Chapter 1

The cargo plane landed in an early springtime morning in Northern Italy, dew still clinging to the grass and other green things, the sun not fully up yet, but already coloring the sky silver grey and purple. It’d been too long since he’d visited this part of the world. Too long since he enjoyed just the beauty of a place and nothing else. A huge field of deep green grass stretched out beyond the fence surrounding the airbase, all the way to the low, undulating hills that dominated most of the horizon. The tall Alpine peaks of varying heights rising behind the hills were all still capped with at least some snow and they shone in the dazzling first light of the day. Winter still had a hold on the land, but soon those fields would be covered with wildflowers.

Even the severe grey metal-roofed hangars lining the impeccably paved runway couldn’t deflect from the beauty stretching all around. The hangars faded into the background successfully, having been designed that way, just as fatigues are designed with precisely the same thing in mind.

The trouble was that the beauty and freshness, the perfectness of this place faded fast too, just got sucked up into the grey mass that’s been Special Investigator Mark’s Novak thoughts these last couple of weeks. The benches in the windowless cargo plane were hard, and the flight was long. His back and thighs protested when he got up to disembark and he tried not to feel like an old man as he waited for the younger soldiers who flew in with him to jumped down to the tarmac. They all did it with an ease that suggested they hadn’t just spent the whole night cramped in a tight, airless space and sitting on a hard as rock bench. Not that he actually cared. Not really.

The grey mess in his head also brought numbness. Besides, thirty-five was too young to feel this old. Something else was at the root of it. Something he recognized well enough but didn’t want to focus too hard on. It would pass like it always did. He just had to trust the process.

His own disembarkation was less graceful, but the awkwardness was swept away in the breeze that carried the scent of dewy grass, wet earth, misty forest, and even a touch of snow, but that last was faint, almost non-existent. If he could, he’d stand here all day, just taking in the beauty, categorizing it, and storing it away for easy retrieval. Then he might escape the greyness of these thoughts for a day. But, as usual, there was no time for that.

Up in Northern Germany, where he’d just flown in from, it was still winter, but nothing was jarring about walking into this spring morning here. Nothing out of place, nothing to worry about. Nothing that would last. Already the sun was making its way upwards over the rolling hills in the distance. The freshness of the morning wouldn’t last and his reason for being here wouldn’t wait.

Upon purchase, you will immediately receive an email from BookFunnel with links to the E-Book(s) you purchased.

Click that link and follow the instructions to read online or download the E-Book to your preferred E-Reader device. You can easily read the books on any E-Reader. You can also read the E-Book(s) on the BookFunnel app. The instructions on how to download the app to your device will be accessible when you access the purchased E-Book(s).

If you have any issues accessing your new eBook, there is a Need Help? link in the top right corner of each book download page.

If you do not receive a download email, visit https://bookfunnel.com/help/.

Alt text Instructions For how to get E-Book

I currently only offer unsigned paperbacks. The paperbacks purchased here will be shipped to you from Amazon, but you get a better price by purchasing from me.

The mystery and crime fiction books by LJ Bourne DO NOT feature any steamy scenes, but the stories usually have romantic elements in them.