The Lost Soldier Read online

  Table of Contents

  The Lost Soldier

  Terminology and Definitions

  The Phoenix Agency

  A Note from Jen Talty

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Books by Jen Talty

  About the Author

  Text copyright ©2018 by the Author.

  This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Desiree Holt. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original The Phoenix Agency remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Desiree Holt, or their affiliates or licensors.

  For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds

  Table is Contents

  The Lost Soldier

  Terminology and Definitions

  The Phoenix Agency

  A Note from Jen Talty

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Books by Jen Talty

  About the Author

  The Lost Soldier

  A PHOENIX AGENCY KINDLE WORLD NOVELLA

  book 2 of 4 in the RAVEN SISTERS series

  JEN TALTY

  Terminology and Definitions

  Precognition/Premonition/Visions: the ability to see the future in a vision before it happens.

  Remote Viewing: the ability to project one’s mind into a distant or unseen target.

  View VS Vision: When I refer to a “view” it’s when a character is using Remote Viewing abilities which happen in the present, real time. When I refer to a “vision” a character is seeing a possible future outcome or event.

  The Collective Order: the four Raven Sisters and Quadruplets boys separated at birth coming together to help unit psychics across the globe.

  Italics VS “italics”: In this particular book, the hero and heroine can communicate telepathically in a remote view. When they are in a view, their conversation will be in quotes and italics. When they are communication via telepathy and NOT in a view, no quotes will be used.

  The Phoenix Agency

  They served their country in every branch of the military – Army Delta Force, SEALs, Air Force, Marines. We are pilots, snipers, medics – whatever the job calls for. And now as private citizens they serve in other capacities, as private contractors training security for defense contractors, as black ops eradicating drug dealers, as trained operatives ferreting out traitors. With the women in their lives who each have a unique psychic ability, they are a force to be reckoned with. Risen from the ashes of war, they continue to fight for those in need. They are Phoenix.

  A Note from Jen Talty

  I highly recommend that THE RAVEN SISTERS series be read in order. This is book 2, so if you haven’t read THE LOST SISTER, you might want to consider it. The series follows the four sisters who find their soul-mates while uncovering a massive plot to by a man who betrayed his brothers in arms and his country. The plot unravels slowly between the four books as each sister finds her soul-mate.

  Prologue

  One year ago…

  HAVING THE ABILITY to view a remote location from the comfort of one’s own family room had been a normal everyday occurrence in Savanah Raven’s life. She understood people thought she was a freak of nature.

  Or a fake.

  Or mentally disturbed.

  Or worse, a combination of all of the above.

  But never had another psychic thought her abilities were nothing more than common parlor tricks. Of course, her current boyfriend, Chad Pendleton, had managed to block his own psychic talents from himself and the world, but she was hoping that by showing him her skills, he’d open himself up to a whole new world.

  She closed her eyes, concentrating on a small coffee shop near Johns Hopkins University in an area called Charles Village. Chad had picked the location because neither one of them had ever been there. When Chad was in town, they’d go to a great coffee shop in Reservoir Hill, but this exercise was to prove to him she could view him remotely, not savor his favorite blend.

  Her body shivered. If she couldn’t get him to accept who and what he was, and he rejected her remote viewing, then she knew she’d have to walk out the door, ending their love affair.

  Ignoring the scorching pain the thought caused her heart, she stepped into the tunnel her mind created, letting her mind travel from her bedroom to the coffee shop. Her projected self stepped onto the pavement just in front of Jasper’s Coffee House, and right behind Chad. How, she wished she could reach out and pinch his tight ass, hidden behind his loose-fitting jeans hanging low on his waist. His black T-shirt fell just over the edges of his pants, a dark belt barely peeking out under the cotton shirt.

  She followed him into the restaurant, inhaling a combination of cinnamon, almonds, and bitter, dark coffee. Her senses were always just as sharp in a remote view as if she were actually there, except touch. She’d read of other viewers who could actually feel an object and even in some cases, take one back to their reality plane, but she’d never even came close. Each time she’d tried, it had made her violently ill.

  Chad ordered an almond mocha. She laughed. He hated almonds, and even though the drink didn’t taste like almonds, it wasn’t something he’d ever order. Then he put cream and sugar in the liquid. He drank his coffee hot, bitter, and black. She figured he’d eat coffee grounds if that was the only form of caffeine available, and he’d like them. He also ordered a chocolate croissant. Again, not his normal pastry.

  Sitting down at a table near the door, he snapped open a golf magazine.

  She stifled a laugh. He’d never played the game, and the only sport he watched on television was football. A die-hard Ravens fan.

