Title: DEADLY APPRENTICE, O’Halleran Security Int’l., Book 5
Author: TJ Logan
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Book Blurb:
His scars are a gruesome reminder of why they all must die…
To purge the terror from his past, a madman sets about punishing innocent victims for the crimes of another. Each death brings him one step closer to his ultimate target. Will he make it through his list before his secrets are revealed?
A former cop learned playing by the rules gets people killed…
Mathias O’Halleran gives up his career as a cop after an innocent child dies on his watch. He goes to work for O’Halleran Security, where red tape and bureaucracy never get in the way of justice. When military heroes who served their country with honor disappear and turn up dead, he’ll do whatever it takes, cross any line to bring down the person responsible.
A renowned forensic pathologist holds the key to bringing down a murderer…
Dr. Beatrice Rose Parker was a solitary child with a love of books and science. She has dedicated her life to giving voice to the dead and closure to their families. Beatrice faces the biggest challenge of her career when the mutilated remains of five heroes are found buried.
Can Beatrice piece together the forensic puzzle before the killer moves to the next name on his list? What will Mathias do when his father becomes the only obstacle between the murderer and his freedom?
Excerpt:
Mathias whistled as he rolled the hand-truck down the hall of the new building. He rounded the corner and noticed the door to the main storage room was propped open and smiled.
“Delivery for Dr. Parker,” he called out.
Beatrice’s head appeared then she stepped into the hallway, her eyebrows pinched together. “Mathias?” She fumbled the box of pencils in her hand and grumbled something he couldn’t hear before recovering her composure. “What are you doing here?”
“Gee, Doc, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you weren’t happy to see me.” He loved how her cheeks turned instantly rosy whenever he teased her.
“I’m very happy to see you. Er, what I meant was … I thought someone from shipping was bringing those over.” She swiped an errant hair from in front of her face. “Aren’t you supposed to be working with a new employee today.”
“We just finished working over on the gun range, now he’s over with Sammy getting fitted for his ear piece. I had some time before our next training segment and offered to drop these off.” Mathias would use any excuse to spend a few minutes with her.
“Oh, well, thank you.” Beatrice twisted at the waist and set a box of pencils on a shelf just inside the storage room.
As usual, she wore dark slacks, a white button-up blouse and a fuchsia sweater that matched her shoes. The bright sweaters and cute shoes seemed to be her small act of rebellion against the stuffy, lab nerd stereotype. As if her bangin’ body hadn’t already shattered that ridiculous myth. Damn, but the woman was built.
Down boy. Mathis willed those thoughts away before his body decided to respond, and he embarrassed both of them. He tapped the top box. “You want this one open?”
“That would be great.” She went back to organizing what looked like office supplies on the bottom shelf.
He slipped his knife from his pocket, flipped it open and cut through the tape. Inside were blue vial trays and he grabbed a stack. “Where would you like these?”
“I’ve created a rudimentary sketch indicating where everything belongs.” She pointed to a sheet of graph paper taped to the wall. She’d drawn an extremely detailed depiction of the shelving in the large room.
“This is far from rudimentary, Doc.” He scanned the drawing for the location of the vials and put them where they belonged.
“You said you have another training session today?” She took some things from the box, moved back into the closet and started placing them on the shelf. Her scent filled the smallish space and wrapped around him.
“We’ll be working out with Mason in the gym for a few hours.” Mathias hefted a large box of disposable medical gowns, looked at the sketch, then reached up and slid them onto the top shelf.
“That makes for a very long day, doesn’t it?” She bent to grab the last carton of disposable gloves from the bottom of a box.
Don’t look at her ass. Don’t look at her ass. Christ, what this woman did to him.
“It’s nothing I’m not used to. Besides, it’s totally worth it to watch Mason humble the cocky new guys.” He tossed the empty box aside.
Beatrice set the gloves with the others and faced him. “Humbling them? Dare I ask how he does that?”
“By kicking their ass, that’s how.” He chuckled. “With the exception of Andi and a few other women in the industry, most operators are men who have very strong alpha personalities and think they’re the best of the best. Mason, who is one of the most dangerous men I’ve ever met, sets them straight with one grappling session.”
“But he’s such a nice man,” Beatrice sounded surprised that a man could be deadly and nice at the same time.
“He is, right up until you give him a reason not to be.” Mathias would never forget the look in Mason’s eyes when the psycho in their last case held a gun to Emily’s head. There was still a debate about whose bullet killed him—Mason’s shot to the heart or Devlin’s sniper shot to the forehead.
“A thousand people might apply for one operator position, and maybe ten are invited to undergo the rigorous screening process. Of those ten, typically, only one or two make the cut.”
“And you had to go through this screening process, too?” She asked.
“Killian and I both did.” Except Beck and Andi added a few demanding surprises to their screening that the others didn’t have to do. When they were officially hired, it was because they’d earned it, not because they were family.
“Fascinating,” she said, sounding impressed. “While you’re watching grown men roll around on the floor, I’ll be having dinner with your sister and Andi. She invited me to join her at a place called The Don’t Know?”
“Great food, and the owner is a friend of ours. I think you’ll like it.”
“Is there anyone who isn’t a friend of your family’s?” She dragged the rubber band from her messy ponytail. As if in slow motion, the dark mass tumbled down around her shoulders, framing her face and hiding her amazing chest.
Mathias was mesmerized.
“Are you okay?” Beatrice looked at him with concern as she scraped her hair back up and secured it again.
“What? Yeah, I’m great.” He always felt great when he was with her. “What did you ask me?”
“It wasn’t really a question, so much as a comment about how your family seems to know everyone.” She flipped off the light in the storage room, shut the door and locked it.
“Whidbey Cove is a small town. Everyone knows everyone, and the O’Hallerans have been here for a long time.” He checked his watch and grabbed the handles of the hand-truck. “I’d better get this back over to shipping and receiving before I head over to the workout facility.” Damn, but he hated having to leave her.
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What makes your featured book a must-read?
Deadly Apprentice is book 5 in the thrilling O’Halleran Security Int’l. series. This series is rich in family, honor, and loyalty. Deadly Apprentice is Mathias O’Halleran, the quiet twin, and Dr. Beatrice Parker’s story. Someone is targeting military heroes and dumping their bodies. It’s up to Mathias, Beatrice, and the skilled operatives at OSI to find the killer before he strikes again.
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Author Biography:
TJ Logan is an award-winning author of Romantic Suspense anchored by strong themes of Family, Honor, and Loyalty. Her books are filled with action, suspense, and love, with powerful heroes and the equally strong women they love and who love them back.
Her thrilling O'Halleran Security Int'l. series is a reader favorite and will soon be joined by the OSI Dark Ops spin-off series.
Growing up in a military family, living all over the country, surrounded by five brothers ... and living to tell about it, competing in International Defensive Pistol Association events, and being part of the team who managed a Secret program for one of the world's largest defense companies, have all given her an interesting perspective on life. Every bit of it goes into her writing!
TJ's uber-supportive husband, two amazing grown sons, a beautiful daughter-in-love, and absolutely perfect grandson and granddaughter are the joys of her life.
Family, Honor, and Loyalty aren't just words in a tagline to TJ, they are everything.
Social Media Links:
Like & Follow TJ here; https://linktr.ee/tjloganauthor
My favorite mystery author is Stephen King because almost everything he writes is gold.
Thank you, TJ, for sharing your book in our Mystery and Suspense Bookish Event!