Sinner Realized Read online

  Sinner Realized

  By Morgan Kelley

  Dear Reader,

  Since my books crossover a great deal, I recommend reading them as they are written. I tend to mention characters in books they don’t generally occur in, and later in the series, there are full crossovers.

  Some readers have contacted me for this list, and I figured I’d pass it on to the rest of you.

  While you can read the books by series only, it only enhances the reading experience if you go in order of how I wrote them. I tend to give away secrets…

  I’m sneaky like that.

  On the next page, I’ve given you the list.

  MK

  Here is the reading book order:

  The Killing Times (FBI)

  Sacred Burial Grounds (FBI)

  True Love Lost (FBI)

  Deep Dark Mire (FBI)

  Fire Burns Hot (FBI)

  Celestia is Falling (Croft & Croft)

  Darkness of Truth (FBI)

  Vegas is Dying (Croft)

  Devil hath Come (FBI)

  Christmas is Killing (Croft)

  Blood Red Rage (Littlemoon)

  Consumed by Wrath (FBI)

  Sinner Repent (Carter trilogy 1)

  Love is Bleeding (Croft)

  Lost & Broken (Littlemoon)

  Illegal Fantasies (Anthology 1)

  Redemption is Here (FBI)

  Sinner Realized.(Carter trilogy 2)

  Romance Under Arrest (Anthology 2)

  Heaven is Weeping (Croft)

  Unthinkable Games (Littlemoon)

  Dead Shall Speak (FBI)

  Sinner Reborn (Carter trilogy 3)

  Pledging to Die (FBI)

  Hell is Burning (Croft)

  Truth is Found (Littlemoon)

  Slay Bells Ring (FBI)

  Holiday Reinforcements (Trilogy 3)

  Oracle Rising (Oracle)

  Past will Haunt (FBI Flashback 1)

  Choices will Destroy (FBI)

  Justice is Dead (Final croft book)

  Haven of Nightmares (Littlemoon)

  Blood Shall Run (FBI)

  Oracle Seeing (Oracle)

  Dark Justice (New Croft Series)

  Forbidden Secrets (Littlemoon)

  Act of Blood (FBI)

  Oracle Saving (Oracle)

  Stalked by the Past (FBI flashback 2 )

  Dying to Love (FBI)

  Lost Justice (Croft)

  Kiss of Souls ( Littlemoon) (FBI/Littlemoon crossover)

  Oracle Haunting (Oracle)

  Revenge has Come (FBI)

  Paid Justice (Croft)

  Lost Souls (Littlemoon)

  Discarded by Fate (FBI)October 2017

  Atonement (Hunter Trilogy 1) November 2017

  It’s Good to be the Boss (Romance Anthology 1) November 2017

  Harcourte books do not cross over and can be read anytime.

  Dangerous Revelations

  Dangerous Choices

  Dangerous Misery

  Dangerous Retaliation

  Dangerous Influence

  Dangerous Sacrifice

  Dangerous Destruction Dec 2017

  Copyright © 2014 Morgan Kelley LLC

  All rights reserved. Without limiting rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, introduced into a retrieval system, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including without limitation photocopying, recording, or other electronic or technical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  The scanning, uploading, and/or distribution of this document via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and is punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials. For permission requests, email [email protected]

  Content Advisory: This book is intended for mature audiences and contains graphic violence, explicit sexual activity and disturbing imagery

