Selected as a Romantic Times Top Pick and winner of the rare Gold Medal Award.
Fast-paced action drives this entirely plausible plot and the threat of imminent catastrophe ratchets-up the urgency in this complex Jennings page-turner.
~Reader to Reader Reviews
I highly recommend this book to all who like their suspense intense and their romance heart-stopping!
~Lisa Freeman, The Romantic Studio
Elizabeth Jennings’ flair for romantic suspense leaps to a new level with this remarkable, pulse-pouding thriller.
~Romantic Times
This is an exhilarating romantic suspense in which readers will feel they are at the top of the world.
~Harriet Klausner
A LIFE DESTROYED
Nobody knows better than Lucy Merritt what duty can cost. Her CIA operative parents gave their lives for a mission in the Himalayan Kingdom of Nhala, and as a result, Lucy was determined to make a safe and comfortable life for herself, becoming an expert restorer of manuscripts.
A LIFE OF SERVICE
Captain Mike Shafer, Tenth Mountain Division, US Army, is dedicated to keeping his country safe. Intel from a dead CIA operative in Nhala points to a deadly threat that could wipe out entire populations. When Lucy is called to Nhala to restore the manuscript of an ancient prophesy, it’s his chance to stop the threat cold. He is ready and willing to put himself on the firing line—only not with the beautiful woman who’s been assigned to him. No matter how smart she is, she’s a tempting distraction.
A LIFE REBORN
Now Mike and Lucy must learn to work together to stop this global threat. Mike thought he understood courage, but when she does the bravest thing he’s ever seen, he vows to carry a badly wounded Lucy across a frozen wasteland to save this magnificent woman—and the world.
Read an Excerpt
Mike spoke up, his mind already far along the planning stages of the upcoming mission. “Wherever that scene was, it was obviously at a high altitude in mountain terrain. High-altitude missions are what the 10th Mountain Division does. I have a team of 20 men who are training right now in Alaska’s Granite range at ten thousand feet. They can be airlifted—“
Montgomery lifted a hand. “Stop, Captain. The team has already been set up. The mission will be carried out by the four people in this room. Two here and two in the field. Dr. Samuels will be the technical advisor and I will run the field team, made up of you and Dr. Merritt.”
That was so outrageous Mike’s jaw dropped open. He looked over at Lucy Merritt, expecting to see the same outrage but all he saw was resignation.
He was so angry he had to steady his voice. Montgomery might be a legend in national security circles, around since the Jurassic, but obviously he’d lost it. Going on a mission where a possible bioterror weapon was waiting at the other end, and in harsh mountain conditions, was bad enough when he was infiltrating with his men—the finest mountain troops in the world. Fully equipped, fully trained, with the warrior mindset to get the job done no matter what.
Infiltrating into a high-risk high-altitude mission with Hot Babe—no way. She was probably some hotshot analyst, probably supersmart, very probably smarter than he was. Fine. So let her stay in a heated room analysing intel. He and his men would be the point of the spear, and no one more than him knew how deadly it was there.
Maybe Hot Babe had a genius IQ but she’d last ten minutes, tops, at minus forty degrees.
Mike had a lot of experience talking to shit-for-brains superiors, with crazyass ideas that sounded fantastic in a room but were a recipe for death in the field. So he put reason and firmness in his voice, while half his brain was already picking men and packing gear.
“Sir.” He flicked a glance at the woman sitting next to Montgomery.
Gorgeous as she was, she didn’t have a mountain climbers’ physique, lean and sinewy with long muscles. Mountain climbers, men and women, also kept themselves low-maintenance.
She was slender but soft, hair done by a pro, nails short but manicured. Expensive clothes that couldn’t just be dumped into a washing machine. The real high-maintenance type.
Nope, she wouldn’t last five minutes in the field. “Dr. Merritt might have special qualifications, sir, but I can assure you that my men and—“
“Captain Shafer.” Montgomery’s voice was sharp, cutting right across what Mike was saying. “I am afraid you are laboring under a misapprehension. You’re not the mission. Dr. Merritt is. You’re just along for the ride as muscle.”