The Rookie

By Amber Malloy

A pioneer in the medical industry, Kai Akina's company is being personally targeted by the government. He wants to release a vaccine that will cure the flu for the masses, but not everyone wants the serum accessible to the public. Not to mention, mysterious deaths in the medical community have gained his attention. Colleagues from around the world are dying under suspicious circumstances, and the scientist believes he's next. Forced to enlist professional help, he reluctantly hires J8 to figure out who's trying to kill him.

Zoe King screwed up. Indebted to J8, the former spy is forced to return the favor … or else. The minute Zoe lays eyes on Kai Akina she's in trouble. The half Black/Asian scientist is angelic, and the song "God's Plan" instantly enters her mind when she takes in the beautiful man. Zoe's jobs are generally a get-in and get-out, one-and-done type of situation, but the hands-on approach doesn't help her growing attraction to the scientist. Joined at the hip from the moment the former spy is assigned to Kai, the couple must fight their attraction while working in his company.

• Language: English
• Publisher: After Hours Publications
• Release date: May 14, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224852437

Book preview

THE ROOKIE

Table of Contents

Title Page

The Rookie

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Epilogue

A Novel By,

AMBER MALLOY

©2024 After Hours Publications

All rights reserved.

Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage without express permission by the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Contains explicit language & adult themes suitable for ages 17+

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Chapter One

All Zoe King had to do was return a stolen painting to its rightful owner ... easy peasy, right? However, the throbbing sensation that knocked around in her dome made things a bit difficult. A no-muss, no-fuss job had turned into her semi-successfully fighting off four goons. Any event that occurred after that had been deleted from her brain’s hard drive.

Sweetie, I know you can hear me, Eden Morgan cooed in her ear.

Arghhh, she groaned. Anybody but the head of J8.

You’ve been doped and primed for torture. You can thank me for saving your ass later. In the meantime, I suggest you wake up.

Against Zoe’s better judgment, she opened her heavy eyelids. At least the right one, the left still needed coaxing.

A pungent smell of ammonia mixed with piss filled her nostrils, while the stark bright lights shocked her senses into gear. Struggling to sit up, she swallowed back the taste of bile burning the inner lining of her throat.

Who the hell strapped me to a wheelchair?

Da fuq? she croaked, the froggy sound of her voice coming out in a jumbled slur. Confused at the prettily painted nails unlatching the restraint on her right arm, she bucked against Eden’s touch.

Do the other one, the spy instructed, and brace yourself.

Just let me die, Zoe begged. Her tongue stuck to the side of her dry mouth. Positive she’d been sedated, Zoe closed her eyes for a tiny nap.

No can do, sweet pea. You know how much I love to cash in on favors, and this one is going to be a biggie.

Peeking her good eye open again, she caught their reflection in the window, before smacking at the gorgeous lunatic’s hand.

Ahhh, those are cute, she cooed, at the sexy fit of Eden’s phony scrubs. The head of J8 almost appeared nurturing while pushing her toward certain death. Without further conversation, Eden turned around and opened fire at the men who tracked them.

No, no, no, no, Zoe cried at the red beam of light streaming into the window before shattering it into a million pieces. Tightly squeezing her eyelids shut, she prayed while the bat-shit-crazy woman shoved her wheelchair into the void. An okay swimmer by most standards, she wouldn’t be selected for the Olympics.

Fuck it! Releasing her attachments to this earthly realm, Zoe took solace in the free fall that smacked her into a hard body of water. Sinking underneath the dark waves, she gladly accepted her fate. 

THE SOFT CLOUD THAT caressed her face lured her deeper into its bosom.

Hey, I don’t have much time, the sophisticated lilt of Ashe Knight’s voice whispered in her ear.

Uh-huh. Zoe drowsily opened her eyes to the vision who rocked her stark white hair with dazzling brown skin impeccably. Ashe reeked of sorority girl realness as she knelt close to her bed.

Feeling entirely too cozy, Zoe sunk into the warmth of the bed and let her former roommate’s words tickle her ears.

