Act of Mercy Read online

  Act of Mercy (PSI-Ops / Immortal Ops)

  by

  Mandy M. Roth

  Act of Mercy (PSI-Ops / Immortal Ops) © Copyright 2014, Mandy M. Roth

  First Electronic Printing March 2014, The Raven Books

  Cover art by Natalie Winters, © Copyright 2014

  Edited by: Suz G.

  Final Line Edited by: Dianne B.

  ISBN-10: 1-62501-079-6

  ISBN-13: 978-1-62501-079-7

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  All books are 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 and intended for mature audiences only. 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.

  The Raven

  Published by Raven Books

  www.ravenhappyhour.com ~ www.theravenbooks.com

  Raven Books and all affiliate sites and projects are © Copyrighted 2004-2014

  Table of Contents

  Act of Mercy (PSI-Ops / Immortal Ops)

  Mandy M. Roth Featured Books

  About Act of Mercy (PSI-Ops Series / Immortal Ops)

  Dedication

  Immortal Ops Series and PSI-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

  Epilogue

  About the Author, Mandy M. Roth

  Mandy M. Roth, Online

  The Raven Books’ Complimentary Material

  Administrative Control (Immortal Ops) by Mandy M. Roth

  Loup Garou by Mandy M. Roth

  A King’s Ransom by Reagan Hawk (pen name of Mandy M. Roth)

  The Impatient Lord by Michelle M. Pillow

  The Dead Tell by Jaycee Clark

  Tease Me (Semper Fi Marines) by Melissa Schroeder

  Mandy M. Roth Featured Books

  Mandy on Amazon

  PSI-Ops Series (Part of the Immortal Ops World)

  Act of Mercy

  Act of Surrender

  Act of Submission

  Act of Security

  Act of Command

  Act of Passion

  Immortal Ops Series

  Immortal Ops

  Critical Intelligence

  Radar Deception

  Strategic Vulnerability

  Tactical Magik

  Administrative Control

  Separation Zone

  King of Prey (Bird Shifter Series)

  King of Prey

  A View to a Kill

  Master of the Hunt

  Rise of the King

  Prince of Pleasure

  Prince of Flight

  Act of Mercy (PSI-Ops Series / Immortal Ops)

  Book One in the PSI-Ops Series

  Paranormal Security and Intelligence Operative Duke Marlow has a new mission: find, interrogate and possibly eliminate the target—Mercy Deluca. He knows looks can be deceiving, but it's hard to believe the beautifully quirky woman running around in a superhero t-shirt is a viable threat. The sexy little biomedical engineer quickly proves she is more than he bargained for and Intel has it all wrong—she’s not the enemy. Far from it. Intel also forgot to mention one vital piece of information—she’s Duke’s mate. This immortal alpha werewolf doesn’t take kindly to her being in danger.

  When Mercy accepted a position within Donavon Dynamics Corporation, she thought it was to help cure disease and to make a difference for mankind. She had no idea what her new career path truly entailed—monsters masquerading under the guise of scientific research. Unable to stomach the atrocities she’s uncovered, she reaches out through what she hopes is the proper channels, asking for help. Mercy gets more than she bargained for when a team of paranormal hotties show up on her doorstep ready to take down the Corporation. One in particular is able to get under her skin, both aggravating and exciting her in ways she can’t explain.

  Dedication

  First and foremost, to the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms, thank you for your service.

  To my readers and fans of my Immortal Ops Series, thank you for joining me on this spin-off journey. I’m so excited to see that after ten years of having the Immortal Ops books published there is not only still a fan base, but one that grows daily. You make what I love to do possible and I can’t thank you enough for it. I hope you enjoy the Paranormal Security and Intelligence Operatives as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. The PSI series spin off has sat on my computer for ten years waiting not so patiently for the right time to be launched. The time has come. To all of you who, for the past ten years, have loved reading my tales about eugenics, DNA splicing, mixing animal DNA with human to create a hybrid and/or a super soldier, natural-born supernaturals, paramilitary groups, black ops missions and sexy alpha males within the Immortal Ops World, thanks so much for sticking it out with me. I couldn’t be happier to see these books along with the rest of the Immortal Ops books releasing to the public.

  To my friends, Michelle M. Pillow and Jaycee Clark, thank you for all your support and for reading through this in its raw form, kicking me into gear to get this series out and into the light of day.

  To my family, thank you for understanding the long hours I put in and thanks for never judging too harshly when I forget to change out of pajamas for the day. A special note to my husband, Mr. Mandy—thank you for stepping up to the plate and assuming nearly all the household duties while I worked to get these books flushed out and ready for the public.

  A special thanks to Collin and Matt for being the inspiration behind Mercy’s career choice and geek-chic persona. You two rock the geekdom with style.

