Passion, Power & Sin: Book 2

By Mike Wells

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

When a young, daring, impulsive redhead falls prey to an Internet scam and is swindled out of her life savings and her childhood home, she’s hell-bent on recouping her losses and punishing the person responsible. Her single-minded quest for revenge takes her around the world, from New York to Japan, to the untamed steppes of Kyrgyzstan, to Greece, and ultimately, to a sleek super-yacht anchored in the Mediterranean Sea.

In the midst of her global escapades, she also finds love.

Will she let her thirst for retribution destroy that, too?

Join Heather Bancroft for the adventure of a lifetime in another ‘unputdownable’ Mike Wells thriller.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “...has to be the most frustrating, nerve-wrecking, hair-pulling, amazing, brilliant and unique book series I have EVER read in my entire life!" - Dipii, Goodreads Reviewer

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Action-packed, plot, twisting from turn to turn, threatening, scary, unpredictable, emotional, strong, full of passion, and has a fantastic fulfilling ending.” - Maggie

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Heather Bancroft is my hero. She leads us into a dark and twisted adventure being torn between love and revenge.” - Debbins

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “This is one of the best books I've ever read, certainly in the top 5. Page after page twists and turns never stopped.” - Jeff Mattice

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “She will do anything to get back at the man who ruined her life. Heather is lured around the world by the con artist. Her adventures are scary and exciting...” - Pandora

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “A book that's this well written is hard to put down. Awesome characters, many twist turns and several surprises.” - Nicole Rasmussen

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Couldn't wait to see what would happen next and truly cared about the characters. This is a must read!” - A. Adams

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Had great adventures, colorful characters, a fun and exciting read. Entertainment at its best!” - Nancy Souza

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Twists and turns team up with incredible characters for a nonstop thrill ride.” - Christine Raggio

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “This is a great blend of mystery, suspense and romance and just edgy enough to keep you reading through hunger, sleep deprivation and postponed chores.” - Sandy Penny, Sweet Mystery Reads

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike Wells
• Release date: Apr 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301025480

Mike Wells

Mike Wells is an author of both walking and cycling guides. He has been walking long-distance footpaths for 25 years, after a holiday in New Zealand gave him the long-distance walking bug. Within a few years, he had walked the major British trails, enjoying their range of terrain from straightforward downland tracks through to upland paths and challenging mountain routes. He then ventured into France, walking sections of the Grande Randonnee network (including the GR5 through the Alps from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean), and Italy to explore the Dolomites Alta Via routes. Further afield, he has walked in Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Norway and Patagonia. Mike has also been a keen cyclist for over 20 years. After completing various UK Sustrans routes, such as Lon Las Cymru in Wales and the C2C route across northern England, he then moved on to cycling long-distance routes in continental Europe and beyond. These include cycling both the Camino and Ruta de la Plata to Santiago de la Compostela, a traverse of Cuba from end to end, a circumnavigation of Iceland and a trip across Lapland to the North Cape. He has written a series of cycling guides for Cicerone following the great rivers of Europe.

Book preview

Passion, Power & Sin

A Series

Book 2

by

Mike Wells

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Mike Wells

http://www.mikewellsbooks.com/

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.

Book 2

Chapter 2.1

The Monday morning after Heather Bancroft won the bet on where the NASA satellite would land, she walked the 40 blocks to work with a new spring in her step. Both Rita and Kevin were on vacation today, and she wouldn’t have to worry about being caught checking her email or placing the next bet.

She was confident that she would receive another message from her Friend in Need.

As she strolled along Sixth Avenue, she began to have her old fantasies of riding in a limo and living the good life, all on her own money.

Who knows? she thought, as she approached the entrance of her office building.

If these emails keep coming, I may end up a millionaire!

* * *

Heather sat down at her computer and quickly logged into her email account.

There it was, sitting in her inbox, just like every Monday morning. A message from her Friend in Need.

Could life get any better? she thought.

Heather excitedly opened the message.

Dear Heather,

This Friday, the Darkhan team will win the kok-boru championship at the Festival at Chabysh, Kyrgyzstan.

I hope you use this information to your advantage.

I remain,

Your Friend in Need

Heather recoiled when she read it.

Darkhan team? Kok-boru? Chabysh? What kind of information was this?

Heather felt panicky, but told herself to reread it all again, slowly and carefully.

Kok-boru. Okay, it was some kind of sport. Maybe she could bet on it online.

She quickly opened both sports betting sites and typed kok-boru in the search field.

There was a long delay.

0 items found.

