Dusk

By Maureen A. Miller

As a young girl, Amanda Newton witnessed the brutal murder of her parents. As an adult she is targeted by their murderer.

Beautiful. Reserved. Mysterious. Amanda Newton, the CEO of BLUE-LINK epitomizes control with her adept handling of the global company. But that control is threatened with a series of attacks against her.

Ray Gordon, a former Navy SEAL is looking to open his own security firm. One more contracting job with BLUE-LINK would complete the funding. When he is hired to protect Amanda Newton, the Ice Queen herself, he never bargained on falling for her.

Amanda has something her attacker wants, and he will destroy anyone close to her to get it.

...but he's met his match in Ray Gordon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maureen A. Miller
• Release date: Jun 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310618581

Maureen A. Miller

USA TODAY bestselling author, Maureen A. Miller worked in the software industry for fifteen years. She crawled around plant floors in a hard hat and safety glasses hooking up computers to behemoth manufacturing machines. The job required extensive travel. The best form of escapism during those lengthy airport layovers became writing.Maureen's first novel, WIDOW'S TALE, earned her a Golden Heart nomination in Romantic Suspense. After that she became hooked to the genre. In fact, she was so hooked she is the founder of the JUST ROMANTIC SUSPENSE website.Recently, Maureen branched out into the Young Adult Science Fiction market with the popular BEYOND Series. To her it was still Romantic Suspense...just on another planet!

Book preview

PROLOGUE

South Africa 1985

Mandy Newton clutched her stuffed bear, Alvin, to her chest and tipped her nose up to the two-inch gap in the back seat window. She wanted to climb up and poke her fingers out, but the safety belt restricted her. In this rental car she had the rare liberation of no car seat. Car seats were for babies. She was six years old now. Of course, her mother had cinched her so tight she could barely see out the window.

Scents of wild grass and musky animals slipped through that gap. She inched her head up to glimpse a sea of rolling yellow fields.

South Africa. Bah. She wanted to see a zebra. Her parents promised to take her to the zoo before they returned to New York. In the front seat, they were talking, and she heard her daddy mention that they would be going home in two days. That was about all she heard. Their voices were low and the crunch of rocks beneath the car was loud. Like popcorn.

Something about her parent’s conversation made her uneasy, though. Their tone was deep, secretive. Big people talk, her mommy would say.

Mandy looked at Alvin’s silly black nose and smiled. He always knew how to cheer her up. She lifted his head up to the window so he could get a better view. If he saw a zebra, he’d let her know.

The voices up front grew agitated, but she still couldn’t make out what they were saying. Her mommy’s chin appeared, but she wasn’t looking down into the back seat, she was searching the rear window. Mandy tried to wrench her head in that direction, but she couldn’t budge. When the car rolled to a stop, she wriggled in her confines and managed another peek out the side window.

More grass.

No buildings.

No zoo.

No zebras.

The front doors opened and her parents each got out. As her mother turned to her door, Mandy couldn’t wait to get loose from the safety belt. She wanted to run in the fluffy sea outside. Her door opened and there was her mommy—long blonde hair, pretty blue eyes—but the smile that Mandy knew so well didn’t seem genuine. There was something off.

Hey sweetie, her mommy said as she reached in and unfastened the belt.

Mommy popped her head back out to look behind the vehicle, lines of worry wrapped around pink lips. On that beautiful face, Mandy could see shadows encroaching. The sun was going down. Outside, the grass didn’t look like a blanket of gold anymore. It was changing colors. Turning purple—and the sky had blushed.

Do you want to get out for a few minutes? Mommy asked in a tight voice.

Yeah! Mandy bounced out of the car before her mother could change her mind.

The dirt road crunched under her pink-bowed sandals. She turned to follow her mommy’s gaze and saw a long road fading into the sunset. In the distance a plume of smoke snaked into the sky. That view was eclipsed by the tall form of her daddy rounding the back of the car. He crouched on the edge of the grass and reached for her shoulders. His eyes were blue too, but much darker than Mommy’s. They looked like the sky when it was about to storm.

