A Fictionwise.com Top 20 Science Fiction Title

Former Brigadier Teah Valtamise is wanted for killing her partner and abandoning her post. Eight years since she fled Calypso, she thinks she’s out testing her newest protégés skills however the solid sensation of a gun to the back of her head tells her otherwise. Now in the hands of an old comrade, as Teah works to save the life of an innocent oblivious to the depth of one man’s vengeance, will she be prepared to sacrifice everything--a chance at love, an old friendship, and possibly, her own life--to do what she knows is right?

Excerpt:

It was their mistake not running ready for battle for Teah killed the first one with the extended-range pistol she kept strapped to her thigh before he even had the chance to draw. However, staying out in the light to do the deed was her downfall.

“Arkla, did you see it?” Milcan cried.

“What?”

“On the hand. The tattoo! It’s a Brigadier!”

Growling under her breath, Teah chastised herself. She’d not expected to do anything more than follow Kya and, being relaxed in the familiar environment, had neglected to cover the insignia on the back of her right hand. It was a stupid rookie mistake. And one that might cost her life.

Aiming for the crouched figure behind the open vehicle door, Teah fired. The bullet deflected off the ground and came up underneath the frame. The man moved, exposing his head. She quickly finished the task then slid into the shelter of a nearby doorframe to reload, tracking the stilted movements of her quarry. Not including the wounded man, there were three more left. A flick of a switch on the side of her gun. The interior of the sight glowed. She stared into it, watching the red-blue shapes reveal themselves. A high-pitched ricochet. The bullet-chipped masonry near her head rained down. She pressed her back against the door and judged the distance to a nearby roof. Reholstering her weapon, she took a small canister from her belt and turned the dial on the top. The green light confirmed its setting. With a hand shading her eyes, she tossed it into the center of the street.

A spewed a string of epithets as a bright white flash filled the passageway.

Springing from cover, she jumped on a crate then to a shoddy awning. By the time she made the roof, bullets were spraying in various directions as the panicked men below searched for her.

She hunched down beside the narrow, foot-and-a-half wall surrounding the claylike roof of the structure, and again drew her gun. Carefully, she leaned over the wall, sighting the first target.

A slow squeeze of the trigger.

The man stood, gurgled for a moment beside his startled comrade, the one she’d injured earlier, then fell.

“She’s on the roof!”

There was a sudden shifting of bodies.

She did the same.

Now at the other corner of the roof, she took aim, almost bored with the easy shot the elevation provided.

Her target slumped to the ground.

Searching for the last man, she suddenly froze as a hard metal object pressed against the base of her skull.

“Get up.”

The voice was smooth.

“I can’t,” she answered.

“Why?”

“I have to finish this.”

“What? Murdering those men?”

Teah leaned into the scope, looking for the telltale sign of body heat, while hoping she could buy enough time to figure out how she was going to get out of this one...

[ end excerpt ]

Reviews:

"Teah is one of the finest leading ladies, I’ve read...balanced with smarts, strength, and emotions..." Chris Chat Reviews

"...the story is exciting and the worlds...are beautifully depicted. The characters are fun and nicely realistic. Overall an exciting read—I couldn’t shut off my computer until I was done!" Stacey, Maniac Readers.com

"...one of the best books I’ve read in a while...a hard book to put down. I suspect it will be even more difficult to forget..." PG Forte, MyShelf.com on Calypso's Revenge

"This book cost me a night's sleep. That's not a complaint; it's a high compliment. I began reading it an hour before bedtime, certain I'd be able to put it down but wound up taking it to bed with me to finish. Bailee's heroine is utterly real, both woman and soldier, and her story ends in a manner that's anything else but cliched. Romantic speculative fiction that refuses to follow the conventions of either genre, romance or SF, and charts its own course instead. Highly original and loads of fun!" -- Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of speculative fiction including HIGH PLACES (new at Amazon Kindle) and 2005 EPPIE winner REGS

"Teah is such a strong, versatile, and likeable character. She’s so powerful, she makes me feel like a stronger woman myself!" -- Kathy Stemke, Author of "Moving Through All Seven Days" and "Trouble on Earth Day", http://kathystemke .weebly.com

About the Author

Dehanna Bailee is the author of Calypso’s Revenge: A Traitor’s Heart, Of Dogs and Wolves, For Better or Worse, True Nature, The ABC’s of POD: A Beginner’s Guide to Fee-Based Print-on-Demand Publishing, Independent Decisions, Ten Preps for POD, and My Momma is a Fugitive from the FBI, and a contributing author in Barn and Snow: A Holiday Poetry Anthology, to wound the autumnal city: a dyingdays.com 9-11 anthology, Cooking by the Book, and NUW Roads Travelled. Readers can find out more at: http://dehanna.com