A Pathway Short Adventure Collection: Volumes 1 - 3: The Pathway Series, #4

By Kristy McCaffrey

After reading the novel DEEP BLUE, don't miss three exciting short stories featuring shark researcher Dr. Grace Mann and her boyfriend, underwater filmmaker Alec Galloway.

 

DEEP BLUE AUSTRALIA

When Grace accompanies Alec to Western Australia for a commercial shoot with great whites, she envisions relaxing days in the sun and smoldering nights between the sheets. But as Alec's mood becomes increasingly distant, Grace worries the chemistry they shared—so effortless in the beginning—was starting to fizzle. Is his reticence related to her, or something else? And can she find a way to help him get the footage he needs before his behavior places his life in danger?

 

DEEP BLUE REUNION ISLAND

Grace joins Alec on a trip to the French island of Réunion. Alec and his team—Dan "Double D" Donovan and Stephie Kim—are documenting the capture and relocation of mature bull sharks from the western coastline. For over ten years, shark attacks have terrorized the people of Réunion, essentially ruining the diving and surfing industry. The relocation program is a last-ditch effort to bring a peaceful coexistence between humans and sharks, but Grace's resolve is tested as she enters the water with these tenacious predators. Bull sharks didn't earn their name because they were polite.

 

DEEP BLUE COCOS ISLAND

Grace is invited to participate in a documentary alongside several distinguished female marine scientists, and Alec, Double D, and Stephie come along to film them in the waters off Cocos Island near Costa Rica. Grace is still dealing with recent criticism of the film Alec made of her last year diving with great white sharks, and in the company of such accomplished women, she struggles to keep her insecurities at bay. When differing viewpoints lead to friction, Grace must learn to stand up for herself, but a bright spot emerges when Alec makes a surprise decision about their relationship.

 

Each Pathway novel can be read as a stand-alone, but don't miss the other books.

Book 1: Deep Blue (Dr. Grace Mann and Alec Galloway)

Book 2: Cold Horizon (Lindsey Coulson and Tyler Galloway)

Book 3: Ancient Winds (Dr. Tristan Magee and Brynn Galloway)

 

After reading the novels, enjoy these short stories in The Pathway Series:

Book 4: A Pathway Short Adventure Collection

     (includes Deep Blue Australia, Deep Blue Réunion Island, and Deep Blue Cocos Island)

Book 5: Cold Horizon Telluride

Book 6: Shark Reef

 

Novella
Book 7: Sapphire Waves (Dr. Missy Rembert and Dr. Josh McKittrick) – includes bonus short story Deep Blue Hawai'i

 

Related novella:

Blue Sage (Dr. Audrey Driggs and Braden Delaney)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kristy McCaffrey
• Release date: May 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781952801006

Book preview

A Pathway Short Adventure CollectionA Pathway Short Adventure Collection Book Cover

A PATHWAY SHORT ADVENTURE COLLECTION

THE PATHWAY SERIES BOOK 4

KRISTY MCCAFFREY

VOLUMES 1 - 3

CONTENTS

The Pathway Series

Praise for Deep Blue

Deep Blue Australia

Book Blurb

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Deep Blue Réunion Island

Book Blurb

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Deep Blue Cocos Island

Book Blurb

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

The Pathway Series

About the Author

The Pathway Series

Deep Blue

Cold Horizon

Ancient Winds

Sapphire Waves

Blue Sage (related novella)

Deep Blue Australia*

Deep Blue Réunion Island*

Deep Blue Cocos Island*

Deep Blue Hawai’i*

Cold Horizon Telluride*

Shark Reef*

*Short stories in the Pathway universe

Praise for Deep Blue

A sexy adventure packed with spine-tingling suspense … and sharks! ~ Ann Charles, USA Today Bestselling Author

An…engaging tale…McCaffrey has clearly done her research… [she] effectively increases the tension every time Grace enters the water; readers will never know what will happen next. ~ Kirkus Reviews

A hunky filmmaker and great whites, what’s not to love? ~ Lynne Bryant, InD’tale Magazine

Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. ~ Robin, Romancing the Book

This book has it all … danger, intrigue, romance, scientific fact and a fast-paced plot … ~ Allison Brady, Love Books Group

I truly recommend this great read. ~ Night Owl Romance

… a powerful story … ~ D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

… a mix of romance, thriller and sharks … ~ Donna M. Maguire, donnasbookblog

… like shark week in a book … ~ Rachel H., reader

2019 Write Touch Readers’ Award – Second Place in Long Contemporary

2019 Carolyn Readers’ Choice Award – Finalist in Contemporary Romance

2019 I Heart Indie Contest – Finalist

A Pathway Short Adventure Collection Volumes 1 – 3

Deep Blue Australia

Deep Blue Réunion Island

Deep Blue Cocos Island

Copyright © 2020 K. McCaffrey LLC

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means now known or hereafter invented, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author, Kristy McCaffrey.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is coincidental.

Cover Design: Okay Creations

Illustrator: penny.illustration

Editor: Mimi The Grammar Chick

Author Photo: Katy McCaffrey

eISBN: 978-1-952801-00-6

Print ISBN-13: 978-1-952801-01-3

http://kmccaffrey.com/

[e-mail]

Vellum flower icon Created with Vellum

DEEP BLUE AUSTRALIA

When shark researcher Grace Mann accompanies her boyfriend, underwater filmmaker Alec Galloway, to Western Australia for a commercial shoot with great whites, she envisions relaxing days in the sun and smoldering nights between the sheets. But as Alec’s mood becomes increasingly distant, Grace worries that maybe the chemistry they shared—so effortless in the beginning—was starting to fizzle. Is his reticence related to her, or something else? And can she find a way to help him get the footage he needs before his behavior places his life in danger?