  Every time he sipped his coffee, his forehead crinkled, and he pursed his lips. If he drank half a cup, it would be nothing short of a miracle. He scarfed down the pastry in four bites. He took a quick glance around before pulling out a pen and writing:

  I hope this idea that you can see what others are doing is the only crazy thing about you. I also hope this proves you can’t. I will try to move past this because I really, really, really like you.

  She desperately tried to channel him, using techniques she’d read in Riley Jacob’s book on Crossing Psychic Abilities. Of course, the theory the author put forward implied that in order to do that, the participants had to be blood relatives or have an incredibly strong bond. She and Chad had neither.

  Except for if she bought into the idea of the Collective Order, and she and her sisters were the female half. Other than Chad being adopted, there was no reason to believe that he was one of the quadruplets that had been separated at birth, destined to fall in love with her and her sisters, reinstating the order, and bringing powerful psychics together all over the globe.

  And she really, really, really liked him.

  She’d told him that right before he’d left for the coffee shop, saying the word really three times. She couldn’t say she loved him even if her heart swelled with an emotion she’d never felt before. It was as if they both used the word really in place of love because they were both guarded souls birthed from pain and betrayal.

  Focusing on his hidden abilities, which was a unique blend of all possible skills, she tried to pull out
his strongest, which was precognition.

  Or was it viewing?

  Both were hidden in a dark corner of his mind, cast aside in shame or fear, but she could tell his abilities were pushing hard against the defenses he’d built up around them.

  He stiffened his spine before bolting to an upright position, lunging forward just as a toddler tumbled down the stairs, scooping the child up in his arms before he could land on his head.

  Thank you! The mother yelled, taking her child and cradling the screaming baby.

  Chad nodded, stepping aside and climbing the short flight of stairs to the street, stuffing his hands deep in his pockets.

  She wrote everything she’d seen him do on a piece of paper and waited.

  He had to believe her now.

  ***

  I saw the kid out of the corner of my eye.

  Chad Pendleton, a captain in the United States Navy, and a SEAL, had battled the idea he could sense, or see, things happening before they happened. As a small boy, bouncing from one foster family to the other, he hadn’t had the chance to develop relationships with anyone to discuss this phenomenon until seventh grade when he’d made the modified football team. One of the coaches took a liking to Chad, and when it came time for Chad to be moved to another home, forcing him to change schools once again, Coach Timothy Pendleton became a foster parent and took Chad in.

  A year later, Tim had officially adopted Chad.

  Chad shivered.

  At first, Chad had a hard time calling Tim, Dad. He’d never had a father, or even a male in his life to look up to until Tim. By the time Chad was a junior in high school, the word, dad, rolled off his lips as natural as spreading peanut butter over a slice of bread. Thanks to his father, he’d gotten accepted into the Naval Academy and their football team.

  On the day of his very first Army/Navy game, Chad jolted out of bed after having a dream his father had been killed in a car accident. He tried for an hour to reach his father but got nothing.

  Two hours later, he got the call that his father had been killed when an eighteen-wheeler jackknifed on the highway only fifteen minutes after he’d had the dream.

  From that moment on, Chad did his best to ignore that tickle in his brain, shoving it deep into his psyche. What good was having a premonition if you couldn’t save the one person you loved the most. Only, ever since Savanah had come into his life, the tickle had turned into a burning desire, and he started seeing things left and right again.

  The worst part had been he’d had so many hazy visions about Savanah, and many of them came with a sense of doom.

  He couldn’t love someone again, only to know he’d lose them and not be able to save them.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he reminded himself. He might have saved that little boy from getting a bump on his head, or maybe a cut on his chin.

  But Chad couldn’t save the only man that ever cared enough to even listen, much less make Chad his son.

  He pulled out the keys to his father’s house, that he just couldn’t seem to sell no matter how many years had passed. It had been the only real home Chad had ever experienced. It might not have been filled with a mom and siblings, but his father made sure Chad had everything he could possibly need.

  Mostly, his father showed him what love and understanding meant.

  He pushed open the door, dropping the keys on the coffee table. Savanah sat on the sofa under the window in the front living room, her feet tucked up under her voluptuous butt. She twirled her long, blond hair and smiled wickedly at him.

  God, he loved her so much it sucked the life out of him.

  He plopped down on the chair across from her, next to the fireplace, with his back to the dining room. He’d loved growing up in Baltimore. This big, old, row house with its uneven wood floors and circular staircase had been his father’s pride and joy, having restored much of it with his own two hands.

  Savanah’s smile quickly turned into a frown. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “We need to talk,” he said, staring at her, trying to push the mirage of her and a future he couldn’t fathom. His father had told him that some people are just intuitive to others and that Chad was sensitive to other people’s emotions. His father always listened when Chad had one of his visions about something, like dreaming about the day he’d been drafted by the Naval Academy. It wasn’t the only school that had wanted him.

