Charley Brindley - Dragonfly Vs Monarch

Dragonfly vs Monarch

Book Two

by

Charley Brindley

charleybrindley@yahoo.com

www.charleybrindley.com

Edited by

Karen Boston

Website https://bit.ly/2rJDq3f

Front cover art by

Charley Brindley

Back cover art by

Niki Vukadinova

© 2019 Charley Brindley, all rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

First Edition May 29, 2019

This book is dedicated to

Seth Alva Walker

Some of Charley Brindley’s books

have been translated into:

Italian

Spanish

Portuguese

French

Dutch

Turkish

Chinese

and

Russian

The following books are available in audio format:

Raji, Book One (in English)

Do Not Resuscitate (in English)

The Last Mission of the Seventh Cavalry (in English)

Hannibal’s Elephant Girl, Book One (in Russian)

Henry IX (in Italian)

Other books by Charley Brindley

1. Oxana’s Pit

2. The Last Mission of the Seventh Cavalry

3. Raji Book One: Octavia Pompeii

4. Raji Book Two: The Academy

5. Raji Book Three: Dire Kawa

6. Raji Book Four: The House of the West Wind

7. Hannibal’s Elephant Girl

8. Cian

9. Ariion XXIII

10. The Last Seat on the Hindenburg

11. Dragonfly vs Monarch: Book One

12. The Sea of Tranquility 2.0 Book One : Exploration

13. The Sea of Tranquility 2.0 Book Two: Invasion

14. The Sea of Tranquility 2.0 Book Three

15. The Sea of Tranquility 2.0 Book Four

16. Sea of Sorrows , Book Two of The Rod of God

17. Do Not Resuscitate

18. Hannibal’s Elephant Girl, Book Two

19. The Rod of God, Book One

20. Henry IX

21. Qubit’s Incubator

22. Casper’s Game

Coming Soon

23. Dragonfly vs Monarch: Book Three

24. The Journey to Valdacia

25. Still Waters Run Deep

26. Ms Machiavelli

27. Ariion XXIX

28. The Last Mission of the Seventh Cavalry Book 2

29. Hannibal’s Elephant Girl, Book Three

See the end of this book for details about the others

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

The CIA isn’t the only gang of spooks with weaponized insects. It seems the Kremlin has developed one of their own.

New York City, today.

Rigger Entime knocked on the door of apartment 7C. While he waited, he glanced down the hall as a laughing couple came off the elevator and turned away from him. Picturesque landscapes decorated the curving hallway while chic side tables held vases of fresh flowers.

“Took you long enough.” Katrina smiled when she opened the door.

“I would have been here sooner, but–”

“Shut up.”

She slipped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. When he put his arms around her and kicked the door closed, his paper bag hit her in the butt.

“Mmm…feels like you brought something hard with you.”

“Yeah.” He kissed her again. “Hard liquor.”

“That, too?”

After a moment, she leaned back. “Hungry?”

He shook his head and kissed her again.

She reached behind herself and took the bag from his hand. “I want to see what you brought me.” She opened the bag and peeked inside. “I love wine coolers.”

“Where’s Rachel?”

“At the orphanage.” She took his hand to lead him toward the kitchen.

“I wish she were here.”

“Me, too. I just love her to pieces.” Katrina set the bottles out on the kitchen table. “Sit there.” She pointed to a chair at the table, then slipped on an oven mitt. “I made us a pizza.”

“Wow, it smells great. Maybe I am hungry.”

She placed the pizza on top of the stove and cut it with a rollerblade cutter. After sliding four large pieces onto a plate, she sat it on the table and took the chair across from him.

“Where do we start?” she asked.

He picked up a slice of pizza and immediately dropped it. “I usually start with my fingers, but it’s too hot.”

“You know what I’m talking about.” She scooted her chair out and went to a drawer for two forks. Instead of returning to the chair across the table, she sat beside him.

They each used their forks to cut a bite of pizza.

“Why did they fire you?” he asked.

“Sleeping with the enemy, for openers, which I didn’t.”

“And?”

“Child endangerment.”

“Well, that’s true, if you thought I might be a killer.”

“Ha, you don’t know how close you were to a bullet.”

Rigger stopped chewing to stare at her.

“Remember that first day, when you bought us hot chocolate?”

He nodded.

“Did you ever see my right hand? No, you didn’t, because it was in my coat pocket, right next to my service revolver–which, by the way, I had to turn in today.”

“You had a gun on me?”

“Not actually on you, but I could have had it in my hand in an instant if you made a move on us. Same thing when you thought I was cleaning your kitchen. I had my eye on you the whole time while you were playing with Rachel.”

“Well…” He went back to his food. “I thought you were a pretty poor house cleaner.”

“I wanted to arrest you so bad, but I had no evidence, nothing I could take to court.”

“When did you go soft on me?”

“It was the second time Rachel and I went to your apartment. I began to see you were an okay guy.” Katrina twisted the caps off two wine coolers and set one in front of Rigger.

He took a drink. “And I guess you reported back to your chief that I wasn’t a suspect any longer?”

“I did, but Captain Billingsley didn’t buy it. Said I was getting cozy with you and I should back away for a while, maybe do paperwork or write parking tickets.”

“But you didn’t.”

“How could I?”

“He the one who fired you?”

“Yes. Not actually fired, but suspended until internal affairs completes their investigation. I think it was the third item on his list that really ticked him off.”

“What’s that?”

“Insubordination and not following department procedures.”

“That’s two items.”

“And the term ‘loose cannon’ came up more than a couple of times.”

“Sounds like you really pissed him off, but I can’t imagine you being insubordinate to anyone.” Rigger glanced around the kitchen, then got up to pull two paper towels from a roll lying beside the sink. He handed one to her and wiped his mouth with the other.

“Oh, I was insubordinate all right, and I also refused to stop seeing you.”

He turned to face her. “Was it worth it?”

She studied her slice of pizza for a moment. “Not yet.” She took a bite.

“You’re cute. Are we going to get drunk or what?”

“What.”

Rigger put down his bottle and took her in his arms. He kissed her lips, cheek, ear, then neck. When he nibbled on the top button of her blouse, she dropped her wine cooler. The bottle hit the table and tipped over, spilling the pink beverage. Neither of them seemed to notice.

He pushed aside his pizza and picked her up to sit her on the table before him. She spread apart her knees, and he pressed the side of his face to her breast. When he wrapped his arms around her, she hugged his neck and laid her cheek on his head.