Death Echo (St. Kilda Consulting, #5)

From Publishers Weekly In Lowell's well-crafted fifth St. Kilda Consulting thriller (after Blue Smoke and Murder ), Manhattan operative Emma Cross travels to Seattle, Wash., where Blackbird , a yacht purported to contain enough explosives to destroy a major U.S. city, is being offloaded from a container ship. Posing as the representative of a buyer interested in the yacht, Emma connects with MacKenzie Mac Durand, Blackbird 's transit captain, who's supposed to deliver the boat to a commissioning yard in the San Juan Islands. Emma and Mac, who has a background in special ops, wind up becoming unlikely allies on a dangerous sea journey in which they find themselves succumbing to their mutual attraction. Forced into a high stakes encounter with a pair of Russian spies, they come to realize that the scope of their mission is much greater than they at first assumed. Lowell's primary focus on espionage rather than on romance is a major change from earlier novels, albeit a pleasing one. (June) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist A couple of missing yachts is not a case that would ordinarily involve the private security firm of St. Kilda Consulting. But when an identical double of one of the yachts turns up—and a high-placed U.S. government official believes there is a connection to an upcoming terrorist plot—it does become St. Kilda's latest assignment. Which is how Emma Cross, former CIA agent and current St. Kilda operative, finds herself in Seattle trying to finesse her way past transit captain MacKenzie Durand and get onboard the Blackbird. With the clock ticking, Emma doesn't have time to deal with a cranky, yet incredibly sexy, captain, but fortunately it doesn't take much to convince Mac to become St. Kilda's newest employee. Working together isn't going to be easy for Emma and Mac, and once desire is injected into the equation, their mission becomes even more volatile and urgent. The latest thrilling addition to Lowell's St. Kilda series is another white-knuckle, adrenaline-drenched tale of danger and desire from one of the true masters of romantic suspense. --John Charles New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Lowell cuts a new edge in suspense with this thrilling tale of passion, danger, and international intrigue in which a pair of former operatives must stop a deadly plot that threatens a major American city—and ultimately the worldWhen she joined St. Kilda's, the elite security consulting firm, Emma Cross thought she'd left behind the blood, the guilt, and the tribal wars that defined her life at the CIA. Yet, trading spying for investigating yacht thefts didn't alleviate the danger—or melt away her professional paranoia. Now, the same good instincts that got her into trouble at the agency might be what will help her survive her latest case.With some arm-twisting, St. Kilda and Emma are tracking a yacht named Blackbird, a dead ringer for another ship that went missing somewhere between Vladivostok and Portland a year earlier. Emma knows the boat's intended cargo is lethal. What she needs to find out is whether it's biological, chemical, or fissionable. And she's only got seven days to uncover the truth...or a major American city will be lost.Fortunately, she's working with a new partner as menacing and distrustful as the worst enemy she's ever faced—and as deadly. A honed killer, MacKenzie Durand led a special ops team that was deployed to some of the world's nastiest places. But five years ago everything went to hell in Afghanistan, when bad intel hung his team out to dry. The only survivor, Mac walked away and never looked back, preferring to make money sailing high-end boats like Blackbird.But Emma and Mac aren't the only eyes watching Blackbird. Taras Demidov, an expert in extortion and execution in the pay of the oligarchs running the former Soviet Union, is also waiting in the shadows, determined to intercept a fearsomely powerful arms dealer with the money, weaponry, and connections to alter the geopolitical balance.Thrown together by an organization of enemies with global ties more dangerous than either of them realize, Mac and Emma must put aside their growing attraction for each other to save more than just their own lives. In a deadly game where the rules change without warning and the line between friend and foe is blurred, the pair must find answers fast—or watch as innocent civilians are sacrificed in a cold-blooded grab for power and supremacy. And even Mac and Emma aren't sure just who will get to the finish line alive...A breathtaking tale of passion and danger, Death Echo is superb entertainment from the queen of suspense, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Lowell. "When she joined St. Kilda's, the elite security consulting firm, Emma Cross thought she'd left behind the blood, the guilt, and the tribal wars that defined her life at the CIA. Yet, trading spying for investigating yacht thefts didn't alleviate the danger-or melt away her professional paranoia. Now, the same good instincts that got her into trouble at the agency might be what will help her survive her latest case. With some arm-twisting, St. Kilda and Emma are tracking a yacht named Blackbird, a dead ringer for another ship that went missing somewhere between Vladivostok and Portland a year earlier. Emma knows the boat's intended cargo is lethal. What she needs to find out is whether it's biological, chemical, or fissionable. And she's only got seven days to uncover the truth...or a major American city will be lost. Fortunately, she's working with anew partner as menacing and distrustful as the worst enemy she's ever faced-and as deadly. A honed killer, MacKenzie Durand led a special ops team that was deployed to some of the world's nastiest places. But five years ago everything went to hell in Afghanistan, when bad intel hung his team out to dry. The only survivor, Mac walked away and never looked back, preferring to make money sailing high-end boats like Blackbird. But Emma and Mac aren't the only eyes watching Blackbird. Taras Demidov, an expert in extortion and execution in the pay of the oligarchs running the former Soviet Union, is also waiting in the shadows, determined to intercept a fearsomely powerful arms dealer with the money, weaponry, and connections to alter the geopolitical balance. Thrown together by an organization of enemies with global ties more dangerous than either of them realize, Mac and Emma must put aside their growing attraction for each other to save more than just their own lives. In a deadly game where the rules change without warning and the line between friend and foe is blurred, the pair must find answers fast-or watch as innocent civilians are sacrificed in a cold-blooded grab for power and supremacy. And even Mac and Emma aren't sure just who will get to the finish line alive...."--BOOK JACKET When she joined St. Kilda's, the elite security consulting firm, Emma Cross thought she'd left behind the blood, the guilt, and the tribal wars that defined her life at the CIA. Yet, trading spying for investigating yacht thefts didn't alleviate the danger -- or melt away her professional paranoia. Now, the same good instincts that got her into trouble at the agency might be what will help her survive her latest case. With some arm-twisting, St. Kilda and Emma are tracking a yacht named Blackbird, a dead ringer for another ship that went missing somewhere between Vladivostok and Portland a year earlier. Emma knows the boat's intended cargo is lethal. What she needs to find out is whether it's biological, chemical, or fissionable. And she's only got seven days to uncover the truth . . . or a major American city will be lost. “Elizabeth Lowell has long set a standard of excellence for thrillers that never stint on either romance or suspense.”—BookPage New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Lowell cuts a razor-sharp new edge in romantic suspense with Death Echo, a thrilling tale of passion, danger, and international intrigue. A breakneck-paced novel that unites a beautiful former CIA agent with a tough and haunted ex-Special Forces operative, Death Echo is a top-rank thriller in the vein of Iris Johansen, Tami Hoag, and Lisa Gardner—and a dazzling example of the superior storytelling that inspired author Jayne Ann Krentz to declare, “I’ll buy anything with Elizabeth Lowell’s name on it.” Former Cia Agent Emma Cross And Former Special Ops Team Leader Mackenzie Durand Fight Their Growing Attraction To Each Other As They Race To Locate The Missing Yacht Blackbird And Its Cache Of Lethal Cargo. They've Got Seven Days To Uncover The Truth . . . Or A Major American City Will Be Lost. Elizabeth Lowell.