Angel's Prey

By J.E. Mullany

Valerie Vaughn is back and this time it's personal. When Valerie Vaughn foils an assassination attempt on her life, she unknowingly earns the bitter enmity of the assassin's wife, another professional killer known as The Angel of Death. The Angel of Death vows to first strip Valkyrie of everything she loves and only then to kill her in her misery.

Meanwhile, Valerie Vaughn continues her career at PIA, the private intelligence agency she works for, and continues to discover the ways in which working for a private contractor has different rules than working for the Unites States government. Will she discover that she and her loved ones are being stalked? Will she be able to prevent the Angel of Death from taking her revenge?

Mullany follows up on the well-reviewed debut with this excellent sequel. He continues to mine the vein of how the recent changes in how the United States conducts its business profoundly affects the type and manner of intelligence gathering that intelligence officers must undertake. Good use of humor, sex, and dialogue flesh out a rock-solid story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.E. Mullany
• Release date: May 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310770296

J.E. Mullany

Joseph E. Mullany (b.1965-) Published works: In the Shadow of Idols Angel's Prey Joe brings his corporate experience as a Business Manager and Strategic Analyst to bear in the Valkyrie Series, (In the Shadow of Idols and Angel's Prey) where he examines the recent outsourcing of intelligence gathering from governments to private corporations. The consequences of privatization are as varied as they are surprising. In his debut thriller, veteran CIA agent Valerie Vaughn joins the private contracting world and embarks on a new series of missions, with a new set of rules. Events lead inexorably to the dramatic conclusion that has since proved to be sadly prescient. In Angel's Prey, the follow up novel to In the Shadow of Idols, things turn personal as a female assassin vows to avenge Valerie's killing of her assassin husband.Meanwhile, Valerie continues her struggle to come to grips with working for a private contractor rather than the United States. These books are masterpieces of logic and cause and effect, wrapped into compelling story lines that engage the reader. Blending elements of mystery and humor into the typical spy thriller format, while giving the characters a real depth, Mullany has created a compelling and memorable series.

Book preview

Angel's Prey

A Valkyrie Novel

by J.E. Mullany

Angel's Prey

J. E. Mullany

Published by Shantytown Publishing

Smashwords edition

Copyright 2013 by J. E. Mullany

Other Titles by J. E. Mullany:

In the Shadow of Idols

Dedication:

To my sons Brent and Dominic. The future.

Acknowledgements:

As always, the first and foremost to thank are my wife Lisa, and my sons Brent and Dominic who really make it all possible and worthwhile.

Thank you as well to proofreaders Hugo, Jim, John and Stuart. Your advice was critical to shaping the novel. It’s like, hey guys I made a car and feeling pretty proud of yourself. Then the proofreaders take a look at it, and suggest that some bolts get tightened to get rid of that squeaky sound, and point out an oil leak, and another suggests maybe putting on a muffler. Finally someone says something along the lines of You know that wood paneling you put on as trim? Lose it. At the end of all this you have the same car, but suddenly it’s one your proud to be driving. Thanks guys.

And a big thank you and credit to Ben and Marcus for their expert work in designing the covers for the Valkyrie novels.

Author’s Note:

"I try to leave out the parts that people skip." Elmore Leonard.

That’s a great piece of advice that I follow - with varying degrees of success. But Angel’s Prey is a sequel and that causes a bit of a clash with the above sentiment. Convention holds that when you write a sequel, that have you reference the earlier book, or books, in sufficient summary detail to allow those who didn’t read the earlier books to catch up, and bonus, it’s a cheap way to increase the page count on your book.

As a reader, I always hated that. You hit a summary which is old news to you and skip ahead, guessing where the story actually picks up again, guess wrong, skip further, okay the story is going now, did I skip too far and miss something?

You’re teaching readers to skip your words. And it’s your most loyal readers who suffer this inconvenience. So I made the decision to not give a detailed back story for those who haven’t yet read In the Shadow of Idols. If you are one of those who purchased Angel’s Prey without having read the first book, then I encourage you to read that first. It’s really quite good, I promise you. And Angel’s Prey will be right here, waiting for you. As for the rest of you, I hope you don’t find yourself skipping anything.