The twins are coming, and I just wanted to warn you that the last rescue is going to cost you. Lola is out for blood, and Eden’s back is against the wall, soooo ...

What’s new? She tripped over her thick tongue while snuggling deeper into the fluffy comforter.

Maybe I made it into heaven. Zoe giggled; angels would never let Eden or Lola close to that place.

Fine, have it your way. Ashe placed a sweet peck on her forehead. Glad you’re back.

Never, Zoe muttered. She’d sooner chew off her arm than work for J8 again. 

As she slipped in and out of REM sleep, familiar voices floated around her head. Determined to slip back into the realm of unicorns, rainbows, or Smurfs ... Scratch that, no blue hat freaks, maybe Berry Bitty City instead. Strawberry Shortcake and her gang seemed far less chaotic.

Get up, Zoe, Eden demanded.

That’s probably the best night’s sleep she’s had since she bailed on cadet school, Lola chimed in. 

Technically, yes. The Latina bombshell had guessed correctly, but Zoe would never admit that out loud. 

Come on. Eden shook her head.  The faster we get this over with the faster you can go back to dreamland.

Not if I sleep forever, Zoe mumbled, hating the way she’d always bitched down to these nutjobs. Peeking one eye open, she caught the streams of light slipping through the slate blinds. Shadows played off the two sexy predators who slunk into people’s nightmares to murder them in their sleep. Lola, the really crazy one, leaned her ass against the wall and regarded her with a blank stare, while Eden sat at the desk with a lopsided smirk.

This is hell, right? Zoe pondered out loud.

Keep prolonging this, Lola purred, and we’ll make sure it comes sooner rather than later,

Fine. She pushed herself onto the headboard with a groan. Her whole body ached, no doubt from the smack she took when she hit that hard-ass water. What do you two she-devils want?

Is that any way to treat the people who just saved your life? Lola poked. 

Didn’t ask, she grumbled through the pain of her muddled head. However, the fact that Eden hadn’t said much didn’t escape her.

Without the foggiest idea where she was, Zoe appreciated her posh accommodations. Saturated in every hue of cream, the biggest girly girl would gush with joy at the room's touch of soft life interior.

We have a meeting in an hour, be ready.

Whaaaa ... I don’t work for you, Zoe said, shrugging them off.

Are you sure? Because we’ll be more than happy to give you back to those Italian mobsters, Eden stated.

They were seconds away from slicing you into pieces and selling the good parts on the black market, Lola hummed.

No, what had happened was ... She reached for one of her locs, but didn’t find one hanging low in her face like usual. Instead, Zoe patted her head, finding the silkiest of scarves covering her hair. Well damn, with this type of five-star treatment, she’d have to play dead more often.

Please spare us that Robinhood spiel you give to your clients. Lola moaned. Tapping the side of her mouth, she turned to Eden. Sometimes my English is not so good. How you say ... messed up, dummy broad goofed? Lola clapped her hands before pointing at her. You, Zoe King, goofed when you tried to steal a painting from the man’s arch nemesis. The raven-haired beauty’s grin was downright eerie. Did you even bother to run a background check on that so-called, Lola threw up sarcastic quote marks with her fingers, retired millionaire?

Yes. She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. And no one says arch nemesis anymore. Sinking farther down into the cushy ass bed, Zoe refused to allow these sociopaths to bully her, but damn her head hurt. Before she could tell them exactly where they could shove their meeting, Lola and Eden moved in perfect precision across the room.

We have a job for you. Be ready in an hour, Lola demanded as she opened the door.

The two women slipped out of sight without another word. 

Not bothering to wait for them to be fully out of earshot, Zoe picked up a pillow and screamed with all of her might into the fluffiest damn cushion she’d ever laid her head upon.

Chapter Two

Daylight savings dipped the city into darkness for most of the day. Not exactly a fan of the prolonged night hours, Kai Akina had Vitamin D lights installed all throughout his house.  As he dropped his latest results from the clinical trials for the immunization drug C55 papers on his desk, he hit the talk button on his earbuds. 