  To my editor, Suz, thank you so much for your help!

  To my final line editor, Dianne B., I really can’t thank you enough.

  I’ve been asked by many readers if the Immortal Ops Series is coming to an end. No. Please understand that I can’t announce everything yet but there are some surprises headed your way. All will be revealed within the upcoming books in the PSI and Immortal Ops Worlds.

  Thank you!

  Immortal Ops Series and PSI-Ops Series Helper

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

  Paranormal Security and Intelligence (PSI) Operatives

  General Jack C. Newman: Director of Operations for PSI, werelion. Adoptive father of Missy Carter-Majors.

  Duke Marlow: PSI-Operative, werewolf. Book: Act of Mercy (PSI-Ops)

  James (Jimmy) Hagen: PSI-Operative, left the organization on questionable terms ten years ago.

  Striker (Dougal) McCracken: PSI-Operative, werewolf.

  Miles (Boomer) Walsh: PSI-Operative, werepanther.

  Captain Corbin Jones: Operations coordinator and captain for PSI-Ops Team Five, werelion.

  Malik (Tut) Nasser: PSI-Operative, (PSI-Ops).

  Colonel Ulric Lovett: Direction of Operations, PSI-London Division.

  Immortal Ops (I-Ops) Team Members

  Lukian Vlakhusha: Alpha-Dog-One. Team captain, werewolf, King of
the Lycans, mated to Peren Matthews (Daughter of Dr. Lakeland Matthews). Book: Immortal Ops (Immortal Ops)

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

  Doctor Thaddeus Green: Bravo-Dog-One. Scientist, tech guru, werepanther, mated to Melanie Daly-Green (sister of Eadan Green). Book: Radar Deception.

  Jonathon (Jon) Reynell: Bravo-Dog-Two. Sniper, weretiger. As of this book not currently mated. Book: Separation Zone (Immortal Ops)

  Wilson Rousseau: Bravo-Dog-Three. Resident smart-ass, wererat, mated to Kimberly (Daughter of Culann of the Council) 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, mated to Inara Nash. Brother of Melanie Daly-Green. Book: Tactical Magik (Immortal Ops)

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

  Miscellaneous

  Culann of the Council: Father to Kimberly (who is mated to Wilson). Badass Fae.

  Pierre Molyneux: Master vampire bent on creating a race of super soldiers. Hides behind being a famous art dealer in order to launder money.

  Gisbert Krauss: Mad scientist who wants to create a master race of supernaturals.

  Walter Helmuth: Head of Seattle’s paranormal underground. In league with Molyneux and Helmuth.

  Dr. Lakeland Matthews: Scientist, vital role in the creation of a successful Immortal Ops Team. Father to Peren Matthews.

  Jinx: Magik, succubus, well-known, well-connected madam to the underground paranormal community.

  Dr. Bertrand: Mad scientist with Donavon Dynamics Corporation (The Corporation).

  Chapter One

  Paranormal Security and Intelligence Division B Headquarters, classified location…

  Duke Marlow stretched the two typing fingers he used because he wasn’t exactly gifted in the way of a keyboard, and hunted and pecked the last of the reports that’d been due in to his handler—who also happened to be captain of his ops team—several days prior. With Duke’s reluctance to do any type of recordkeeping, let alone the kind that involved a computer, his handler would be happy to see the files this quickly. Duke was actually at least one month early if anyone went off his past turn-in dates, or the fact that occasionally he never turned in a report at all. The idea of leaving the damn things to sit for a few more weeks had crossed his mind.

  That would piss Corbin off for sure.

  Corbin Jones headed one of the many Paranormal Security and Intelligence Operative Teams (PSI-Op) and Duke already knew he was Corbin’s most trying team member. He wore the badge with honor. What could he say? After knowing the guy well over a hundred years, he had to do all he could to keep their working relationship interesting. Plus, Duke was set in his ways. He didn’t embrace change.

  Never had.

  Besides, he enjoyed getting under Corbin’s skin. Corbin was a lion shifter, and everyone knew cats and dogs didn’t mix well together. As a full-blooded, born werewolf, Duke tended to get a kick out of giving Corbin as hard a time as possible.

  Came pretty easy to him and that nearly took the fun out of it.

  Nearly, but not quite.

  And Corbin looked like a blond underwear model. That alone was grounds to be given a hard time.

  The phone on his desk rang, drawing him from his thoughts. He sighed. He disliked the phones at PSI. Too many buttons. Too many options. It was never just answer and be done. They had people who normally handled routing the calls. Without them, Duke would be totally and completely lost. It was way after hours and he knew there was still a group who worked somewhere in the building, handling these types of things. What he couldn’t figure out was why they’d send a call his way. Corbin had taken Duke’s phone privileges away when he’d told a conference call full of people to get bent. He’d then followed that up with the suggestion they lick his balls.

