Critical Intelligence Read online

  Contents

  Title

  Copyright

  Mandy M. Roth, Online

  Suggested Reading Order of Books Released to Date ...

  Blurb

  Dedication and Note from the Author

  Praise for Mandy M. Roth’s Immortal Ops World

  Immortal Ops Series Helper

  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 Nineteen

  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

  Dear Reader

  Critical Intelligence: 2016 Anniversary Edition (Immortal Ops)

  By

  Mandy M. Roth

  Critical Intelligence (Immortal Ops) © Copyright July 2005 - 2016, Mandy M. Roth

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  First Electronic Printing 2005

  Third Electronic Printing 2016

  All books copyrighted to the author and may not be resold or given away without written permission from the author, Mandy M. Roth.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Any and all characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or events or places is merely coincidence. Novel intended for adults only. Must be 18 years or older to read.

  Published by Raven Happy Hour LLC

  www.ravenhappyhour.com

  Raven Books and all affiliate sites and projects are © Copyrighted 2004-2016

  Mandy M. Roth, Online

  Mandy loves hearing from readers and can be found interacting on social media.

  (copy & paste links into your browser window)

  Website: http://www.MandyRoth.com

  Blog: http://www.MandyRoth.com/blog

  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMandyRoth

  Twitter: @MandyMRoth

  Book Release Newsletter: mandyroth.com/newsletter.htm

  (Newsletters: I do not share emails and only send newsletters when there is a new release/contest/or sales)

  Suggested Reading Order of Books Released to Date in the Immortal Ops Series World

  This list is NOT up to date. Please check MandyRoth.com for the most current release list.

  Immortal Ops

  Critical Intelligence

  Radar Deception

  Strategic Vulnerability

  Tactical Magik

  Act of Mercy

  Administrative Control

  Act of Surrender

  Broken Communication

  Separation Zone

  Act of Submission

  Damage Report

  Act of Command

  Wolf's Surrender

  The Dragon Shifter's Duty

  And more (see Mandy’s website & sign up for her newsletter for notification of releases)

  Books In Each Series Within The Immortal Ops World.

  This list is NOT up to date. To see an updated list of the books within each series under the umbrella of the Immortal Ops World please visit MandyRoth.com. Mandy is always releasing new books within the series world. Sign up for her newsletter at MandyRoth.com to never miss a new release.

  You can read each individual series within the world, in whatever order you want...

  PSI-Ops

  Act of Mercy

  Act of Surrender

  Act of Submission

  Act of Command

  Act of Command

  And more (see Mandy’s website & sign up for her newsletter for notification of releases)

  Immortal Ops

  Immortal Ops

  Critical Intelligence

  Radar Deception

  Strategic Vulnerability

  Tactical Magik

  Administrative Control

  Separation Zone

  And more (see Mandy’s website & sign up for her newsletter for notification of releases)

  Immortal Outcasts

  Broken Communication

  Damage Report

  And more (see Mandy’s website & sign up for her newsletter for notification of releases)

  Shadow Agents

  Wolf's Surrender

  The Dragon Shifter's Duty

  And more (see Mandy’s website & sign up for her newsletter for notification of releases)

  Crimson Ops Series and Paranormal Regulators Series (Part of the Immortal Ops World) Coming Soon!

  Critical Intelligence

  Paranormal Shifter Military Special Ops Romance

  When loyalties are questioned and bonds forged, the Immortal Ops find themselves fighting a war to guard not only their secrets, but their lives as well.

  Missy Carter leads a rather boring, overworked life as a system analyst for the State Department or rather, that’s what she lets everyone believe. In reality her life is anything but boring. As a Shadow Agent with the Paranormal Security and Intelligence, she’s seen and done it all. Intelligence is her specialty, assassination is her hobby. The only problem is that the things she spies on don’t die easily. In fact, some of them were dead to begin with. She’s learned to handle anything life can throw at her. That is until the biggest paramilitary pain in her backside shows up again. Lucky for him, he’s good looking.

  Roi Majors, wolf-shifter and second in command of the I-Ops, is having a hard time believing that Intel can only get half the information needed to bring down an underground ring of vampires with big-spending backers who are hell-bent on creating a race of supernaturals with multiple strands of DNA in them. When he finds himself paired with the one woman in the world who seems immune to his self-proclaimed charms, he can’t wait to see her to safety and then bid her good riddance. He never counted on falling in love with her. And he sure in the hell never counted on her claiming to be an agent with a branch of the government no human should know about.