  ©Copyright 2017 cover photo Cover art by Celeste Abrahms .

  ~~~~ About the Author ~~~~

  Morgan Kelley lives in the beautiful Pocono Mountains with her husband and two children. After attending college at Penn State University and studying Criminal Justice, Morgan knew her only true passion in life would be murder and books. She put them both together and began her career as a writer. Other than books and writing, you can find Morgan hanging out in her garden and digging in the dirt.

  Her other works include: The Junction, Serial Sins, The Blood Betrayal, The Killing Times (1), Sacred Burial Grounds (2), True Love Lost (3), Deep Dark Mire (4), Fire Burns Hot (5), Darkness of Truth (6), Devil Hath Come (7), Consumed by Wrath (8), Redemption is Here (9), Blood Red Rage (1) Lost & Broken (2), Celestia is Falling (1), Vegas is Dying (2), Christmas is Killing (3), Love is Bleeding (4), Dangerous Revelations (1), and Illegal Fantasies (Anthology 1)

  Please feel free to visit Morgan at her website: www.morgankelley.com, email her [email protected], or visit her blog at www.morgankelley.blogspot.com.

  So begins my story.

  I’m Special Agent Lucas Mars…

  Prologue

  Sunday Afternoon

  Westmore Park Cemetery

  I n all honesty, she didn't know what the hell was going on around her. Once more, Maura Gaines was standing amidst the rows of fallen soldiers at another funeral. For her, it all seemed nothing but surreal.

  Today, they were burying one more valued member of her team. Sergeant Thomas Archer had been someone who had her back for the last few years.

  On missions.

  In the field.

  As a friend.

  And now he too was dead, stolen away from the people who loved him most.

  Maura stood there in her dress blues as the last three men on her special ops team remained at her side. Each one, also in uniform, were carrying the same expression.

  Where words weren’t needed, the very telling looks plastered across their handsome faces said it all.

  This was a travesty.

  One they didn't see coming.

  If Tommy had been the only person on her team to die, she could write it off as a fact of life, but he wasn’t. In fact, there were two things bugging the hell out of her about his death. The first was that he was the fourth member to fall, and second that he committed suicide.

  It wasn’t possible.

  She couldn’t wrap her head around it.

  Neither could her men.

  The military ran them periodically through the gambit of mental evaluations. In fact, she had just had her whole team tested after returning from their last field assignment. No one was off kilter or showing any PTSD. The initial findings were sitting back at her office on her computer.

  If he took his life, how had no one seen it coming?

  When she heard Sergeant Thomas Archer had gotten into his car, closed the garage door, and taken his own life, it didn't make any sense. Not as his friend or boss who served by his side.

  This wasn’t right.

  Add it to the other three funerals that she’d had to attend in the last six months, and it screamed suspicious.

  Her team was dropping like flies.

  If anything, the men she worked with were tough, hardcore, and bad ass. There was no way they would take their lives, fall into the hands of misfortune, or go down so easily.

  Maura couldn't wrap her mind around the last few months at all.

  It just didn't feel right.

  That gut feeling made her want to dig into the situation and find the truth. It had piqued her
interest and drew attention.

  As she stood there, the flag was slowly folded into the neat triangle by one of their own. Observing the procession, Major Maura Gaines watched in sadness. Someone had to get to the bottom of this. The four deaths wouldn’t, couldn’t, and shouldn’t be written off as ‘accidents or suicide’.

  Not on her watch.

  There was no way she was going to buy that load of bullshit.

  She knew them.

  Maura loved them.

  If anything, she trusted them.

  There was no doubt that she owed it to the men on her team. They mattered to her, and from this moment out, it was now her duty to find the truth.

  As the bugler played the somber melody of taps, everyone saluted the Marine handing over the folded flag to Tommy Archer’s mother. He hadn’t been married, but he had been engaged. Unfortunately, his fiancée was now in the hospital having a breakdown.

  Who could blame her?

  The minute she came home from work, to find him dead in the garage, her life had changed forever. She was too distraught to come to the funeral and no one would question why.

  Love had died.

  Maura was grateful she was one who never allowed that emotion to rule her life. She couldn't imagine what the woman was going through.

  Tommy and his fiancée were to be married in just over thirty days, and here she was blaming herself for what happened.

  It wasn’t fair to either of them.

  Now, it would mean finding out the truth about what the hell was going on with her team. She was taking it into her own hands to solve this mess.

  Maura Gaines loved her job, but she loved her men even more. They were a family, and she owed it to them to get to the root of the problem. When Private Marcus Westerly died, they wrote it off as a kid being a kid. He was young and wild. There was no way they could foresee more death coming.

  The when Gunnery Sergeant Bruce Mclead was next to perish, everything seemed off. Two strong, healthy men passing in two months was odd. They’d done at least ten dangerous assignments and all came home without a scratch. Now they were gone.

  How the hell was that possible?

  The entire scenario seemed implausible. To Maura, who was the leader and planner of the team, it didn't fit.

  Two months passed, and then another man on their team went down. Not in the line of duty, but another ‘accident’.

  Once more, Maura Gaines’s suspicions were piqued. Captain Christian Bleu was the next man to be found dead. Again, he was victim to an ‘accident’.

  Like a horrible lingering nightmare, it had begun again.

  And now, she was at the fourth funeral in six months, and she was sick to her stomach. The three men at her side were her extended family, and she was scared for them.

  They remained silent as the casket was lowered into the ground. No one spoke out of reverence for their fallen. As the people graveside began dissipating, the remaining members of her team began the walk back to their cars.

  “I can’t believe he’s dead,” stated Private Redmond Churchill, as he pulled off his regulation cap. “What the hell is happening?” he asked, glancing over at his boss.