  But it was the one he could see himself at.

  Most literally.

  And now he could see himself with Savanah.

  Only, he couldn’t live this way. He couldn’t deal with the visions and knowing things about people, especially when the negative feelings and pending doom overwhelmed him. He’d decided that it was loving someone that brought this out in him.

  He didn’t want it.

  And he couldn’t have love.

  Love destroyed everything.

  Her frown grew deeper as lines appeared on her normally smooth forehead. Her blue eyes were like looking into the ocean lapping against the shore. The curves of her body molded against his perfectly.

  She shoved the piece of paper across the coffee table.

  He didn’t even have to read it. He knew she’d seen everything that happened at the coffee shop, but he would ignore the facts, call her a liar, break her heart, and walk away.

  At least he wouldn’t have to know when bad things would happen to her anymore.

  “Stop fighting this,” she said with narrowed eyes. “I watched you stop the boy from landing on his head. I saw what you wrote on the napkin.”

  He arched a brow. “You must have followed me,” he said matter-of-factly. “Or had someone, like one of your sister’s spy on me.”

  “I can’t believe you would think that of me.” She coiled into the sofa.

  “How else would you know? Besides, I could tell someone was following me. I’m trained to know these things.”

  “It was me who was following you.”

  He arched a brow. “So, you admit it.”

  “Why are you being such an asshole? Why can’t you admit I was able to sit on this sofa yet see you clearly half way across town.”

  “Because that’s crazy talk. I don’t know how you did it, exactly, but this needs to stop.”

  She opened her mouth, but slammed it shut.

  “I wish things were different, but I can’t be with a woman who thinks she’s a psychic. That’s crazy.”

  “You’re calling me nuts?” She bolted from the couch, fire in her stare. “You’re seriously going to sit there and—”

  “I’m sorry things didn’t work out.” He rested his ankle over his knee, doing his best to act as if he didn’t really care about Savanah. As if the air she breathed wasn’t his lifeline. “I’m being deployed tomorrow anyway and will be heading to a non-disclosed—”

  She picked up the tall, vanilla-scented candle she’d bought him last month and hurled it across the room. It landed square between his legs.

  He doubled over, groaning.

  “If I never see you again, it would be too soon.” She spun on her heels, slamming the door, leaving him with his humility, pride, and heart tumbling onto the floor.

  He cursed himself a million times, but the second she was no longer in sight, another piece of him died. His heart filled with coldness.

  But if she didn’t love him.

  She wouldn’t die.

  Chapter 1

  Present day…

  RELUCTANTLY, SAVANAH RAVEN took the hand that Chad offered as she climbed down from the cargo hold of a C-130 at a military base near Seoul, South Korea. The summer heat smacked her skin like the mist from a waterfall. Her muscles cramped after being bumped around for hours in nothing more than a metal seat and a harness.

  Half of the flight, she tried to sleep. The other half, Captain Edgar Scott, better known as Scottie, briefed her and Chad on their mission to locate the missing SEAL team. Rick Latrobe of the Phoenix Agency had also been part of the call. For th
e duration of this special operation, Savanah was now considered an employee of the Phoenix Agency and a consultant to the United States Military and Project Firewalker, run by Scottie and over seen by General Mallard.

  At her side, her ex-boyfriend who refused to accept his abilities as a psychic and not just any psychic, but one of the most powerful supernatural men in history, and one of four brothers who would, when connected to the chosen sisters, reinstate the Collective Order.

  Taking quick strides across the tarmac, she pulled her long, blond hair into a ponytail, twisting it at the top to make a messy bun. Her boots clinked on the pavement in unison with Chad’s. Her heart hammered between their footsteps.

  The tiny airport was nestled in the jungle, so all she could see was lush vegetation everywhere. It was thicker than anything she’d ever seen in the states. And greener with tall trees and huge leaves the size of a small person dangling overhead. Large bugs speckled the thick air and buzzed in her ears.

  One of the military men that had been aboard the C-130 tossed Chad a set of keys before opening the passenger door of an army Jeep. She climbed up, her ass totally ecstatic to be graced with a cushion.

  “Follow the directions to the cabin and await instructions,” the man said. “Don’t leave the cabin until told. You’ll be only a few klicks from the North Korean border. Scottie and his men will be in touch.”

  “Thanks,” Chad grunted, slipping the key into the ignition. The engine rattled to life, then jerked forward.

  She let out a long breath, dropping her head back. In the last twenty-four hours, she and Chad had talked around each other, but not really to each other. They’d listened to the most recent reports of where the SEAL team had last been seen. They’d gone over all the intel and talked with a dozen people regarding their mission: Use her abilities to find the team.

  And help develop Chad’s talents.