Heather frowned and checked the spelling of the word. She tried it with and without the dash. Again, nothing. Then she typed in some of the other words from the email:

Darkhan team, Festival at Chabysh

Same result. Even searching under Kyrgyzstan came up blank.

Oh, no, Heather groaned, already visualizing herself making some crazy gambling trip to Kyrgyzstan. She wasn’t even sure where Kyrgyzstan was—somewhere near Russia, she thought.

What are you moaning about, luv? Lisbeth said, passing behind her.

Heather quickly minimized the windows.

Doing a little punting, are we? Lisbeth said in a low voice.

No, I was just—

You best be careful, luv. My mum had a friend who lost his shirt punting, some of those sports betting sites are just a load of rubbish.

Thanks, Lisbeth, but I’m not gambling.

Lisbeth raised an eyebrow. Whatever you say, luv. She glanced down at Heather’s engagement ring. Still, I s’pose you’ve got plenty to punt with these days, if you fancied it…. She walked off.

* * *

Heather spent the next hour researching the information in the email, fuming at what Lisbeth had implied, and equally angry with her Friend in Need.

What kind of friend was he? Sending her information that could only be used by making trips halfway around the world and taking her life into her own hands?

When she researched the game of kok-boru, she was appalled with what she found. It was a sport played on horseback, something like polo, and was popular in Central Asia.

The object of the game is for the players to throw the carcass of a goat into a goal made of a circle of tractor tires. The goat is dead before play commences. The head and legs are removed and the resulting wounds sewn up to minimize the spread of entrails across the field.

Yuck, Heather thought, with a shudder.

She looked more closely at the accompanying photos. One was of a group of Asian-looking men, all on sleek black horses, riding aggressively in a tight group, one of them leaning over and holding something blurry that looked like a muddy white sack.

That’s the dead goat, Heather thought. Or what’s left of it.

She had a queasy feeling in her stomach.

She closed the window on the computer screen and sat there for a long time, thinking.

* * *

During her lunch hour, when no one was around her part of the office, she called Bill Edwards. She wasn’t supposed to make long distance calls from her phone but this was important and couldn’t wait.

What if I could come up with half the money to pay off the house? she asked.

Half the money?

Yes. One hundred thousand dollars.

Hm…it might be possible to work out a refinancing deal with one of the small banks here. Is your credit still good? Have you been paying your other bills on time?

I’ve never missed a payment on anything but the house.

Okay. Let me make some calls. Oh—and when would you have this money?

Heather looked at the computer screen. In about a week.

All right, I’ll get back to you. Can I call you at work?

I have a cell you can call me on. She gave him the number of the phone that David had lent her.

* * *

Heather went to a small travel agency a few blocks from the office. She had researched airline tickets to Kyrgyzstan, and it wasn’t too hard to get there from New York. Nor were the tickets expensive, not much more than the Tokyo tickets had been.

But of course all the flights went to Bishkek, the capital city, not anywhere near Chabysh, which was apparently some tiny village far up in the mountains. She had actually found a tiny bit of information on the festival there, which was an annual event dedicated to Kyrgyz culture—sports, poetry, handicrafts, etc. Competitive horseback riding was the main attraction.

She couldn’t find Chabysh on any online map. She had no idea how far Chabysh was from Bishkek or how she could get there.

By horseback? she thought wryly.

She went inside the travel agency.

A man in a snazzy navy blazer and khaki slacks greeted her. He looked like he had just stepped off a yacht.

I’d like to look into making some reservations, Heather said.

He smiled, clasping his hands together. Wonderful! He graciously offered Heather a seat in front of his desk. Where will it be? London? Paris? Dubai?

Kyrgyzstan, Heather said.

His expression fell flat. He looked at her like she had just told him she had a communicable disease.

He turned to his computer keyboard and started typing. Kyrgyzstan…when do you want to make this trip, and for how many passengers?

This weekend. It’s just me traveling.

He glanced over at her, looking surprised. Right. One passenger to Bishkek—

Actually, I don’t just want to go to Bishkek. My final destination is… Heather opened her purse. She wasn’t sure how to pronounce Chabysh, so she handed him a piece of paper with the word written on it.

He frowned, then typed the word into the computer. I’m afraid I don’t have that destination listed.

I wouldn’t expect you to. It’s a small village in the mountains.

He studied her face. This is none of my business, miss, but why on earth do you want to go to this place?

You’re right—it’s none of your business.

Sorry, he said, looking back at the screen. The only reason I ask is that Kyrgyzstan is not the safest place for a young woman to venture alone. It’s known as ‘The Wild East.’ As I’m sure you know, it was a part of the Soviet empire, and since the collapse, the country has been quite volatile. They had riots not long ago—

I know what I’m doing, Heather said, though her confidence was already shaken. This was not going to be some easy trip to Tokyo.