Mom, he said with light humor. Any variance in his tone would send her straight over the edge.

Earlier this week, his COO, Hayden Cartwright, was arrested for fraud. A business associate since the inception of Big Vibes, he wouldn’t say they were best friends, but Kai didn’t believe it to be true.

Someone had it out for the scientific community and Big Vibes appeared to be numero uno on their hit list.

Baby, we met with the head of that agency today, you should give them a chance.

Thanks, but I have everything under control. Kai checked the microscope, making sure they were on schedule for his second round of clinical trials. He introduced a foreign cell onto the slide and found nothing had changed. Leaving the clean-up for his assistant, he yanked off his gloves and trashed them in the receptacle under the counter.

Honey?

Sorry. He pulled himself away from his work. What were you saying?

These people really know what they’re doing, Mom pushed.

They work for the government? Kai refused to deal with firms who held dual allegiance.

No, that mess was a long time ago and it has nothing to do with the team in charge today.

Sliding his hand past the lab’s sensor, he pushed open the glass door. To simplify his life, Kai surgically implanted a chip in his hand. No one could get into his home lab without it.

Look, Mom, I’ve got everything under control, he told her, yanking the net off of his head. His hair fell to his waist. Don’t worry.

That’s all I do, she sighed.

Two of his former college friends had gone missing, while a third had unexpectedly died of a heart attack at the age of thirty-five. A heart murmur was what the official coroner’s report stated. Of course, if that were true, signs would have been detected several months prior at his physical. Kai wished he could assuage her guilt, but his mom’s feelings weren’t without merit.

Kai placed his hand in the open mouth of the fishbowl that sat on the sideboard near his front door. After grabbing a handful of dead crickets, he tossed them into his koi pond. The orange stunners swiftly swam over to gobble up their treats.

Do me a favor and stop worrying, Kai said while making his way into the heart of his Lakeshore home. It might give you an undeserved wrinkle in that beautiful face.

Oh, you. The tinkle of her girlish giggles warmed him.

Let me hop on this work call real quick and we’ll pick this back up when I’m done.

Promise? she asked.

He felt bad for making her worry, but unless he wanted to spend the rest of his life under a rock, this was how he needed to proceed.

Promise, he replied before disconnecting their call. Trading his earbuds for his headset, Kai dialed into the secure number for his team.

Twelve monitors sprung to life with a little wiggle of his mouse. Several of his colleagues’ heads and shoulders appeared in front of him. A couple of them obscured their faces with caps, scarves, or masks. Kai didn’t bother with such theatrics; he’d already programmed a filter on his screen in case someone managed to hack their network.

Ready, Black Sun Warrior? Jaxon, his college roommate, greeted him by his screen name.

Next month, Kai would be called in to defend C55, his vaccine, in front of congress. Even though his drug would eradicate several variants of influenza with a single shot, insurance agencies, and pharmaceutical companies refused to let millions of dollars slip away from their bottom line without a fight.

Since we are working on this problem in-house, we want a fast turnaround ... Kai ran down the plan for their private security team to storm the castle. Since he needed this mission to be quick in and out, he voted on the path of least resistance. 

According to Kai’s sources, files from his former colleague’s work would be destroyed before midnight.

Instead of putting any of their lives in danger, the team decided to use robotic camel spiders. They could maneuver around the cameras, alarms, and infrared technology with little to no detection. Regular security measures would be easy to bypass, and the whole operation should be over in less than thirty minutes.

Okay, let’s get started.

ZOE SCALED THE SIDE of the skyscraper with the primo suction gloves J8 had supplied her. Peering into each window with her night goggles, she made sure to track the cleaning staff’s progress. Her old agency always had the most up-to-date technology. Other than her former roommate, Ashe, the perks were the only thing she’d missed about the place. 

Number one in her cadet class, Zoe was ready to slay the spy world, until she’d found out about J8’s secret involvement with the government. The whole setup had