come to finish the mission. That was what spies and assassins did when they missed their target.

  She needed to stay alert. He would come for her. Her parents were always prepared in case they needed to escape. They had warned her that something like this might happen and that she should always be ready. They had trained her and tried to give her a normal life, but they had lived on the run, always looking over their shoulders—until today. Today, they had been looking at her, and it had gotten them killed.

  She was the child they had never wanted to have. They were the lovers who weren’t supposed to fall in love for real.

  Even as the drugs were administered and her eyes closed, Avery was already formulating a plan. She would escape. There was a safe house. There was always a safe house—for people like herself and her parents.

  1

  Present Day:

  Houston, Texas headquarters of Cosmos Raines Industries

  * * *

  “RITA, did Rose send in the report I asked for?” Avery murmured as she pressed her palm to the security panel to open the door of her office.

  “Good evening, Avery. I’ve loaded the report and it will be on your computer when you log in. How was your day?” RITA asked.

  “It went well, thank you. How did Runt do today?” Avery asked as she walked across the room to her desk and placed her small bag and cell phone on the corner.<
br />
  “She really is such a sweetheart,” RITA replied.

  Avery paused, her expression as neutral as it had been before Cosmos’ weird AI evaded answering her question directly. For a moment, Avery ignored her computer and instead looked out the window. The brilliant, colorful lights of downtown Houston greeted her. She shook her head in disgust. She’d been so absorbed with work that she hadn’t realized the sun had set hours ago.

  “What did she do today?” Avery asked, her voice laced with a touch of amused resignation.

  “Nothing… too dangerous. I believe several villages in India will receive funding to build schools and clinics thanks to the generous donations of a few select individuals,” RITA diplomatically explained.

  Avery reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. RITA, the AI computer system behind Cosmos Raines Industries and the brainchild of Tilly Bell and her illustrious employer, Cosmos Raines, sounded far too smug for it to not be important.