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

“All right!” Taya cheered and applauded. “Oh, yeah, baby, that’s what I’m talking about.” She slapped Barb on the back. “We are gonna have so much fun with these.”


“Be cool, for fuck’s sake,” Barb said, her irritation only partly faked.


The guards looked at them, grinning. They’d probably tell Vince he could add another ten percent to the price and this crazy smuggler chick would pay it.


By the time Vince landed his ship and came back to join them, Taya had adopted an exaggeratedly cool air.


“Not bad,” Taya said. “I think it will be adequate.”


One of the guards chuckled. He’d be sure to report her enthusiastic earlier reaction to Vince once she and Barb left. That was okay. Let them think they were dealing with a nutbar. Hell, theyweredealing with a nutbar. They just didn’t realize she was a government-salaried nutbar.


“I’ll talk to my boss,” Vince said, “and contact you with the arrangement for the buy.”


Chapter 9