Military intelligence officer Lieutenant Barb Carolus is ordered to investigate Colonel Locke, a rogue officer suspected of selling military weapons on the black market. Colonel Locke is from Barb’s home planet and she knows exposing his crimes will tarnish the reputation of those rare people like her who’ve escaped the poverty and gangs of their home world to become officers. But orders are orders and she always does her duty.<br><br>For the mission she’s teamed with the unconventional -- and in Barb’s opinion, entirely unprofessional -- undercover agent Taya Borovsky. Working with Taya will test Barb’s by the book approach to the limits, especially when attraction overcomes her irritation with Taya. Bitter about upholding standards nobody else does, Barb gives in to her desires.<br><br>When the mission goes bad, Barb and Taya are on the run and outgunned. To survive, Barb must learn from Taya’s unconventional methods and improvise a solution to complete her mission and save their lives.

Loose Cannon

“This is your idea of being out of uniform?” Taya asked.


“What do you mean? Of course I’m out of uniform.”


“And wearing a suit of clothes that looks almost exactly like your uniform minus an insignia.”


Barb glanced down at herself. She supposed the pants and jacket were similar in color and general appearance to her uniform. Probably why she liked them. “What do you suggest?” she asked. “Because most of what I’ve brought is like this.”


“Hang on.” Taya went into the bunk room and came back out with her arms full. “Lose the jacket,” she said.


Barb shrugged, but did. Taya was the one with experience undercover. Perhaps Barb should yield to that experience. She took off her jacket. Under it, she wore a black, tight-fitting, ribbed shirt, with a placket of buttons at the neck. Taya reached up and twitched a couple of the buttons open. Barb froze and resisted the urge to slap Taya’s hand away.


Chapter 4