He turned back to his computer. I can get you to Bishkek this weekend, no problem—I have some good prices on those tickets—but from Bishkek to the village you want…I’m afraid you’ll have to figure that out on your own, after you arrive. There may be buses from the airport, or at least from the center of Bishkek.

* * *

When Heather left the travel agency, she was even madder at her Friend in Need than she had been before.

Why did she have to travel all the way to some godforsaken village in the mountains in some godforsaken part of the world to take advantage of the information he sent?

Why couldn’t he just send her a tip like most of the other tips, where she could just click buttons on her computer and win a lot of money?

Now, instead of sending him an email expressing her gratitude, she felt like writing one and giving him a piece of her mind.

But she immediately felt ashamed of these thoughts, and for being mad at him. She was acting like a spoiled brat. She knew she should be grateful for this information, incredibly grateful! She had already won $50,000 and, other than making the trip to Tokyo, had put forth very little effort into winning it.

As Heather walked back towards the office, she slowed, a troubling thought coming to her.

Was this all some kind of a test?

Would these bets become more and more difficult to place, and require her to travel to harder and harder to reach places, and to take bigger and bigger risks?

Traveling to some village in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan was dangerous. She had no doubt about it, especially carrying so much money with her. She would have to take the $50,000 in cash, there was no other way. And if she won—and she would win—she would have to take at least $100,000 back out of the country.

If she got caught, she would be in serious trouble.

* * *

Heather made the air reservations but did not actually buy the tickets to Kyrgyzstan. She had 24 hours to decide before the reservations would be cancelled.

She vacillated all afternoon, first deciding she would make the trip, and then deciding it was mad, far too dangerous.

Kyrgyzstan is not the safest place for a young woman to venture alone. It’s known as ‘The Wild East.’

As much as Heather disliked admitting it, the annoying travel agent had seriously undermined her confidence.

You can do it, she kept telling herself. You went to Tokyo and handled the Yakuza, and you can do this, too.

But she knew that in Tokyo she’d had crucial assistance from Nicole’s father and Kaito in dealing with the gangsters. If they hadn’t been there to help me, I might have left Japan penniless.

On the other hand, running into Nicole and her dad and Kaito hadn’t simply been blind luck. She had been smart enough to splurge on an expensive box seat ticket to the sumo wrestling matches—her instincts had told her that sitting with the sponsors and high rollers might be a good idea.

Heather considered asking David to come with her on the trip to Kyrgyzstan, but of course that meant she would have to tell him everything, which of course was out of the question. Then again, why not consult David about financial matters? He would be proud of her growing independence.

Wouldn’t he?

* * *

Just before five o’clock, Heather faintly heard the cell phone ringing in her purse.

Lisbeth was within earshot, so Heather quickly went to the restroom, into a stall.

Heather, Bill Edwards here.

Yes?

Turns out we probably can refinance the mortgage—I’ve talked to a small bank here that’s interested, buddy of mine works there. He actually knows your property because he holds the mortgage of a house across the street, the Thomason’s?

Yes, I know them.

Anyway, by refinancing the mortgage and extending the length and pulling a few other little tricks, your monthly payment would be cut down to half of what it is now. Could you swing that?

That would be perfect, Heather said. When she and David got married, she could make that payment with no problem. And the stigma of the foreclosure would be erased.

Edwards said, So you say you’ll have the money next week?

If all goes well, yes.

Okay, I’ll wait to hear from you. Good luck with it, Heather.

Thanks so much, Mr. Edwards. My mother is going to be overjoyed!

* * *

Heather quickly left work and headed to the travel agency, trotting half the way, afraid it might close at 5:30.

The agent was just about to lock the door when she reached it.

He looked annoyed, but opened the door.

I’ll take those tickets to Bishkek, she said breathlessly, and she handed him her credit card.

Chapter 2.2

Well, you have a good trip, David said. And please give your mom a big hug for me.

I will, David. It was just after eight in the morning. Heather was standing in the kitchen of her apartment, packed and ready to go to JFK airport. Percy was in the living room, dressed for work, packing up his satchel.

Over the phone, David said, Do you want me to pick you up at the airport when you come back on Sunday?

That’s okay, Heather said. I don’t have my return ticket yet, so I don’t know the exact time.

Well, you have a good trip, sweetheart. And please give your mom a big, warm hug for me. Tell her I can’t wait to meet her, will you?

I will, Heather said, looking guiltily at Percy.

After she hung up, Percy said, "So let me get this straight, Heather. If David calls, you’re at your mother’s house in North