J. E. Mullany

Table of Contents

Title Page

The Story

Author's Closing Note

Chapter 1

The blonde woman didn't know her death was so close and closing rapidly. Emiliya Hristova had killed many times herself and had witnessed many other killings. For most, death came before they knew anything was amiss, but sometimes, some primal instinct kicked in and you could see the victim’s body react to the sudden danger. But even then, it was too late. This blonde walked on, blissfully unaware.

It seemed that this time Emiliya wouldn't be the one to do the killing. Her husband, Mecho, would get that glory. They were an experienced and expensive team. Professional. Thorough. Unafraid. Their training and years of working together had made them a slick unit. Emiliya had just peeled off tailing the target and Mecho had smoothly taken over, minimizing the chance that the target would sense she was being stalked.

This one walks with the confidence of beauty, Angel, Mecho said to her over their comm link. He spoke in Bulgarian, except he used the English word ‘Angel.’ He had first started calling her Angel years ago when they studied English together at the Centre. Given their profession, it wasn't long before they had learned that word, in the context of Angel of Death. Even way back then, before they had graduated and been set loose on the world, she had established a fearsome reputation. He quickly dubbed her Angel. Calling her Angel was the beginning of his courtship of her.

Not for long I bet, hey?

It's getting dark and people are sparse. I think, soon.

Emiliya shivered. She knew her husband well enough to catch the undercurrent in his voice. Killing people was a job that he handled with cool detachment. But later, when it was just them, when the kill was done and the adrenaline and thrill of the kill still surged in his blood, Mecho always took her. She had also noticed that when the kill was a beautiful woman, the sex was even hotter. Tonight, given the beauty of this blonde, she knew she was going to be ravaged.

She window-shopped, letting Mecho and the target get farther ahead. This was standard in case the target suddenly reversed course. Mecho would continue walking as if the target was of no concern and Emiliya would have time to hide and discreetly pick up the surveillance again when the target came by. But she doubted this beauty would do that.

Ten minutes later, Mecho broke the silence. She's going into the subway. I think this is it.

Emiliya immediately began scanning the line of parked cars, looking for the best one to steal. She may be the Angel of Death, but Mecho was simply Death. Now that he was closing in, he'd need to be picked up soon and together they'd quickly vanish from the scene. She kept her eyes open for Fiats as they were the easiest for her. Typically, none appeared. She smiled though when she saw the VW Polo. Easy and unmemorable.

Minutes later she was wheeling the VW towards the subway station. All set for the pickup Mecho. Silence answered her, but that didn't concern her at all. It simply meant Mecho was closing in for the kill. That meant she needed to get right to the subway station for the pickup.

As she got closer it was the continued silence that began to bother her. Mecho? No answer. Mecho? She sped up, the stairs leading down to the subway station now in view. Mecho was not in view. He was not standing, coolly poised, waiting to be whisked away. It wasn't panic that hit her then, she was too well trained for that. But it was unfamiliar. She double parked with a lurch in front of the stairwell and abandoned her stolen vehicle. With the silence from Mecho ringing in her ears, she walked briskly to the stairs, subtly readying her pistol. She maneuvered down the stairs, her battleground, eyes flicking everywhere, every sense straining, searching for danger.

She saw Mecho's body as she reached the bottom of the stairs. He was two steps to the left, blood pooling underneath his body. Emiliya immediately spun to face where the shot must have come from. Suppressing everything but the will to kill, Emiliya leapt onto the platform, eyes darting everywhere, gun tracking with her eyes in perfect synchronicity, seeking her target. There was none.

With that thought she immediately dove to her left, further onto the platform, turned the dive into a roll, and came up on one knee, eyes and gun searching behind her for the ambush. Searching. Nothing. Nobody. The blonde had not stayed to complete the job. With a sob she launched herself on top of Mecho's body. But she knew he was gone and touching his body brought no relief. She allowed herself a moment to mourn but her training nagged her back to reality. She gathered Mecho's gun. She was a contract killer on foreign soil with a dead body. She needed to get away fast.