Those eyes were searching her face now.

Uh-oh. Did I do something wrong?

Mandy clutched Alvin tight against her chest, but her daddy cracked his familiar grin.

Munchkin, Mommy and Daddy need a few minutes alone. You know— he wiggled his dark eyebrows, —Mom and Dad time.

Mandy scrunched her nose. Mommy and Daddy time meant they wanted to kiss each other. They kissed a lot. She supposed that was a good thing. They seemed really happy when they kissed each other.

Why don’t you go check out the grass back there and see if you can find any zebras, he suggested, pointing to a reedy knoll a few yards away. Don’t go much further than that. We’ll be leaving in a few minutes.

Mandy didn’t need to be told twice. She was already running before the few minutes warning even registered. In a few feet she was ensconced in tufted grass that tickled her ears. Hefting Alvin onto her shoulders, she clenched his stuffed feet and asked him to be her eyes on this adventure. After a few minutes she grew frustrated.

Daddy, I don’t see any zebras! she yelled in no particular direction.

When there was no answer, she swirled in a circle, sneezing as a frond of grass scratched her nose. Daddy? she called out.

Just keep going, Mandy. His voice sounded distant. Tense. Keep running.

Was that a motor? She thought she heard a car. Then a car door.

Daddy? she called again, but there was no response.

Maybe she had ventured too far. Everywhere around her were green and yellow blades that reached higher than her head. She found a natural carved path and stuck to it, hoping it would take her back up to the road. If not, she wasn’t too worried. Her parents would come get her—and then they would go to the zoo.

Crack.

Mandy froze.

Crack.

It sounded like an explosion. Two quick explosions.

Mandy jolted when a flock of birds erupted from a nearby barren tree. She tipped her head back and watched their dark grey bellies as they flew low overhead. Aside from the frantic flutter of wings, she heard nothing else.

Something about the silence prevented her from calling out. If she were to yell maybe more birds would take off—only this time they would fly so low they might hit her. They might get their claws in her hair.

Pulling Alvin down to her chest and hugging him tight, she stood still and listened. A car started in the distance. The rugged purr of its departure alarmed her.

Are Mommy and Daddy leaving?

Did they forget me?

With a plaintive cry, she charged through that fissure of dirt, following its meandering trail until she finally caught a glimpse of the gravel road. Breaking through the last barrier of grass fronds, she halted on the side of the barren stretch. Across the street the sun was sinking into another grassy plain. Her mommy told her to never look at the sun, but here it seemed like liquid—not fire. Half of it had already disappeared, but the other half looked like dripping gold pouring into the field.

There was still enough light to see her parents’ car parked on the side of the road several yards away.

See, Alvin. You thought they left.

Round eyes like York peppermint patties stared up at her. She tucked his squishy body under her arm and started towards the car, staring down at the pink plastic bows on her sandals. Heavy shadows crept across the road as she started to run towards the vehicle. She wanted to be inside the car when the dark arrived. A quick glimpse on each side of the road revealed tall blades of grass like giant dragon tongues, looking to lap her up. No way did she want to be out here in the dark.

Daddy? she cried, wondering why he hadn’t heard her approach.

Halting at the front of the car, she called for him again. Maybe they were inside, having Mommy and Daddy time. She stepped up to the driver’s side door and knocked on it. Nothing. She tried the handle and yanked until it swung open.

Empty.

Frowning, Mandy continued to the back of the car, and in the waning light she found them.

Alvin dropped to the ground as she screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

CHAPTER ONE

Twenty-four years later.

Amanda Newton stared out at the ribbons of headlights flowing into Bank junction. Traffic in London’s financial district was at a crawl. In the glass she saw the reflection of a tall, white-haired man. He stood at attention, waiting patiently to be acknowledged.