CHAPTER 1

South Australia

Neptune Islands

February

A re you getting in the water, Dr. Mann?

Grace smiled at the platinum blonde woman and her thick Australian accent. Not yet.

Maria, the resident cook on the Aquarius—a 120-foot liveaboard—leaned beside Grace and rested her tanned arms upon the railing of the upper deck. They both watched the scene unfolding below on the aft platform.

That Mr. Galloway is a looker.

Grace raised an eyebrow but kept it hidden from the girl by turning her face away. Of all the people on this five-day expedition to film a television commercial, Maria had seemed the friendliest and most approachable. But if the girl were sniffing around Alec, then Grace would have to cease friendly relations.

Grace’s gaze landed on the man in question, and her pulse kicked up a notch.

He is a looker.

Surely the girl knew that Grace and Alec were together. Didn’t she?

She and Alec didn’t flaunt their relationship, but he was her boyfriend. She suppressed the urge to say it aloud, annoyed by the sudden burst of insecurity. It didn’t help that since Grace had met up with Alec in Port Lincoln two days ago, he’d been distant. His diving partner, Dan Donovan—otherwise known as Double D—and Stephie Kim, Galloway Films’ underwater photographer, had kept Grace company during dinner while Alec had been oddly quiet. Even their lovemaking that night had felt reserved despite reuniting after a three-week separation.

Maybe unbeknownst to her, he was the strong silent type, and the easy demeanor he’d displayed in Mexico last fall during their expedition to Guadalupe Island had been out-of-the-ordinary.

He’s just stressed about the job. That had to be it.

Grace tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, then adjusted the sun visor on her forehead, attempting to chase away her relationship worries.

It didn’t help that Alec’s California surf-boy looks invariably drew the opposite sex to him; it had certainly snagged Grace’s attention when she had first met him last August. Then later, during the expedition, she’d been forced into close quarters with him while he filmed a documentary of her freediving with great whites, and she’d eventually thrown her professional rules on fraternizing with coworkers aside.

She’d been head-over-heels ever since.

You’re more qualified than those actors. Maria nodded to where Alec and Double D were trying to bring Jasper and Nora up to speed on getting in the water with great white sharks. It was the first day of filming, and Alec wanted to get the actors in the ocean for a test run since the weather was sunny and clear.

This isn’t my shoot, Grace said. I’m just here as Mr. Galloway’s girlfriend. So much for holding her tongue. A lifetime of studying and swimming with sharks had taught Grace to police her boundaries with a keen eye.

Maria released a slight gasp of surprise, her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink. Sorry. I didn’t realize you two were bumping uglies.

Now it was Grace’s turn to blush as she stared at Maria, and then she laughed. That’s one way of putting it.

Maria appeared to relax, and the tension in the air dissipated.

Truthfully, Grace was happy to have her relationship with Alec out in the open. On the last expedition, Alec had had a groupie—a young grad student named Mackenzie—who had followed him around with lust and interest in her eyes. And Grace had been unable to deter the girl, because she’d wanted to keep her budding relationship with Alec under wraps. It was a relief when Alec finally let it slip to everyone, including Grace’s ex, Brad.

Mackenzie had backed off. Brad, on the other hand, had been ready to fight it out, not for Grace’s honor, but because he knew his career would be knocked off-track if he couldn’t keep Grace under his thumb.

But, as frequently happens in life and work, Mackenzie and Brad moved on.

Grace gripped the railing.

Was the spark between her and Alec already starting to wane? Even she and Brad hadn’t fizzled out so quickly.

She chewed her lip, worry pinching her forehead. She and Alec spent too much time apart. Perhaps indifference was inevitable.

I saw the documentary about you, Maria said. They should have hired you for this commercial.

That’s nice of you to say, but after Alec and his team are done here, I’m headed to Perth for my own work. I’m just trying to stay out of the way. And warm Alec’s bunk at night.

Hah. So much for being a progressive woman. But she didn’t care. Time with Alec was to be savored whenever the two of them could match their schedules.

Grace’s best friend, Missy, octopus researcher and fun-loving party girl, would tell her to embrace it. Don’t give up your career, Gracie, but when you can, wow the shit out of Alec in bed.

She and Alec had shared smoldering chemistry between the sheets from the start, but had the wow factor left them? Clearly, she needed to up her game in that arena if she was to keep the attention of the man who had made her believe in happily-ever-after again.

What’s in Perth? Maria asked.

My grad student, Tony, and I will be setting up a beach test of my Shark Sonar Array.

I remember that from the film. It tracks sharks in a grid area and sends alerts to people who want to get in the water, right?

Grace nodded. That’s the idea, although for now the data will feed to the local lifeguard station. Eventually, we hope to have an app that can be downloaded to cell phones, making it quick and easy for beachgoers to know if there are sharks off the coast that they need to be aware of.

Perth would be the first real-world testing of the design she had been developing for the last two years. The most difficult part had been the neural network, a deep learning code that she’d worked her ass off writing. And it was finally functional. While marine biology was her passion, she had earned her Ph.D. in computer science specifically to implement this project that had begun with her dad—famed white shark researcher Dr. Eddie Mann—when Grace was just a girl. She hoped he would be proud from his perch somewhere in Heaven.

Down below, the deckhands—a young man named Charlie, and Alice, a tough-looking female—were getting the diving cage into the water. Alec, his gray t-shirt straining across his shoulders, was crouched near Nora trying to explain something about the breathing apparatus she would be using. Grace had kept her distance, not wanting to hover, but all Alec had to do was ask and she’d help. From the blank look on Jasper’s face, Grace guessed neither he nor Nora had much, if any, diving experience.

Alec had his work cut out for him.

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