home | books | services | POD INFO | contact

"Calypso's Revenge: A Traitor's Heart"
Genre: Sci-Fi/Futuristic with Romantic Elements

"Calypso's Revenge: A Traitor's Heart"
Genre: Sci-Fi/Futuristic with Romantic Elements

#1 Bestselling Science Fiction e-Title at Women-Authors.net (Dec08)
A Fictionwise.com Top 20 Bestselling Title in the Science Fiction Category
An Amazon.com Top 25 Hot New Release (Kindle Version)

Available at: Amazon.com

From Blue Leaf Publications!

Cover Blurb:

Former Brigadier Teah Valtamise is wanted for killing her partner and abandoning her post. Eight years since she fled Calypso, she thinks she’s out testing her newest protégés skills however the solid sensation of a gun to the back of her head tells her otherwise. Now in the hands of an old comrade, as Teah works to save the life of an innocent oblivious to the depth of one man’s vengeance, will she be prepared to sacrifice everything--a chance at love, an old friendship, and possibly, her own life--to do what she knows is right?

 

Reviews:

"Teah is one of the finest leading ladies, I’ve read...balanced with smarts, strength, and emotions..." Chris Chat Reviews

"Calypso’s Revenge is about the choices we make and the sacrifices that are demanded of us... It’s about having the courage to do what’s right rather than what’s easy... It’s also one of the best books I’ve read in a while...a hard book to put down. I suspect it will be even more difficult to forget..." PG Forte, MyShelf.com

"This book cost me a night's sleep. That's not a complaint; it's a high compliment. Bailee's heroine is utterly real, both woman and soldier, and her story ends in a manner that's anything else but cliched. Romantic speculative fiction that refuses to follow the conventions of either genre, romance or SF, and charts its own course instead. Highly original and loads of fun!" -- Nina M. Osier, author of HIGH PLACES and EPPIE winner REGS 

"Teah is such a strong, versatile, and likeable character. She’s so powerful, she makes me feel like a stronger woman myself!" -- Kathy Stemke, Author of "Moving Through All Seven Days" and "Trouble on Earth Day", http://kathystemke.weebly.com

 

Excerpt:

Alone in the middle of the street, Teah waited for the vehicles to groan to a stop. Then there was the sound of the doors opening. Shading her vision with her hood, she could just make out two forms disembarking.

“Hey, what-cha doing there?” a voice called out from behind the first set of lights.

The wounded man rasped from behind her, “Rashton....”

“Milcan?” Rashton went to move.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Teah warned.

The man refocused on her. “Really now; and just who the hell are you?”

Another person exited the vehicle. “What’s the problem?”

“Nothing, Arkla. Some idiot—” Rashton answered.

“Well, just get him out of the way.”

“Can’t.”

“Why not.”

“Looks like they’s done killed Rattop and Milcan won’t live much longer.”

“Well, then, I guess you know what this means....” came the chuckled reply—right before she heard the telltale click of a safety being released.

However, it was their mistake not running ready for battle.

Without even flinching, Teah killed the first one with the extended-range pistol she kept strapped to her thigh before he even had the chance to draw—but the victory was short-lived for, by the time the first man hit the ground, the second already had her in his sights.

Bullets whined past her as she surged to the shelter of an alley. Pressed against the wall, she caught her breath then carefully aimed around the corner at the figure squatting behind an open vehicle door.

Not a clear shot. She lowered her focus and fired.

The bullet deflected off the ground and came up underneath the frame.

The man jumped up, surprised, exposing his head.

She quickly finished the task then dropped into a crouch to track the stilted movements of the rest of her quarry.

Not including the wounded man lying in the street, there were three more left.

A flick of a switch on the side of her gun. The interior of the sight glowed. She stared into it, watching the red-blue shapes reveal themselves.

A high-pitched ricochet.

The bullet-chipped masonry near her head rained down. She pressed against the wall and judged the distance to a nearby roof.

Reholstering her weapon, she took a small canister from her belt and turned the dial on the top. The green light confirmed its setting. With a hand shading her eyes, she tossed it into the center of the street.

A spewed a string of epithets as a bright white flash filled the passageway.

Springing from cover, she jumped up onto a crate then to a shoddy awning. By the time she made the roof, bullets were spraying in various directions as the panicked men below searched for her.

She hunched down beside the narrow, foot-and-a-half wall surrounding the claylike roof of the structure, and again drew her gun. Carefully, she leaned over the edge, sighting the first target—a slow squeeze of the trigger.

Bam! The man stood, gurgled for a moment beside his startled comrade, the one she’d injured earlier, then fell.

“She’s on the roof!” came the cry.

There was a sudden shifting of bodies.

She did the same.