She turned and crossed her arms against the chill in the eighth-floor office. The silk of her blouse scraped a sudden bout of goosebumps—an effect from the disturbing email she had just read. Normally spam was well-vetted before it made it into her inbox, but this one had slipped through.

Shall I fetch the car? the elderly man asked with his hands clasped behind his back.

Amanda glimpsed out the wall of glass. Her apartment was only a few blocks away, the proximity by design so that she was never far from the office. Normally, she preferred the walk, but not tonight. Tonight she would take up the offer of her doting assistant—even if it meant sitting out in the traffic. It would offer her a bit of a respite to relax in the sleek BLUE-LINK company Mercedes and hand over the control to someone else, if only for a few minutes.

Alright, that sounds good, George. She glanced at her watch.

Seven-fifteen. An early night.

Pushing back from her desk, she followed George into the elevator and descended to the underground parking lot. Ensconced in the plush back seat of the Mercedes, Amanda considered drawing her phone from her purse and reviewing the troubling email again. With a stubborn tap of her thumb, she turned the device off, and instead, focused on the back of George’s head. He still insisted on wearing a traditional black chauffer’s cap over his neatly cropped white hair. His raincoat matched the hat. George was much more than a chauffeur. He was a personal assistant and attended to every matter with discretion and few questions. The time would come when he would grow too old to continue, but Amanda valued his silent camaraderie.

As they pulled out of the BLUE-LINK garage, it took only moments to get bogged down in cars. One would expect everyone to be home by now, but this intersection seemed to pulse with activity twenty-four hours a day. Cars, buses, cyclists, pedestrians—all vied for dominance. George handled each obstacle skillfully. Amanda worried about the day he lost those reactionary skills. Not so much for herself, but for George. This was his passion. BLUE-LINK was his life.

I think I’ll try Lombard Street.

Rare words from a soft-spoken man.

That’s fine, George. I’m in no rush.

In the rearview mirror she saw his eyebrow inch up his hat. Okay, in all fairness she was always in a rush. But not tonight. Tonight she was out of sorts.

Gazing out the window as their car turned onto a side street, Amanda peered into the heavy shadows that loomed beneath empty office buildings. There were no pubs or stores along this stretch—just the rear entrances and alleys behind some of the most powerful financial establishments. It was a shortcut to her apartment building, one that she had walked many times despite George’s berating.

Out of the darkness two figures loomed, their faces obscured beneath hoods. George slowed down to avoid the shadows as they crossed into the middle of the road. Amanda expected them to continue onto the opposite sidewalk. Instead, they stood rooted, facing the Mercedes head on until George was forced to halt or risk hitting them. He beeped the horn, but they marched towards the vehicle.

Get down, Amanda, he uttered thickly. I’ve pressed the 999 call.

This may be nothing, George.

The denial sounded lame even to her ears.

Headlights revealed that both men were sheathed in dark clothes from head to toe, but she couldn’t tell if they were armed. They honed in on the car, one tapping the hood. George slammed down on the horn again, the sound reverberating in the narrow alley. No one came to assist.

The garish crash of glass made Amanda shriek. Shards rained across her arm and leg, but her coat deflected any damage. She had been so engrossed with the two men at the front of the vehicle, she had missed the shadow that crept up and shattered the rear driver side window. Even now, she could see his pale hand reaching in, clawing at the interior handle.

Reacting on instinct, she hiked her leg up and cracked that intrusive hand with her high heel. She was slightly off the mark and futilely heard the handle click as the back door released.

Oh my God.

What were his intentions? To shoot her? To kidnap her?

Before the door could swing open wide enough, the screech of tires pierced the alley as her neck jerked with the reverse velocity.

Sirens sounded in the distance.

Registering George’s evasive maneuver, she launched onto her side and reached for the car door, yanking it shut.

