Moving Target
I don't think I can live with what I've done…In an effort to cure an ailing relative, Dr. Kat Odgers makes a revolutionary new drug—and powerful new enemies. She has no idea what her latest concoction is capable of, but Jake Isaacs knows. And Jake must get to Kat before someone else does. Her safety is his mission, but the assignment gets complicated when a strong mutual attraction threatens to throw him off course. Centered in the crosshairs of corrupt adversaries, Jake and Kat must suppress their growing passions and focus on survival. But when Kat’s formula falls into the wrong hands, they may face full knowledge of the drug’s catastrophic effects.
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âI donât think I can live with what Iâve done.â¦â
In an effort to cure an ailing relative, Dr. Kat Odgers makes a revolutionary new drugâand powerful new enemies. She has no idea what her latest concoction is capable of, but Jake Isaacs knows. And Jake must get to Kat before someone else does. Her safety is his mission, but the assignment gets complicated when a strong mutual attraction threatens to throw him off course. Centered in the crosshairs of corrupt adversaries, Jake and Kat must suppress their growing passions and focus on survival. But when Katâs formula falls into the wrong hands, they may face full knowledge of the drugâs catastrophic effects.
Would he reject her?
Katâs heart galloped like a wild horse inside her chest as she held her breath, desperately hoping he wouldnât scoff at her attempt at seduction, though she had to admit, it was a little on the pathetic side. When the heavy silence dragged on, Kat started talking as if her life depended on it.
âI know how this looks,â she began hurriedly. âIâm throwing myself at you in some lame attempt at seduction and I wish I could deny it but itâs true. I donât know the first thing about being sexy or coy, or how to get a guy to look at me in a romantic way, but the truth of the matter is, thereâs a good chance I might die soon, and I refuse to die without knowing what itâs like to be held and kissed by a man like you.â
Dear Reader,
If I donât feel a connection to a character, the words simply wonât flow. This wasnât a problem for Moving Target. Kat jumped out at me from the minute I started writing this story. Her voice and quirky personality drove the story, more so than Jake did, which was a surprise. I guess thatâs one of the best parts about being a storytellerâyou never know how your characters are going to take control. Kat and Jake are an unlikely duo, which is what makes them perfect for one another. I love when characters challenge the other to learn and grow, because it turns out to be one heck of a journey for the reader!
I hope you enjoy Moving Target. If youâre just coming to this story, you might want to check out The Sniper, which is Nathanâs story and a great complement to Jake and Katâs story.
Hearing from readers is a special joy. Please feel free to drop me a line via email through my website, at www.kimberlyvanmeter.com, or through snail mail, at Kimberly Van Meter, P.O. Box 2210, Oakdale, CA 95361.
Kimberly
KIMBERLY VAN METER
wrote her first book at sixteen and finally achieved publication in December 2006. She writes for the Mills & Boon Superromance and Mills & Boon Romantic Suspense lines. She and her husband of seventeen years have three children, three cats and always a houseful of friends, family and fun.
To the real scientists and homeopathic practitioners out there working tirelessly in their lab or garden to find a cure for the dreaded disease of Alzheimerâsâyour work is important. No one should be made to suffer the indignities of a broken mind. Real heroes donât always carry guns but they always try to save lives. Bless you!
Contents
Chapter 1
Katherine âKatâ Odgers fought the urge to cry.
âNo,â she breathed, staring at her research and back again at the rhesus monkey sheâd secretly named Auguste after the first clinically diagnosed Alzheimer patient who lived in the late 1800s. The monkey didnât seem to know what to do with the banana sheâd tried to give him. Worse was the fact that he seemed to have lost the ability to do anything a monkey would normally do.
âCâmon, Auguste, donât do this to me,â she said, reaching into the cage against protocol. The monkey, frightened, climbed into her arms like a baby and clung to her as if she were its mama. âOh no, oh no, oh no.â She gently administered a sedative and carried the monkey over to a machine geared toward mapping his mental acuity. As she waited anxiously for the machine to do its work, she bit at her fingernails, nibbling at the near-nonexistent sliver of nail, worried and scaredânot only for Auguste but for her research.
Had something gone wrong? Had she missed something?
Three yearsâ worth of careful, painstaking research, animal trials that showed brilliant, exciting promise in the area of Alzheimerâs research, all hinged on the results of that scan.
The machine finished and after returning Auguste to his cage, she stared at the monitor, reading the results with a sinking heart and a nauseous stomach.
Her drug, MCX-209, was supposed to repair the brain but instead...it had destroyed it.
Somehow sheâd missed something crucial, because according to Augusteâs scan, the area that stored memory was less wrinkled and nearly smooth in places. His memories had just disappeared courtesy of MCX-209. âI failed,â she murmured, tears springing to her eyes as her stare returned to the unconscious Auguste. âAnd Iâve ruined poor Auguste.â
