Debra Webb - Striking Distance

DO OR DIE…

The assignment was clear: neutralize the dangerous assassin who had targeted the head of the Colby Agency. But how was CIA recruit Tasha North supposed to accomplish it? The assassin was highly skilled, had no fear, no conscience. No name.

So she used the one weapon that affected him as no other could—herself. Slowly Tasha began to earn his trust, to find the pieces of humanity left in him after years of abuse. But after they shared so much, could she complete her assignment? Especially when she learned his true identity?

Praise for bestselling author Debra Webb

“Brims with tightly woven suspense around

every corner, and twists and turns abound.

Webb moves effortlessly between two very diverse romances and masterfully keeps the reader

on the edge until the last page.”

—RT Book Reviews on Striking Distance

“Debra Webb is endowed with an incredible imagination and an impressive ability to create multidimensional, realistic characters.”

—The Romance Reader.com

Praise for bestselling author Julie Miller

“Another excellent book from Julie Miller!”

—Romance Reviews Today on Forbidden Captor

“[Miller] writes some of the most intense story lines, and her latest entry is a smooth, nonstop ride.”

—RT Book Reviews on Nanny 911

Debra Webb

Debra Webb wrote her first story at age nine and her first romance at thirteen. It wasn’t until she spent three years working for the military behind the Iron Curtain and within the confining political walls of Berlin, Germany, that she realized her true calling. A five-year stint with NASA on the space shuttle program reinforced her love of the endless possibilities within her grasp as a storyteller. A collision course between suspense and romance was set. Debra has been writing romance, suspense and action-packed romance thrillers since.

Visit her at www.debrawebb.comor write to her at P.O. Box 4889, Huntsville, AL 35815.

Julie Miller

Julie Miller attributes her passion for writing romance to all those fairy tales she read growing up, and to shyness. Encouragement from her family to write down those feelings she couldn’t express became a love for the written word. She gets continued support from her fellow members of the Prairieland Romance Writers, where she serves as the resident “grammar goddess.” This award-winning author and teacher has published several paranormal romances. Inspired by the likes of Agatha Christie and Encyclopedia Brown, Ms. Miller believes the only thing better than a good mystery is a good romance.

Born and raised in Missouri, she now lives in Nebraska with her husband, son and smiling guard dog, Maxie. Write to Julie at P.O. Box 5162, Grand Island, NE 68802-5162.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for purchasing Striking Distance. This is a very important story in my long-running Colby Agency series. Just a couple of months ago the fiftieth book in the Colby Agency series was released. If you’re new to the series I hope you will be intrigued by this story and want to read more.

Victoria Colby is one of my favorite characters. Her journey through tragedy and triumph has made her one of my readers’ most beloved characters, as well. This story in particular reveals so very much about Victoria, past, present and future.

Hold on to your heart—you’re in for an emotional and action-packed ride! Be sure to visit my website, www.debrawebb.com, for news about upcoming books!

Enjoy!

Debra Webb

Debra Webb

Striking Distance

Special thanks to Denise Zaza, the absolute best editor on the planet. Thanks so very much for your trust and your encouragement. It was only with your unerring guidance that this dream came true.

This book is dedicated to one of the finest men I have had the personal and professional pleasure of knowing. He is definitely one heck of a good man. This one is for you, Ebb Deason.

Contents

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

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Epilogue

Chapter 1

No matter the legacy a man left behind, ultimately it was his death that defined him.

Chicago’s Rosehill Cemetery was something of a tourist attraction with its medieval castle-like entrance of Joliet limestone and dozens of brooding mausoleums ranging in architectural styles from Egyptian to Gothic. The inhabitants, Civil War generals and soldiers as well as vice presidents, all lay in perpetual slumber in a place so blatantly filled with pomp and circumstance that even the soft tread of footsteps seemed an intrusion.

However well landscaped and adorned with lush shrubbery and graceful trees, this city of the dead with its foreboding Celtic cross and shimmering lake was still just a cemetery. Row after row of markers, whether mere headstones or more elaborate structures, represented lives that existed no longer.

His seeking gaze settled on one plot in particular where a woman stood quietly, probably reminiscing about the life long since laid to rest there.

The date of death engraved on the cold granite headstone indicated little about the man interred...but the name inscribed on that same glossy black surface said all that one needed to know.

James Colby.

Beloved husband and father.

Another epitaph should have been added: Ruthless butcher and marauder.

The great James Colby had been shot down and killed like the worthless bastard he was and not a minute too soon. But, even in death, his presence still lingered among the living. His essence kept alive...his work continued by a woman who was no better than he had been. Though she’d been warned, she persisted in her self-ordained, lofty endeavors. Just like her husband, nothing would stop her.

Except death.

And now her time was close at hand.

From his vantage point fifty meters away, well within striking distance, he read her every expression, watched her every movement through the crosshairs of his high-powered tactical scope. It was a face he had come to know intimately with the use of advanced technology and unending patience.

Looking weary and resigned the woman peered down at the elegant headstone as she no doubt struggled with the overwhelming silence around her...felt dizzy with the stifled senses of the dead and buried. The smell of damp earth would fill her nostrils with each breath she drew into her lungs, a sickening reminder that the rich, sodden soil perpetually cloaked her long-dead husband in its cold, relentless embrace.

Nothing could change the past.

Victoria Colby, he knew, had slowly come to realize that only she had the power to change the future. He’d waited a very long time for her to come to that understanding.

And yet she was powerless to deter him from his course.

She would die.

Soon.

The decision had been made long ago. His mission sanctioned even before he became a man.

He zeroed in to where her black heart beat beneath the tailored navy suit she wore. His finger curled around the trigger as his respiration ceased entirely. The bipod held the rifle steady, its precision aim a work of master craftsmanship.