  She could hear the emotion and fear in his voice. It unnerved her. Maura didn't have any idea. “Red, I wish I knew.”

  The man wiped the sweat from his brow and took in the woman before him. When he was first placed on this assignment, he was wary about following someone like Maura Gaines.

  At first, appearances could be deceiving.

  Maura Gaines wasn’t as imposing as most Marines. Granted, she was tall and lean, but once you looked into her green eyes, you could see she was far more than a pretty face. In her eyes, she conveyed so much calm. That strong tenacity had won him over, despite his first impression that she would be a push over.

  Thank God he had been wrong.

  He almost wanted to laugh at the memories. He’d had balls brass enough to challenge her, thinking she was just some poster child for women’s lib.

  Big mistake there.

  One day at the gym, Major Maura Gaines kicked his Marine ass. Yeah, he’d been cocky, but she’d made an example out of him, and he’d seen the error of his ways. Now, he was looking to her for an answer.

  As were they all. She was their leader, their boss, and more importantly, the glue that held them all together.

  “I’m confused as hell,” stated Captain Brick Brighton. “How could he commit suicide? I just talked to him the day before, and he seemed fine.”

  Yeah, she’d talked to him too. Maura wasn’t buying this whole mapped out pile of bullshit. Maybe to an outside eye, four fallen Marines didn't alert any suspicions, but to her… it was off. There was no way that four members of her team had gone down in six months, and there wasn’t something far more sinister behind it all.

  “I’m freaked out,” admitted Captain Jayson Woods. “He appeared to be so stable. Tommy had my back all the time, and now he’s gone.”

  They all looked over at him in agreement.

  Maura was going to get to the bottom of this. “He was stable, Jayson. I don’t buy that he committed suicide. Tommy was about to get married, start his life, and have a family. There’s no way in hell that he sat in the car and committed suicide. I don’t believe it.”

  “Maybe this is all just a coincidence,” stated Redmond. “I mean, how else can we explain it?”

  She couldn’t, but that didn't mean she wasn’t going to be able to. With some digging, Maura might just find the truth. Oh, she couldn’t wait to get to the bottom of it.

  “I’m going to look into it,” she stated. “This is far from over.”

  They stopped at her vehicle.

  “We have the next two weeks off, so I suggest you rest and lay low.”

  “What’s the next mission?” asked Jayson, looking to the woman who led their team. They’d all learned to trust, believe, and go with whatever she said. Maura Gaines didn't screw around when it came to their missions.

  She was the job.

  “We have a top-secret transport. I haven’t been given the details yet, but as soon as I’m briefed, you’ll be told,” she reassured. Maura had the details, but she didn't need them focused on work. What she wanted, no needed, was for them to watch their backs. Already, her gut was warning her something was off.

  The men didn't argue.

  Secrecy was just part of their lives. Maura Gaines, and her band of Marines, had one of those jobs that required absolute secrecy. They worked in the shadows to make sure certain things were…handled.

  So far, they’d never failed in a mission.

  They were the best of the best for a reason. The woman who led them missed nothing and lived for the job.

  “What are you going to do?” Brick asked, glancing around to make sure they were indeed alone.

  She brushed a piece of lint from the sleeve of her dress blues. With reverence, her fingers lingered over the medals she’d earned. “I’m going to dig into this and find out what’s going on.” A Marine never left anyone behind, and she refused to turn her back on their fallen.

  Not now.

  Not ever.

  “Is that a good idea, Maura?” asked Brick.

  The other two men agreed with him. They had a special protectiveness when it came to the beautiful woman before them. She wasn’t just their leader, she was their girl.

  Not that they’d say that out loud. Maura would kick their asses if she found out they were judging her weaker, just because she had ovaries.

  “It’s my team who is being picked off, so I have no choice,” she said, taking off her cover and placing it on her dash. She stared at her hat as she thought about her plan. “This is far from over. I won’t stop until I figure it out.”

  They believed her.

  She was tenacious.

  “You need to watch your back too,” Redmond offered, hoping she would take her own advice and go under too. They were good at disappearing, and now seemed like a damn g
ood time to do just that.

  She was well aware, but as their boss, she had to lead by example. Marines ran toward danger, not from it.

  “Like I said, go lay low. I’m going back to the office to get some things, and then I’ll start digging around.”

  “Keep in touch,” Jayson stated, as he walked away. “If you need us, you just have to call.”

  Maura was grateful for her men. She loved them like they were her brothers.

  Getting into her SUV, she watched them walk away. Deep down, she prayed that she’d see them again.

  And not at a funeral.

  With one last sigh, she got ready.

  Now, it was time for Major Maura Gaines to do what she did best.

  She was going to be stealthy.

  * * * C a r t e r C h r o n i c l e s * * *

  Happy Hour

  A Few Miles Away

  Well, they’d closed another one, and boy did they have to work for it. Special Agent Lucas Mars and his field partner Director Nathaniel Carter had just returned from one hell of a case.

  He was glad to be home and back in one piece.

  They had just played a game of cat and mouse with some crazy who liked killing men. Maybe killing wasn’t an appropriate word.

  Slaughtering seemed so much more accurate.

  For a while there, he was worried this one would slip away. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time. Their three-city chase was exhausting, and all that Luke wanted now was some downtime. While he felt like he’d aged a few years, his partner was still looking as spiffy as ever. Then again, it was hard to wear the shine off Nate Carter. He was good at his job. From his perfectly cut hair to his icy blue eyes, the man meant business.

  It was probably why he was one of the best in their field. Luke was glad he was not only his partner, but friend. Over the years they’d grown close, and he was now part of the Carter family. That, to him, was better than any accolades the FBI could toss at him. While he wished he was officially one, he’d take relation by proxy. It was the best he could do.