But first, she needed to reconstruct the kill. Mecho had underestimated the blonde and he had died. Of course he would have quickly checked both left and right before fully stepping onto the platform. There was not much space to the right; it ended in a wall after only twenty feet. The trains were to the left. You could see that from the bottom of the stairs. So Mecho would have checked the right first, for an ambush, and only after that would he have taken those two steps to the left. He had missed her. How? And she had shot him immediately. No hesitation. He had only been trailing her for a few blocks!

Emiliya nodded coldly to herself. I have your measure now. I know what I am up against and I will not fail. I know who you are Valerie Vaughn, and first I will kill those you love. I will make you feel what I am feeling right now. And then, in your agony, I will kill you. With that vow she swept up the stairs and left her Mecho behind.

Chapter 2

Valerie climbed smoothly up the subway station stairs. Nobody had seen her shoot the man below and now she needed an unremarkable getaway. At the top of the steps she took the briefest of moments to search for the man’s dark-haired accomplice, but she was nowhere in sight so Valerie emerged and walked briskly away from the subway.

Valkyrie, we have a car en route to pick you up. Two blocks south and two blocks east of the station. Silver Volvo four door, driver only, middle-aged male, bald, Echo's voice announced in her ear. Valkyrie was her call sign, and Echo was her handler back at PIA Headquarters in Washington DC. He had sprung into action when she told him her cover was blown, arranging for a car to take her to a safe house. His voice was jittery though, reminding her that despite their recent successes, he was still inexperienced as handlers go. She had been working with him for about a year, ever since she went from working for the U.S. Government at the CIA to working as a private contractor at the Private Intelligence Agency, or PIA.

Good. So far it seems all clear. I'll be there in five minutes. She spoke calmly, for his benefit. Five minutes till she'd feel some measure of safety. It was an awful feeling for a spy to walk a foreign city knowing your cover was blown and with a dead body in your wake. She wouldn't feel truly safe until she was out of the country.

As she walked, she re-lived what had just happened.

She had just arrived in Brussels under a fake passport to meet with an Iranian source about Iran's nuclear program and intentions. She climbed into her limo and gathered the pistol and shoulder holster from under the seat. The limo driver made quite a bit on the side by being so helpful. Later, as she left the limo, she had spotted a dark-haired woman, who might have also just been at the airport, exiting a cab. Maybe tailing her.

To find out for sure, Valerie used the subway stations. She walked off, followed by the dark-haired woman. She passed within a block of one station and the woman showed no interest in it, but kept following Valerie. Valerie made her way towards a second subway station which she planned to enter. If the woman followed then, she was definitely following Valerie.

There were some, but not many, other pedestrians walking about Brussels then, so Valerie was able to mark the comings and goings of each as she made her way. A dark, lean man appeared from a cross street as Valerie reached the corner. As he appeared, the woman behind turned into a shop.

It seemed a little too smooth. Timed before Valerie could ascertain if she was being followed and without a gap in surveillance. And the position of the man relative to her would put him at an ideal distance behind her as they continued walking. Or Valerie could simply be imagining it, but there was no sense in being complacent.

He was coming in for the kill. The sudden sureness swept over her and she willfully kept her pace and posture relaxed. The woman was the spotter, the man the killer. Now he was in position, walking behind her. She felt her shoulders tingle as if expecting the impact of a bullet or knife and again she forced herself to relax. She took comfort in the professionalism she had seen so far. There were too many windows, and too many people with cameras or video technology built into their phones, for the hit to take place now.

She pressed a button embedded in the cuff of her sleeve to activate her communication back to PIA Headquarters. Hey Pedro. Let me know if Miguel calls, okay?

Oh wow, said Echo, recognizing the code words for a blown cover requiring immediate extraction. On it. Car okay?

Okay.

Her instinct might be wrong. They may not be trying to kill her. It could be simple surveillance, or simply innocent people implicated by her overactive imagination. She would have to be sure.

Valerie continued walking, quickly running her mind through scenarios. If this were a hit, and the man was the one to do it, as her instinct told her, then it would happen soon, before Echo could bring in any help. She was on her own. So she needed, first and foremost, to determine if the man was a threat. Then, if so, he needed to be neutralized.

