Dragonfly vs Monarch
Book Two
by
Charley Brindley
[email protected]
www.charleybrindley.com
Edited by
Karen Boston
Website https://bit.ly/2rJDq3f
Front cover art by
Charley Brindley
Back cover art by
Niki Vukadinova
© 2019 Charley Brindley, all rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition May 29, 2019
This book is dedicated to
Seth Alva Walker
Some of Charley Brindley’s books
have been translated into:
Italian
Spanish
Portuguese
French
Dutch
Turkish
Chinese
and
Russian
The following books are available in audio format:
Raji, Book One (in English)
Do Not Resuscitate (in English)
The Last Mission of the Seventh Cavalry (in English)
Hannibal’s Elephant Girl, Book One (in Russian)
Henry IX (in Italian)
Other books by Charley Brindley
1. Oxana’s Pit
2. The Last Mission of the Seventh Cavalry
3. Raji Book One: Octavia Pompeii
4. Raji Book Two: The Academy
5. Raji Book Three: Dire Kawa
6. Raji Book Four: The House of the West Wind
7. Hannibal’s Elephant Girl
8. Cian
9. Ariion XXIII
10. The Last Seat on the Hindenburg
11. Dragonfly vs Monarch: Book One
12. The Sea of Tranquility 2.0 Book One: Exploration
13. The Sea of Tranquility 2.0 Book Two: Invasion
14. The Sea of Tranquility 2.0 Book Three
15. The Sea of Tranquility 2.0 Book Four
16. Sea of Sorrows, Book Two of The Rod of God
17. Do Not Resuscitate
18. Hannibal’s Elephant Girl, Book Two
19. The Rod of God, Book One
20. Henry IX
21. Qubit’s Incubator
22. Casper’s Game
Coming Soon
23. Dragonfly vs Monarch: Book Three
24. The Journey to Valdacia
25. Still Waters Run Deep
26. Ms Machiavelli
27. Ariion XXIX
28. The Last Mission of the Seventh Cavalry Book 2
29. Hannibal’s Elephant Girl, Book Three
See the end of this book for details about the others
The CIA isn’t the only gang of spooks with weaponized insects. It seems the Kremlin has developed one of their own.
New York City, today.
Rigger Entime knocked on the door of apartment 7C. While he waited, he glanced down the hall as a laughing couple came off the elevator and turned away from him. Picturesque landscapes decorated the curving hallway while chic side tables held vases of fresh flowers.
“Took you long enough.” Katrina smiled when she opened the door.
“I would have been here sooner, but–”
“Shut up.”
She slipped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. When he put his arms around her and kicked the door closed, his paper bag hit her in the butt.
“Mmm…feels like you brought something hard with you.”
“Yeah.” He kissed her again. “Hard liquor.”
“That, too?”
After a moment, she leaned back. “Hungry?”
He shook his head and kissed her again.
She reached behind herself and took the bag from his hand. “I want to see what you brought me.” She opened the bag and peeked inside. “I love wine coolers.”
“Where’s Rachel?”
“At the orphanage.” She took his hand to lead him toward the kitchen.
“I wish she were here.”
“Me, too. I just love her to pieces.” Katrina set the bottles out on the kitchen table. “Sit there.” She pointed to a chair at the table, then slipped on an oven mitt. “I made us a pizza.”
“Wow, it smells great. Maybe I am hungry.”
She placed the pizza on top of the stove and cut it with a rollerblade cutter. After sliding four large pieces onto a plate, she sat it on the table and took the chair across from him.
“Where do we start?” she asked.
He picked up a slice of pizza and immediately dropped it. “I usually start with my fingers, but it’s too hot.”
“You know what I’m talking about.” She scooted her chair out and went to a drawer for two forks. Instead of returning to the chair across the table, she sat beside him.
They each used their forks to cut a bite of pizza.
“Why did they fire you?” he asked.
“Sleeping with the enemy, for openers, which I didn’t.”
“And?”
“Child endangerment.”
“Well, that’s true, if you thought I might be a killer.”
“Ha, you don’t know how close you were to a bullet.”
Rigger stopped chewing to stare at her.
“Remember that first day, when you bought us hot chocolate?”
He nodded.
“Did you ever see my right hand? No, you didn’t, because it was in my coat pocket, right next to my service revolver–which, by the way, I had to turn in today.”
“You had a gun on me?”
“Not actually on you, but I could have had it in my hand in an instant if you made a move on us. Same thing when you thought I was cleaning your kitchen. I had my eye on you the whole time while you were playing with Rachel.”
“Well…” He went back to his food. “I thought you were a pretty poor house cleaner.”
“I wanted to arrest you so bad, but I had no evidence, nothing I could take to court.”
“When did you go soft on me?”
“It was the second time Rachel and I went to your apartment. I began to see you were an okay guy.” Katrina twisted the caps off two wine coolers and set one in front of Rigger.
He took a drink. “And I guess you reported back to your chief that I wasn’t a suspect any longer?”
“I did, but Captain Billingsley didn’t buy it. Said I was getting cozy with you and I should back away for a while, maybe do paperwork or write parking tickets.”