Life was never boring, but, for Axel, things kick up a notch when he helps in an underwater rescue of a downed submarine that’s low on oxygen. What they find is nothing like what they expected. All the crew but one was dead—as in shot to death. The last remaining crew member was alive but in rough shape. What the hell happened here?

Allee woke up in the hospital and barely remembers how she got here. But a fuzzy memory only compounds the horror when the investigation ranks her as their number one suspect in the nightmare that won’t quit.

As the investigation takes a darker turn, so does her life, as someone decides a dead patsy is better than one who can talk …

A downed sub is the focus at the beginning of this book, an SOS had gone out, then nothing. Mason and his team along with others are sent to get the twelve crew members safely off. What they find is not what they expected. Every single member of the crew is dead, shot. What they almost overlooked was the single female of the crew was not among the dead. They find her in the HVAC vent, injured. It’s Axel who goes in to get her out and unfortunately it was painful for her. Allee was a very lucky woman.

At the hospital following surgery, Axel questions her and she is adamant that there was someone else on board. Not a crew member and he had a limp. Axel does find evidence of someone boarding the sub and not leaving. However the powers that be have already decided Allee is the traitor. It’s up to Axel, Baylor and Mason to prove her innocence.

Bits and pieces are what they are getting they need more. Then Allee has a visitor that scares her.

This is a favorite scene.

Axel decided a few hospital sandwiches were in order, so he got up, found the lunchroom, and was just about to get a cup of coffee, when his phone rang. “Hello?”

“He was here,” she said, her voice tense, sounding thin and high.

“Who was here?” He could hear her gasping in the background, realizing that, even though she hadn’t stated who she was, he had no trouble recognizing Ally’s voice. “Ally, what’s the matter?”

But her breaths were raspy and harsh. “Come on. Talk to me.

You’re okay. Talk to me.”

She gave a high-pitched laugh. “What do you mean, I’m okay?” she said. “I just told you that he was here.” And the phone went dead. Having heard the emphasis on he, Axel snatched his laptop and his phone and was out the cafeteria door in seconds. As he barreled up the steps, then through the hallway to her room, one of the nurses stepped forward from the nurses’ station and said, “Sorry, sir. She can’t have visitors right now.”

“Oh, she’s having a visitor,” he said, his voice hard. “She sent out a call for help. I need to know what the hell is going on.”

The nurse looked at him in shock. “What are you talking about?” she asked. “She had her checkup not even forty minutes ago.”

“And lunch?”

“Yes. Her lunch was delivered probably about five to ten minutes ago,” she said, checking her watch. But he still walked rapidly down the hallway, the nurse racing to catch up. When he finally got to Ally’s door, he pushed it open and stepped in. He didn’t care about knocking. She sat there with her arms wrapped tight around her chest, curled up into a tiny ball at the headboard, as much as she could with a cast. At least her leg wasn’t in traction at the moment. He raced forward and, without even thinking about it, scooped her into his arms, turned to sit down with her in his lap and wrapped a blanket around her.

The nurse caught up with him and immediately looked at her. “Dear God,” she said. “What happened?”

“She’s in shock.”

The nurse quickly checked her vitals, but Axel wasn’t really concerned about that. He just held her close and spoke softly to Ally. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

She started to shake her head, and she couldn’t seem to stop.

And he knew exactly what that was— shock. And that it would take a lot for her to calm down. Looking at the nurse, he said, “I’m just holding her for now. Give us a few minutes.”

She frowned, nodded, and said, “I’ll have to report this though.”

“That’s fine,” he said. “You and me both.”

She gave him a startled look, then left the two of them alone.
Dale Mayer. Axel (Kindle Locations 529-551). Valley Publishing.

Axel is working diligently to find the answers and when things go haywire, he also discovers he’s falling for Allee. This of course amuses Baylor.

Plenty of twists, turns and action as this tale unfolds along with that simmer to sizzle romance I love.

5 Contented Purrs for Dale!

Dale Mayer

Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).

She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!

To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.