She needed to force the confrontation. But on her terms. She made for the stairwell to the subway station. Straining her ears, she thought the man had closed the gap between them. Giving no sign of awareness, she continued with her methodical steps down the stairs. She'd only have a moment of being out of his view. She'd have to be quick.

Valerie loved gadgets. Maybe it's because all she had known about spying prior to joining the CIA had been what she saw in the James Bond movies, but, whatever. And while she hadn't yet managed to get a really tricky car, she did have her blazer, with a nifty spy button sewn on that would be quite useful. She quickly ripped it off and mentally calculated that her tracker was five seconds behind her. With a quick glance, she twisted the button slightly and then tossed it to the left when she reached the bottom of the stairs. Then she bolted right and looked for a place to hide.

There was nowhere to hide.

There wasn't much space to the right and the walls were flat tiles. There was only a garbage can, but it was too small and obvious to be a good hiding place.

Four seconds.

With no other choice she stepped to the edge of the platform and gave a quick look up and down the tracks. No lights from oncoming trains.

Three seconds. Two seconds.

There was no third rail in the middle, so that meant it was under the platform.

One second.

She dropped down onto the tracks, avoiding the inner wall. She watched the stairs fixedly and ducked out of sight as soon as she saw his feet appear.

She heard the button she had tossed clicking away, mimicking the sound of receding footsteps. That should assure the man that she was to the left. She methodically counted to three and rose up. The man had just stepped from the stairs and was turning left, following the faint footsteps from Valerie's button. As she watched though, the man realized that she wasn't in sight and, quick as a cat, he whirled, bringing a gun up as he searched for her.

He saw her and instantly aimed his pistol. The sound of two shots broke the stillness, so quick they sounded like a single shot. Both shots hit their target, mere instants from each other.

Valerie watched the assassin go down, two ugly red spots dotting his chest, spreading and growing larger. She felt no remorse as he crumpled to the ground. If she hadn't made him, right now she'd be the dead one. Her Glock was silenced so there was no echo booming through the station bouncing off of those tiled walls. Nobody else was on the platform.

Still, she had no time to dawdle. She toggled the communication link back to Echo at PIA Headquarters. It was a hit. Neutralized. She hopped back up on the platform and made a quick decision to go back up the stairs. Less chance of cameras or people seeing her for later testimony.

The knowledge of the dark-haired woman made her leave the station immediately, rather than search the body of the man for any clues about his identity or mission. Once she had used a dead member of a team as the bait to flush out and kill the second member, but she didn't know how many people were on this team or their resources or how sanctioned their actions in this country were. Best to vacate.

As she walked to the rendezvous point with her escape car, Valerie finished reviewing the events and concluded she had handled things properly. She just needed to make a clean escape and hope that no hidden cameras had captured her face at any time.

She picked up the pace, striding briskly to create distance from the subway station, her mind burning with one question. Who wanted her dead?

Chapter 3

Alpha, this is Echo. Valkyrie just neutralized a hit on her. Matt relayed the information to his boss as calmly as he could.

On the way. The phone went dead.

Matt Kucera, aka Echo at PIA, hung up the phone as well. He immediately turned to his computer and brought up the itinerary of Valkyrie's fake passport. Scanning through it he saw that the passport had never been used in Germany. She'd never use that passport again, of course, but escaping through Germany would provide one more layer of security and safety. Thanks to the Schengen Agreement, now that she was in Belgium she wouldn't even need to show a passport to travel through most of Europe. He called Valkyrie. At the safe house is a blue Saab, Belgian registry, keys are in the kitchen. I'd suggest Germany, France as a second option, given travel history.

Great. Germany sounds fine. Her voice was tense, which didn't surprise Matt too much given what she had just gone through.

Oh, and the driver of the Volvo has a thousand euros in cash for you to use. Matt heard someone enter his office and glanced up to see Alpha had arrived. Alpha's here. Anything to add? He punched the speakerphone so Alpha could hear.

I see the car. No, nothing yet. Two people for sure, unknown if there were any others. Female spotter, male hitter. Male taken out in subway station. I don't think it was witnessed and didn't see cameras. OK. I am at the car, looks good.

