""Mean" Joe Green is determined to expose a killer and protect a woman he knows he should not love."
Reviewed by Leanne Davis
Posted January 15, 2012
Thriller | Romance Suspense
Joe Green is convinced the ambush that killed his teammate,
Bryan Tompkin, was orchestrated by unseen hands. Joe was not
happy to be made part of a mission which pulled him from his
duties with the CIA. The friendship he found with all of the
members of the team will lead to a change in his career and
joining a team that he can always count on. Despite his best effort, Joe gets involved with Bryan's
sister Stephanie. He breaks off the relationship when he
receives information that may lead him to Bryan's killers. Stephanie is an analyst for the NSA. She knows her heart
really won't break but she is despondent over her break up
with Joe. Until her best friend brings her a picture that
shows Joe being arrested for the killing of a priest in
Sierra Leone. When she contacts the Black Ops team,
Stephanie learns that there is no one available. Stephanie
sets out for Sierra Leone with some forged papers and no
real plan as how to rescue Joe. Stephanie will use every means she can to get Joe out of
prison but one of the people she turns to has been quietly
manipulating events in Sierra Leone as well as the lives of
all those who stand in his way. Stephanie and Joe will have
to discover the truth of what is happening while protecting
her parents from the machinations of a diabolical killer. Cindy Gerard's Black Ops books have helped make her a
bestselling author. LAST MAN STANDING keeps the excitement
level high. I would not suggest starting it just before
going to bed. You'll find yourself staying up late reading.
Gut wrenching and action packed; LAST MAN STANDING is a must
read.
SUMMARY
A deadly mission.
A thirst for revenge.
One headstrong alpha hero
and one daring woman will
settle the score.
Special operative Joe Green has gone
vigilante. His mission, avenge his Black Ops.,Inc.
brother's death during a bloody ambush years ago in Sierra
Leone. He refuses to drag the BOI team or his lover,
Stephanie Tompkins, into the hunt for the man responsible,
so when he finds himself beaten, starving, and alone after
being falsely imprisoned for the murder of a Freetown
priest, he knows he's as good as dead.
Joe meant to protect Stephanie when he
walked out on their relationship, but he can't stop her now
from executing his escape. Breaking him out of prison is
the easy part. After Joe's explosive theory pans out and
his cunning enemy emerges as the front runner for a high
level presidential appointment, he and Stephanie must race
to derail the traitor's conspiracy if they are to save
their loved ones, the nation and each other.
ExcerptPROLOGUE
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Joe Green was as good as dead. He’d known it the
moment he’d started digging for answers to questions
no one wanted asked.
What he hadn’t known was the havoc his hunt would
create.
What he hadn’t wanted was for the priest to die.
“No, man. Oh no, man. You—”
“Quiet,” Joe snapped when Suah’s
whisper echoed through the cavernous nave of the Sacred
Heart Cathedral.
The teen-aged boy at his side was frozen in shock. On
the cold stone floor, blood pooled beneath the holy
man’s head, crept around the base of the chancel rail,
then spilled down the step to the altar.
Joe dropped to a knee and pressed his fingers to the
cleric’s neck. No pulse. And no life in the eyes that
stared blankly at the stained glass windows.
“Is he—?”
Joe swallowed heavily. “Yeah. He’s
dead.”
Regret, self-disgust and defeat pounded through his
veins, a reminder that what he had started would come to no
good end.
No good end? Jesus. The priest was dead. Ends
didn’t come much worse than this.
He glanced up, beyond gold candlesticks on the high
altar, above yards of maroon velvet cascading from an alcove
that hosted a life-sized statue of a benevolent Christ. Pale
candlelight flickered eerily through the church, casting his
and Suah’s shadows in tall, wavy relief along the far
wall, like ghosts already here to claim the priest’s
soul.
He lowered his head into his hand. God help him
… what had he done?
The thick wooden doors at the front of the cathedral
swung open with a heavy, echoing thud. He whipped his head
around to see several uniformed officers storm into the
nave. The police – Freetown’s bastion of
corrupt law enforcement – had arrived in force and put
an end to any hope of a quick search of the cleric’s
prostrate body.
“Hide before they spot you,” he whispered
urgently when Suah stood there, petrified in fear.
“Hurry! Duck under the high altar.”
He shot to his feet and gave the boy a shove as the
contingent of gunmen raced down the center aisle between the
rows of worn wooden pews. Satisfied that the kid was well
hidden beneath the draping cloth, he made certain the men
got a glimpse of him then sprinted for the sacristy, leading
them away from Suah.
He got as far as the Epistle door and swung it open.
The rattle of rifles being shouldered and the 'snick-click'
of a dozen safeties switching to off position greeted him.
The beams of as many flashlights blinded him.
He was surrounded.
“Hands in the air,” a voice shouted from
behind him.
Slowly, he did as he was told. Slower still, he turned
around … and stared into the dark, angry faces of the
men who had passed the priest’s body to get to him.
Without warning, the butt end of an assault rifle swung
around hard and slammed into his temple.
He fell to all fours, fighting both a screaming pain and
the hard pull of unconsciousness. Yeah, he thought again,
just before the darkness sucked him under. He was as good
as dead.
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