  Corbin hadn’t been amused and said Duke lacked anything in the way of phone etiquette. Duke could have told him that to start with.

  He answered the phone. Hell, the apocalypse could be starting and Duke suspected Corbin wouldn’t want him getting called over it. “What?”

  There was silence on the other end. Duke waited a fraction of a second and hung up the phone. He wasn’t in the mood for bullshit. If it was important, they’d call back.

  The phone rang again.

  “What?” he practically shouted as he answered it again.

  “Hello?” came a voice that was soft and sweet, extremely feminine and hot as hell, making his loins stir, surprising him. “I was told to call. Did you get the information I sent?”

  As much as the voice moved him, its owner was making no sense. “What?”

  “Do you know how to say anything else?” she asked, sounding annoyed with him. Most people tended to after short bursts.

  He stiffened. “You called to give me crap? Striker put you up to this, didn’t he?”

  “Striker?” There was beeping on her end. “I can’t talk long. They’ll hear me.”

  “Woman, you’re not making any sense.” But damn if her voice wasn’t making him hot and bothered. He was nearly ashamed of his reaction to her. It wasn’t like he made a habit of getting a hard-on for random callers. The idea of phone sex had held little appeal to him before but now, hearing this woman’s voice, he was fast changing his outlook on it.

  “I need to know if you’re them,” she said.

  “Them who?” As turned on as he was, he had reports to get done and the conversation wasn’t going the route of phone sex so it needed to end sooner rather than later.

  “Them. The one Test Subject 87P told me to send the information to,” she insisted.

  Great.

  Sexy voice and bat-shit crazy. Just his luck. He hung up on her. Whatever game Striker was playing wouldn’t work. Duke was busy. Too busy even for hot voices with riddles.

  Duke rotated his neck, running his hands through his shoulder-length dark hair, working out a kink as he sniffed the air, the wolf in him catching the scent of pending rain.

  Good.

  The area needed some rain. He grinned, knowing he’d be running free in it soon enough. Well, as soon as he finished this damn paperwork. He didn’t understand the point of it. It wasn’t like the organization existed to anyone who asked about it—not that anyone even would. They were ghosts. Operatives who never were and never would be, at least on paper.

  What the fuck did they want with a paper trail then? Did they enjoy redacting crap later? Maybe the guys who sat around drawing black lines through important information had blackmail photos of people in high positions and threatened to expose them if they didn’t get enough papers passing across their desk.

  Made no sense to him.

  Not much involving the people running the PSI show did.

  Seemed like they’d be keen on keeping no records. Records proved a lot. Immortals tended to avoid them, photographs and the like. It was getting harder and harder to hide in the open. The fucking internet was a curse as far as he was concerned. You wouldn’t catch supernaturals taking pictures of themselves and posting them on the internet.

  Most supernaturals took great care to reinvent themselves every so many decades. It threw off suspicions. He’d been the sole beneficiary of his own fortune several times over already.

  Duke liked to reinvent himself, as far as the human public was concerned, every twenty to twenty-five years. That was as long as he could pull off not aging. That was hard. Most supernaturals kept it around fifteen years. Then, they’d go off the grid for just as many. In the beginning it had been hard knowing he’d never be able to see the human friends he’d made within that invented persona’s lifespan. With time, it got easier and he found himself befriending fewer and fewer humans to avoid issues at a later date.

  PSI gave him a network of
supernaturals in like situations. That was part of why he stayed, despite the technology advances and dumbass higher-ups. He liked the good they did as well, but he’d rather everyone not catch on to that tidbit.

  Do-gooder didn’t fit his manly code.

  It was simply easier to hang with others like him. He was young as far as PSI was concerned. And he was hardly a pup. Most of the people within the organization had been part of it a hell of a long time. Longer than any administration had been in control of the White House. From what Duke had been told, longer than there had even been a White House. They operated above the law and didn’t answer to anyone but themselves. Certain people within positions of power in the government were on a need-to-know basis regarding PSI-Ops.

  Most didn’t need to know jack shit, so they didn’t.

  Duke liked it that way.

  The ones in the loop were supernaturals, hiding in the open in front of humans. Duke nearly laughed at the thought of it all. He’d seen enough humans freak out over the course of his lifespan to know they couldn’t take the truth. Hell, they couldn’t handle much at all, let alone knowledge of immortality.

  Immortality.

  The idea would lead one to think of eternal life. Of invincibility. Nah. That wasn’t how it was. It just meant an immortal was harder to kill and tended to live a lot longer than a mortal. Enough of his family and friends had fallen to know they could be killed.

  Time and volume did nothing to lessen the losses. And there always seemed to be more losses ready to pick open the scabs of the old ones.