  Dedication and Note from the Author

  To the fans of the Immortal Ops Series, thank you for your continued dedication and for your love of the I-Ops. I can’t believe it’s been well over a decade since Immortal Ops book one was first published (2004) and even longer since it was first written. I will forever be thankful to my father for instilling in me a love of science fiction; to my grandfather for giving me such a love of history that I found myself fascinated with what the world would have been like if events ended differently—or maybe didn’t end at all (hint, hint); to my mother, who has always told me to dream big; to my brother, who was the first victim (big grin) of listening to me tell tales; to my husband for telling me to keep going, not to give up even when it seemed like the best choice; to my sons, who have brought me so much happiness (and a new appreciation for stain removal tips and tricks, not to mention making me quite the skilled cut and scrape fixer); and last but not least, to everyone who has fallen in love wi
th my characters and encouraged me to keep writing. I can’t thank you all enough for your support. In addition, I’d like everyone to remember the men and women in the Armed Services who are, at this very moment, putting their lives on the line for our freedom.

  A note from the author about the expanded editions and what inspired The Immortal Ops:

  Many things combined to create the perfect storm, if you will, for how I came up with the series idea well over a decade ago. Having been heavy into marketing and advertising and then suddenly finding myself needing to stay home to care for my boys, one of whom had additional needs, I was left craving a creative outlet.

  I first tried to get my “fix” by playing video games after the boys were asleep at night. I was online and playing the first day Xbox Live launched (November 2002). I found myself getting very into first-person-shooters and military games. The more I got into playing video games, the more I wanted to read about the actual history behind the games. I found myself talking with friends who had served our country. I would devour anything they wanted to offer, listening, completely swept up in it all. Each story shared a common theme—a strong sense of brotherhood.

  This appealed to me, and in a relatively short period of time, I decided to do something about it. That impulse, combined with my love of history, science fiction, the paranormal, and technology, as well as my love of things that go bump in the night, really was a recipe for the Immortal Ops Series to be born from my imagination. From a very early age, I’ve been fascinated with the supernatural, myths, and legends. I have always read books that revolve around the supernatural. I cut my teeth on Stephen King, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, and the classics. Two books that made a huge impression on me were The Island of Dr. Moreau and of course Dracula.

  The more I found myself digging into the history of the military and of world wars, the more I kept getting this thought in the back of my brain, pushing me forward. Urging me to combine both loves—supernatural and history. I thought, what would happen if I took a team of men who were in the military, and they were a paramilitary group, a black ops type of thing, and I combined them with my love of the paranormal?

  The scary part about the Ops series is that it was born from events that actually happened in history, just with a large fictional spin put on it. I asked myself, what if I took from history, from eugenics, which so many assume started in Nazi Germany, and threaded it into the very fabric of the military team? What if I were to take a page from history and the horrible cross-breeding attempts made by Ilya Ivanov and the Nazis to create super-soldiers, who were ape and human hybrids? And what if I were to weave in even more aspects, like cloning, additional genetic engineering, and so on? What if I went a step beyond and brought in other parts of history that revolve around attempts at making super-soldiers or controlling the minds of humans?

  What would happen?

  What would you be left with? How damaged would the men be? What kind of government would do this? What if I were to build off the history of it all, have it where America made super-soldiers behind the scenes, and then drew back and wanted to cut ties and stop everything when Nazi Germany rose and the backlash from that hit, but, in reality, they didn’t stop? And with scientific advances, how would that work? What would it look like? The answer seemed simple to me. Take all these questions to what I felt was their logical conclusion and to also blend in what I love—werecreatures and vampires.

  So the idea to have shape-shifting military men who were created by the government was born. And that was how I came up with The Immortal Ops Series. I started writing in 2000: thoughts, ideas, very short stories, and then full novels and novellas. The Ops were among the first things I put together and it wasn’t long after that I was published (early 2004). My then-editor asked me if I could write something that was third-person point of view, instead of first-person, which I had first been published in. Since I had the Ops already started and the series all mapped out, it was just a matter of getting it to work as a third-person book, rather than first. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I could. I’d mapped the series originally to be first-person. It took some elbow grease, but in the end it worked and the first four books were published. Reader support for them has been amazing.

  Sadly, I found I had to cut a lot to make the book fit with word count restrictions then, but I’m happy to report that I have the rights back, and the first four books are being re-released with their original content.