Any idea about the hitter? Recognize him? Description? Alpha asked.

Not really. Pro. Dark-haired Caucasian, olive skin. You'll get a better description from the police report.

Alpha glanced at Echo, so Matt spoke up. The body was called in, but the police haven't arrived yet. Given that Brussels was the base for NATO and the European Union, PIA had a reliable source living there who had turned on a police scanner and was relaying information as it came in.

Get clear, Alpha ordered, and spend some time thinking about who's behind this. You won't be effective as long as there's a hit out on you.

As Alpha left, Matt gave a wry look to the phone. If Alpha's words sounded cold and calculating it was because they were. But calculated to get Valkyrie back up to her best chance for success. If you want to make a list of all the people who want to kill you then I can arrange for you to depart from an airport in say, Spain. More time on the roads is more time to write.

Very funny Echo. Well I have to reschedule the original meeting. Let me know what you find out as you find it out.

Of course. Matt rang off and tapped a pencil against his front teeth while staring at a map of Germany's major airports. He decided to use Dortmund, which was a bit smaller and past the first few airports Valkyrie would pass escaping from Belgium. He'd send her to London. She liked London.

He booked the flight for the next day under her backup alias, and then he saw an email from their Brussels source. Early witness testimony was that a brunette woman was seen fleeing the station just before the body was found, and she had driven away in a white Volkswagen. That was a piece of good luck for blonde Valkyrie in her blue Saab. He texted the information to her, as well as his intention to send her to London for a week.

Moments later his phone rang and he smiled as he picked it up. Hello Valkyrie.

So why London?

You like London.

Yes. But it's not football season. Remember our agreement. Last year Matt had deduced from her travel schedule that Valkyrie was a fan of the Arsenal Football Club based in North London. It turned out that she was a rabid fan and had been trying to keep that secret from her world of espionage so she would have one place where she could relax and have fun. Chastened, Matt had promised to help her to disguise the true nature of her visits there.

I know it's not soccer season, he used the word deliberately to tease her, But it occurred to me that if you only ever went to England during the soccer season it might be a red flag.

Her silence told him she saw his point.

I figure three days, and then we’ll bring you back home. I'll have another passport identity sent over to you in the meantime. I have a meeting to go to, but I'll take any excuse to get out of it, so text me if anything pops up.

Sounds fine Echo. I'm on the freeway now. We're looking good, She clicked off. Her voice was suddenly weary.

He heard a knock on the door. Come in, he said and was pleased to see Bravo and Papa at the door. Where Alpha was his boss, Bravo and Papa were Matt's peers, only they were vastly more experienced peers who had taken considerable time and effort in helping Matt learn the job. Matt considered both to be his friends and he trusted them implicitly.

So, all is well with Valkyrie? Bravo asked idly, clearly expecting to hear it was.

Hit man waiting for her who is now dead. Cover blown. Driving out of the country, Matt said pleasantly. That got their attention.

No details, ordered Bravo, but is she ok? Everything handled?

Yeah, it looks good enough for me to go to the meeting even.

She was in Brussels, right? Have you already booked plane tickets for her?

Yes, just now.

Bravo exchanged a meaningful glance with Papa and Matt saw comprehension flood across Papa's face. Which was interesting because Matt had no idea what was happening.

May I send an email? asked Bravo.

Without answer, Matt wheeled away from the computer and gave Bravo a skeptical look. He could read as Bravo typed and saw that Bravo was sending the email to all of the analysts, all of the people who did the same job at PIA as Matt, Bravo, and Papa. The subject line said it all. Billy Bass opportunity.

Each year the analysts competed with each other on their predictive abilities. The winner was awarded the right to hang the Billy Bass trophy on the wall of their office for the year. Whenever an opportunity arose, the analysts jumped at the chance to compete and bragging rights were both highly sought after and highly used. Matt saw Bravo type in just enough information. Field Officer exposed in Brussels. Which airport departing from tomorrow? Email answers to Bravo before the meeting.

Dusseldorf, Papa said decisively.

Matt kept his expression blank and Bravo shook his head. "She's not