Headlights illuminated three profiles shrinking in the alley as the Mercedes sped in reverse and fishtailed awkwardly into an intersecting road. Amanda cringed as the vehicle propelled towards a train of headlights—a rampant car about to cross their tracks.

Horns blared. Shouts were heard. Sirens grew closer.

All faded behind the blood thumping inside her ears.

It seemed to take forever, when in actuality the car probably skidded to a halt in seconds, miraculously avoiding impact with any other vehicles. Instead, it wrenched into a streetlamp with a grisly crunch.

Amanda, George rasped, are you alright?

George’s ashen face turned to look back at her. The grooves around his mouth and eyes looked like the aftermath of an earthquake. His cap was knocked askew and white spokes of hair stuck out on one side.

Composure. She was the master of composure. Even if her hands shook. Even if she panted slightly. Even if her heart pounded enough to break a rib—she took a deep breath and shelved the effects.

I’m okay, George. I see the police coming now. We’re going to be fine. What incredible maneuvering. You— Somehow the words, saved us, couldn’t slip out. Acknowledging them would force her to acknowledge their near fate.

I’m afraid I dinged up the Merc some.

Amanda glanced at the blanket of glass on the back seat glowing white from the overhead light.

Indeed, she said. We’ll just use the Audi next time.

The next morning, Amanda walked to work. It was 6am and much too early for thugs, she figured. Perhaps her heels snapped a tad quicker on the sidewalk, but even in stride, her mind was chronicling the meetings scheduled for the day. A new BLUE-LINK office was opening in Oslo. Having already steeped herself in Scandinavian culture, she was prepared to brief the branch supervisor. After that, a video call to Malaysia to follow up on an assessment for a company based in Germany, and immediately following that, a meeting with the accountants.

Crossing the street, she eyed the entrance to the alley they had taken last night. An ornate street lamp leaned abnormally. Other than that there was no trace of the incident. The car had been towed. The glass had been swept. London barely blinked at the disruption.

Amanda hastened her steps but refused to be intimidated by the attack. Alright, the CEO and founder of a global company should not be marching six blocks to work in the morning, but she needed excursions like this to clear her mind. She even enjoyed a quick brew at the pub across from BLUE-LINK headquarters upon occasion.

Despite how everyone saw her, she was human. They didn’t see the human side, though. They saw an Ice Queen. Fair hair. Pale skin. Blue eyes. A swift-moving glacier. A woman who was calculating and relentless.

God, how blind they were. All of them.

Yes, she was shrewd and fierce when it came to running her company. What they perceived as a relentless businesswoman without compassion was in fact a woman whose passion ruled her.

BLUE-LINK wasn’t about money. She had enough money to never work a day in her life. BLUE-LINK was about atonement. Redemption. No matter how many years had passed, the image of her parents on that barren stretch of road was forever emblazoned in her mind. She could not exorcise it. Instead of crumbling under the weight of that memory, she sought to avenge them—to ensure that no other aspiring entrepreneurs met with such a malicious fate. Her parents had not done their due diligence when seeking out business in a foreign country. BLUE-LINK executed that due diligence. BLUE-LINK assessed all potential risks. Climate. Civil unrest. Politics. If one of BLUE-LINK’s clients started up an operation in a foreign country, they did so armed with all the facts.

As Amanda slipped through the main sliding glass entryway of BLUE-LINK headquarters, she offered a quick nod to the two security guards. The entrance was guarded 24 hours a day. There were no material commodities to steal inside this building. The value was in the knowledge and sensitive information stored here. She would spare no expense to ensure the security of her employees and clients.

And yet, she traveled those six blocks on foot this morning—a walking paradox.

Her heels tapped against the marble floor as an elevator opened before her, triggered by a photo sensor. Inside stood George in his vintage uniform of a black London Fog raincoat and cap. His arms were crossed and his expression was stern.

Amanda held up a hand to fend off his censure.

Don’t start, she ordered, joining him on the elevator.

The brooding silence at her side had her adding, "And