Now at the other corner of the roof, she took aim and, soon again, another target slumped to the ground. Almost bored with the easy shots the elevation had provided, she was slowly searching for the last man when she felt a hard metal object press firmly against the base of her skull.

“Get up....” a man’s voice said.

What the...? She swore that he sounded familiar, but still didn’t move. “Sorry, can’t do that just yet.”

“Why?” he asked.

No, it couldn’t be.... Not this far out... Her mind raced with questions; yet, she forced herself to keep focused on her quarry as she answered, “Because I have to finish this.”

“What? Murdering those men?” he spat.

“If that’s what you want to call it.” Teah leaned into the scope, searching for the telltale sign of body heat. “So, just let me finish, then we can do our thing, okay?”

“Pull that trigger and I’ll do the same,” he warned.

A bead of sweat trickled down her neck as she replied, trying to sound much cooler than she felt. “Fine.... But I really don’t think you want to do that.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because, if that was the case, I’d already be dead.” She knew her response was a gamble, but in her position, risk was typically all she had.

A long moment, then he replied, “Fine. But the bounties are mine.”

The corner of her mouth curled in victory, even if the trigger felt stiff under her finger. Seemed she’d been right about his intentions, and even more so about who it was. She squeezed the trigger as the remaining slaver’s impatience did him in with the bullet that went cleanly through his skull.

With a slow exhale, Teah carefully lowered her gun to the dirty rooftop, while keeping her hands plainly visible.

“Happy now?” he quietly asked.

No, she wasn’t; for she hated killing and always had. But, it made little difference, because the truth was, right now, those men were the least of her worries.

Rolling onto her knees, she slowly stood, keeping her back to him.

And as she did, “Teahalandra Valtamise,” he started, confirming that he already knew who she was, “acting upon an officially recorded warrant for seizure, you are hereby under arrest for the crimes of sedition and murder. Anything you say from this point on can be used against you in your tribunal....”

Dammit... The words flitted through her mind like an ancient memory as she stared out across the low-slung rooftops, watching a random patterning of shooting stars race across the sky then flicker before fading to black. Of all people, how the hell did I end up cornered by one of my old classmates from the Academy?

“Well, well, well....” she softly replied. “Hello, Commander Ryker.”

There was a long silence then he muttered a curse.

Teah chuckled. “Been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah. About eight years.” A pause, then back to business. “I’d like to do this nicely, so just go ahead and remove your weaponry.”

“Oh, really....” She smiled slightly to herself. “Well, that may take some time.”

“I can wait.”

“Fine.” Slowly, she unsecured the faded mantle that covered her and let it fall to the roof, hoping her sleek black outfit would reveal all the right curves in all the right places.

By the sharp intake of breath behind her, she realized he might like what he saw.

And I just might be able to use that to my advantage... “So then, may I ask how you found me?” she asked.

“Trust me, I didn’t plan on it.” He snorted under his breath. “I just had a lead on that bunch. There’s a DOA bounty out on most of them. So, when things started getting loud, I came to check it out. Ironic I found you here though, isn’t it?”

“To say the least.” Teah rested her fingertips on her belt buckle. The thought crossed her mind that she couldn’t just let this happen like this. “Uhm, you do know you don’t have to do this. I mean, you could just let me go.”

“No. I can’t,” he replied.

But, she already knew that. So, with a flip of the clasp, she let her belt fall to the sandy roof with a dull thud, then slowly turned to face him. His steel blue eyes held hers for a long moment; then she lowered her attention to check out the similar sleek black uniform he wore that covered his six-foot-two frame, fitting snugly around his wide well-developed shoulders and narrow waist.

Returning to study his face, she found it nicely tanned from being out in the sun, but shadowed enough by the subtle growth of a beard to make him seem even more dangerous than he was. A thin, lighter-colored scar near his left ear accentuated his jaw. His dark close-cropped hair was fringed with silver on the sides, showing his maturing age.

And, Wow.... was all she could think of at the moment. She’d known he’d been nice-looking back at the Academy, but, boy, had he definitely aged well. Suddenly, her heart stepped it up a notch as an inviting warmth centered deep in her belly.

She forced herself to refocus. “Well, actually, yes, you could,” she said, continuing her plea. “I mean, no one would really know the difference.”

His expression darkened slightly. “No. I would...and that’s all that matters; so, put your hands out.... And no funny stuff.”

She let a broad smile escape. “Who, me?”

“I mean it, Valtamise. I would prefer to not have to do this the hard way.”

The hard way. She almost snorted. As if there were any other way. She tilted her head slightly, her smile fading. “Okay, then, but one more quick question.”

“Fine.”

“You alone...?”

© 2000-2017 All Rights Reserved Notice: This website contains copyrighted materials. Please do not use or "borrow" any material from this site without the owner's explicit permission.