Catherine Mann - Hotshot

Table of Contents

Praise for Catherine Mann

Catherine Manns military romances launch you into a world chock-full of simmering passion and heart-pounding action. Dont miss em!

USA Today bestselling author Merline Lovelace

Exhilarating romantic suspense.

The Best Reviews

A great read.

Booklist

Terrific romantic suspense that never slows down... An action-packed story line.

Midwest Book Review

As gripping in its suspense as it is touching in its emotional pull.

Romance Junkies

Berkley Sensation Titles by Catherine Mann

DEFENDER
HOTSHOT

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

HOTSHOT

A Berkley Sensation Book / published by arrangement with the author

PRINTING HISTORY

Berkley Sensation mass-market edition / May 2009

Copyright 2009 by Catherine Mann.

Excerpt from Renegade copyright 2009 by Catherine Mann.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

eISBN : 978-1-101-04758-3

BERKLEY SENSATION

Berkley Sensation Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

BERKLEY SENSATION and the B design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

http://us.penguingroup.com

Much love to my children Brice, Haley, Robbie, and Maggie. You have blessed my life with your gap-toothed smiles and boundless love.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Parenthood brings untold joysand fears. It seems every generation vows times are tougher for youths. Without question, I believe teens today face greater challenges, temptations, and dangers than I could have ever imagined during my high school tenure. Now as a mother of four, I spend my fair share of hours worrying, the worst nightmare scenarios expanding in my overactive writers imagination. Granted, my kids havent given me much grief so far. (Not that we parents need an excuse to worry!) However, in the darkest moments of concern I feel a kindred motherhood connection to those struggling to keep their children safe. From that, this book was born, along with the hope that the next generation will find the world a safer place for their kids.

Many thanks to all who helped me in the telling of this story: my genius editor, Wendy McCurdy; my savvy agent, Barbara Collins Rosenberg; critique mavens, Joanne Rock and Stephanie Newton; medical fact-checker extraordinaire, Karen Tucker, R.N.; my law-enforcement honorary son, Jasen Wells; motorcycle experts, Dianna Love and her husband, Karl Snell; and as always, a special thanks to my own flyboy hero and the love of my life, Rob.

HONDURAS: PRESENT DAY

Major Vince Vapor Deluca didnt need to ask if there were Harleys in heaven. For him, hogs and planes both transported him from this world to brush the edge of paradise.

Not to mention both had saved his hell-bound ass on more than one occasion. And right now, he needed some of that heavenly salvationon wings rather than wheelsin a serious way if he expected to pull off this potentially explosive mission.

Flying his AC-130 gunship at twenty-five thousand feet, Vince peered into a monitor, watching the increasingly restless crowd below in the rural Honduran town. With the help of his twelve crew members, he monitored citizens pouring out of the hills to cast their votes in the special election, an election that could turn volatile in a heartbeat, the politics of this country precarious with warlords determined to stop the process. Local government officials had requested U.S. help with crowd control, using any means possible to keep the peace.

Vince cranked the yoke into a tight turn, flying over the voting place, a white wooden church. The sensors bristled along the side of the aircraft to scan the snaking crowd lining up. His sensors were so good the guys in back were able to study faces, gestures, and even guns worn like fashion accessories.

He knew too well how mob mentality could unleash an atomic Lord of the Flies destructive force.

His fists clenched around the yoke. Okay, crew, eyeballs out. Lets score one for democracy.

Vapor, the fire control officer, David Ice Berg, droned from the back, as cool and calm as his last name implied, take a look at this dude in the camera. I think hes the ringleader.

Vince checked the screen, and yeah, that guy had whacko written all over him. He seems like a hard-core cheerleader yelling and flapping his arms around.

Copilot Jimmy Gage thumbed his interphone. Those gymnastics of his are working. Jimmys fists clenched and unclenched as if ready to break up the brawl mano a mano. Hed earned his call sign Hotwire honestly. Vinces best bud, theyd often been dubbed in bars the Hotwire and the Hotshot. The crowds getting riled up down there. Hey, Berg, do things look any better from your birds-eye view?

Give me a C for chaos, Berg answered, dry as ever.

Vince worked his combat boots over the rudders while keeping his eyes locked on the screen scrolling an up-close look at the ground. Roger that. All Cheerleader Barbie needs is a ponytail and a pair of pom-poms instead of that big-ass gun slung over his shoulder. A riot seemed increasingly inevitable, which was not surprising, since human intel had already uncovered countless attempts to terrorize voters into staying home. Barbie definitely bears watching, especially with those ankle biters around.

He monitored the group of children playing on swings nearby while adults waited to vote. Conventional crowd-control techniques could sometimes escalate the frenzy. This mission called for something different, something new. Something right up his alley as a member of the air forces elite dark ops testing unit. In emergency situations they were called upon to pull a trick or two from their developmental arsenal and pray it worked as advertised, since failure could spark an international incident or, worse yet, harm a kid.

Today, he and his dark ops crew were flying the latest brainchild of the nonlethal weapons crowd. A flat microwave antenna protruded from the side of the lumbering aircraft. The ADSActive Denial Systemhad the power to scorch people without leaving marks. Testing showed that as it heated up the insides, people scattered like ants from a hill after a swift kick.