Gayle Wilson - Sight Unseen

Leaf shaded and dark, its stillness failed to draw her. It repelled instead. Frightening. Repugnant.

Then the surface of the water began to stir. The pond took on a reddish hue. Cold and dark. Bloody and violent.

Unconsciously she opened her mouth, attempting to draw air into lungs that felt as if the pressure of those black depths were closing in on her. The surface continued to churn, patterns emerging as the water roiled.

There were images there, too, but they were moving too quickly for her to focus on any one of them. Like the bits of glass in a kaleidoscope, they merged and blended, changing even as she watched.

She began to fight. To struggle against the pull of the vortex at the center of the pond, trying not to look into its dark heart, because she knew that if she did, she would see something she didn’t want to see. Something no one was intended to see.

Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,

Temperatures are rising this month at Harlequin Intrigue! So whether our mesmerizing men of action are steaming up their love lives or packing heat in high-stakes situations, July’s lineup is guaranteed to sizzle!

Back by popular demand is the newest branch of our Confidential series. Meet the heroes of NEW ORLEANS CONFIDENTIAL—tough undercover operatives who will stop at nothing to rid the streets of a crime ring tied to the most dangerous movers and shakers in town. USA TODAY bestselling author Rebecca York launches the series with Undercover Encounter—a darkly sensual tale about a secret agent who uses every resource at his disposal to get his former flame out alive when she goes deep undercover in the sultry French Quarter.

The highly acclaimed Gayle Wilson returns to the lineup with Sight Unseen. In book three of PHOENIX BROTHERHOOD, it’s a race against time to prevent a powerful terrorist organization from unleashing unspeakable harm. Prepare to become entangled in Velvet Ropes by Patricia Rosemoor—book three in CLUB UNDERCOVER—when a clandestine investigation plunges a couple into danger….

Our sassy inline continuity SHOTGUN SALLYS ends with a bang! You won’t want to miss Lawful Engagement by Linda O. Johnston. In Cassie Miles’s newest Harlequin Intrigue title—Protecting the Innocent—a widow trapped in a labyrinth of evil brings out the Achilles’ heel in a duplicitous man of mystery.

Delores Fossen’s newest thriller is not to be missed. Veiled Intentions arouses searing desires when two bickering cops pose as doting fiancés in their pursuit of a deranged sniper!

Enjoy our explosive lineup this month!

Denise O’Sullivan

Senior Editor, Harlequin Intrigue

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Five-time RITA ®Award finalist and RITA ®Award winner Gayle Wilson has written over thirty novels and three novellas for Harlequin/Silhouette. She has won more than forty awards and nominations for her work.

Gayle still lives in Alabama, where she was born, with her husband of thirty-four years. She loves to hear from readers. Write to her at P.O. Box 3277, Hueytown, AL 35023. Visit Gayle online at www.booksbygaylewilson.com.

CIA AGENT PROFILE

Name: Ethan Snow

Date of Birth: January 15, 1968

Assigned Team: External Security

Special Skills: ATP-rated pilot; speaks Russian and Farsi; expert marksman; degree in forensic accounting

Agent Evaluation: Highly disciplined; exhibits stellar leadership qualities; has high expectations of those who work with him

Status: Resigned from the agency due to personal reasons

Current Address: The Phoenix Brotherhood

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

Ethan Snow—Phoenix operative Ethan Snow has spent the past six months trying to connect the dots that would tie The Covenant to terrorism. Despite his frustration, he would never willingly have consulted clairvoyant Raine McAllister, no matter how highly recommended she came. He is left no choice, however, when someone in that secret organization makes Raine a target.

Raine McAllister—Had worked on the CIA’s remote viewing projects when she was a child. Now she helps the police locate abducted children. When she’s asked to help make the connection between those long-ago projects and The Covenant, she discovers that she has more at stake in this investigation than anyone else.

Griff Cabot—The head of the Phoenix will do anything to protect his family, and they are all involved in the danger this time.

Montgomery Gardner—The former DCI oversaw the Agency’s experiments in the paranormal. What part of the blame does he bear for Project Cassandra, the one that went terribly wrong?

Sabina Marguery—Her husband’s suicide resulted from the failure of Cassandra. What secrets is she harboring about that long-ago experiment? And more important, what secrets is she harboring about Raine McAllister?

Carl Steiner—Is the assistant deputy director of the CIA stonewalling the Phoenix about Cassandra because even after a quarter of a century, the Agency still has something to hide?

Charles Ellington—He wrote the book on the CIA’s involvement in parapsychology. Why is Cassandra his only omission?

For Maddie, the sunshine of my life

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Epilogue

Washington, D.C.

“I’ve heard of The Covenant, of course. Most of what I know concerns the quasi-patriotic/religious programs they sponsor from behind the scenes. Anyone who’s been in Washington for any length of time has some knowledge of their role in those. That’s not to say, however, that I have anything to add to what you’ve uncovered. Or any names to give you. No acquaintance of mine has ever admitted to belonging.”

Despite his age, former director of central intelligence Montgomery Gardner’s mind was still sharp and his connections as good as they had ever been. If he knew nothing about The Covenant, then Phoenix operative Ethan Snow knew he was at a dead end. And that he’d just spent six months on an investigation that was literally going nowhere.

If the stakes hadn’t been so high, he might have given up long before now. He had come to Griff Cabot’s office today ready to admit defeat. Although Griff had acknowledged that visiting the old man was a last-ditch effort, he had insisted it was one they should make. Gardner was, after all, his wife’s grandfather and Griff trusted him to tell them the truth. Now this, too, appeared as futile as every other avenue of information Ethan had pursued.