  Thank you,

  Mandy M. Roth

  Praise for Mandy M. Roth’s Immortal Ops World

  Silver Star Award—I feel Immortal Ops deserves a Silver Star Award as this book was so flawlessly written with elements of intrigue, suspense and some scorching hot scenes—Aggie Tsirikas—Just Erotic Romance Reviews

  5 Stars—Immortal Ops is a fascinating short story. The characters just seem to jump out at you. Ms. Roth wrote the main and secondary characters with such depth of emotions and heartfelt compassion I found myself really caring for them—Susan Holly—Just Erotic Romance Reviews

  Immortal Ops packs the action of a Hollywood thriller with the smoldering heat that readers can expect from Ms. Roth. Put it on your hot list…and keep it there! —The Road to Romance

  5 Stars—Her characters are so realistic, I find myself wondering about the fine line between fact and fiction…This was one captivating tale that I did not want to end. Just the right touch of humor endeared these characters to me even more—eCataRomance Reviews

  5 Steamy Cups of Coffee—Combining the world of secret government operations with mythical creatures as if they were an everyday thing, she (Ms. Roth) then has the audacity to make you actually believe it and wonder if there could be some truth to it. I know I did. Nora Roberts once told me that there are some people who are good writers and some who are good storytellers, but the best is a combination of both and I believe Ms. Roth is just that. Mandy Roth never fails to surpass herself—coffeetimeromance

  Mandy Roth kicks ass in this story—inthelibraryreview

  Immortal Ops Series Helper

  (This will be updated in each upcoming book as new characters are introduced.)

  Immortal Ops (I-Ops) Team Members

  Lukian Vlakhusha: Alpha-Dog-One. Team captain, werewolf, King of the Lycans. Book: Immortal Ops (Immortal Ops)

  Geoffroi (Roi) Majors: Alpha-Dog-Two. Second-in-command, werewolf, blood-bound brother to Lukian. Book: Critical Intelligence (Immortal Ops)

  Doctor Thaddeus Green: Bravo-Dog-One. Scientist, tech guru, werepanther. Book: Radar Deception (Immortal Ops)

  Jonathon (Jon) Reynell: Bravo-Dog-Two. Sniper, weretiger. Book: Separation Zone (Immortal Ops)

  Wilson Rousseau: Bravo-Dog-Three. Resident smart-ass, wererat. Book: Strategic Vulnerability (Immortal Ops)

  Eadan Daly: Alpha-Dog-Three. PSI-Op and handler on loan to the I-Ops to round out the team, Fae. Book: Tactical Magik (Immortal Ops)

  Colonel Asher Brooks: Chief of Operations and point person for the Immortal Ops Team. Book: Administrative Control (Immortal Ops)

  Chapter One

  I-Ops Headquarters, classified location…

  Geoffroi “Roi” Majors tossed his feet onto the conference table and leaned back in his chair. Captain Lukian Vlakhusha, his brother by way of shared lycan DNA, cast him a cautioning look. The colonel was due in at any moment and he’d frown upon Roi’s behavior, not that Roi gave a shit. Sticking it to “the man” was his thing.

  As if on cue, the door to the debriefing room opened and Colonel Asher Brooks made his way in, wearing his standard stoic game face. The man always seemed like he knew a huge secret and wasn’t about to let any of them in on it. He also tended to always come off as tired of the majority of the team’s antics. And while most assumed he was only human, Roi didn’t exactly buy it. Something was different about Brooks, but he’d never been able to figure out what.

  “Sorry to call you in on such short notice, but important matters have come to our attention. It’s big,” said
Brooks.

  Generally, Brooks tended to understate everything. If he thought something was big, it was huge. Roi exhaled, knowing he wasn’t going to like what he was about to be told.

  “Big, huh? The last time we were told that it was because shit hit the fan in Roswell. Tell me we’re alone and that the truth isn’t out there. I don’t think I can handle another revelation like the last time,” said Wilson, the team’s wererat and resident smart-ass, from across the table the conference table.

  Brooks lifted a brow, appearing annoyed.

  Wilson kept going. “Did the tabloids claim to have proof of aliens? Ooo, do we get to lie about it again? That was great pretending like we hadn’t seen a thing. Who wants to do it again? Raise your hand! We can force Green to make up another lame-ass weather balloon story. Everyone believed it the last time. By the way, has anyone talked to the Area-51 guys lately? I get nervous when they go radio silent for too long.”

  Roi stifled a laugh. It had been funny watching Green—the team’s egghead—try, and fail, to offer the public a viable alternative explanation for what had gone on in New Mexico all those years ago. The truth of the matter kept Roi up at nights sometimes. Humans would never be able to handle it.

  The warning growl that came from the captain made Roi wonder if he would have to restrain Lukian so he wouldn’t put a world of hurt on Wilson. Guess the captain didn’t find the joke as funny as Roi did. Wilson always knew the quickest way to get the captain to lose his patience.