Title: Byte Me: Lonesome Lawmen 2
Author: Pauline Baird Jones
Genre: Romantic suspense
Book Blurb:
A virtual vigilante with a killer in her sights. A deputy marshal caught in the middle. Can they go beyond the law to make things right?
Phoebe Mentel has been honing her hacking skills with one mission in mind. While the man who murdered her sister thinks his money and connections will keep him safe, Phoebe has other plans. She and her gang of vigilante hackers are hot on the killer’s trail, but they aren’t the only ones on the prowl…
US Deputy Marshal Jake Kirby wishes he would’ve ignored his gut feeling. If he had, he never would’ve walked into Phoebe’s Colorado country western bar, and he certainly wouldn’t have had to arrest the alluring hacker. While he doesn’t blame her for seeking vengeance, even the woman of his dreams isn’t above the law…
But as Phoebe and Jake broker a deal to work together, the killer they seek is willing to break every rule in the book to keep his freedom…
Byte Me is a suspense-filled mystery with a dash of humor. If you like tech-savvy thrillers, eccentric characters, and romance under fire, then you’ll love Pauline Baird Jones’ next standalone installment in her Lonesome Lawmen series.
Buy Byte Me to decode this virtual mystery today!
Excerpt:
Overhead tiny pinpoints of light gave depth to the moonless night sky, while thirty stories down, miniature streetlights made a path for the occasional car to follow. The silence was so deep, Phoebe Mentel heard her own breath whispering in and out of her lungs. She leaned on the parapet and studied the tower across from her and her companion, taking the moment to find her focus and quiet her mind.
“You ready?” he asked. She turned as he dropped his bundle of equipment at her feet and knelt to extract the rocket launcher. He was dressed to steal in deepest black. Only his eyes gleamed out of the dark, eyes far too blue to be true.
Lucky for her, she didn’t need true. She needed there.
“I was born ready.” She pitched her voice low, but her voice, laced with her mother’s Southern charm, sounded loud in her ears. Also dressed to blend with the night, she’d covered her chin length hair with a black stocking cap and smeared her face with blacking until only her brown eyes were visible.
His smile came fast and white, cutting into his dark silhouette like a lost Cheshire cat before fading back into the night. He readied the launcher, then used the parapet to steady his arms as he sighted in on the shadowy outline of the tower opposite.
A pop. A hiss. A double strand of rope snaked across the gap between the two buildings in a gleaming, silver arc. A muffled clunk found its way back to their ears.
He tugged on the rope until the grappling hook resisted, tested it for give. There was none. He leaned back, using his full weight. It still held. He secured their end with brisk, practiced economy, then bent to check his climbing harness. When he’d shouldered his pack and was anchored to the rope, he looked at her.
Phoebe adjusted her earpiece. “You receiving?”
He nodded. “You?”
“Soft and clear.”
“Catch you on the flip side.” He gave her a cheeky salute and vaulted over the parapet into space. The double rope sagged but held as he disappeared into the night. After a time the tension on the rope eased.
“It’s a go.” His voice in her ear confirmed what her eyes saw. Her turn to step up and do or die.
In a perfect mimicry of his actions, Phoebe took her place at the parapet. A confident vault, her body kept angled against a gravity more imagined than felt, then the slide into darkness. Slow at first, she quickly picked up speed. The side of the building formed out of shadow. She curled her legs and thrust out with her feet, using the resulting bounce to swing up and hook the edge of the roof. Her partner, programmed to be gallant, reached down and pulled her up beside him.
Phoebe shed her pack and knelt by the grill over the building’s airshaft and removed it, while he got out their equipment, all of it the latest in high-tech gadgetry. When she’d exposed the alarm wires bypassed them, they roped up again and started down the shaft, following a route laid out in her head. It was a gift, a talent, an instinct that was as much a part of her physiology as her eyes and hair and what she’d heard was her father’s nose. If there was a way to get to something, a path to follow, she could find it.
Deep in the building’s bowels, cutting-edge technology opened the wall they needed to access as easy as a whore spread her legs, giving them the prize they sought. They lost two minutes when a guard broke routine, but made up the time on the trip back to their starting point. Phoebe released the rope and drew it in with a sigh of relief.
“I think that was our best time yet,” her companion said, the English accent giving the words more importance than they deserved.
Phoebe frowned. “If we could shave off another sixty seconds—”
The muffled shrill of her telephone, followed by the harsh whine of two computers attempting communication, cut across her words with a warning that her virtual reality game was about to be invaded.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Author Store eBook: https://payhip.com/b/aouO
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Pauline_Baird_Jones_Byte_Me?id=cFmfAgAAQBAJ&hl=en
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1199176
What makes your featured book a must-read?
"Byte Me" promises a thrilling journey through the realms of cyber justice, intriguing characters, and a romance that blossoms amidst danger. It’s a must-read for fans of suspense-filled mysteries, tech-centric thrillers, and unconventional love stories.
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $35 Amazon gift card:
Open Internationally.
Runs August 8 – August 21, 2023.
Winner will be drawn on August 22, 2023.
Author Biography:
USA Today Bestselling Author, Pauline never liked reality, so she writes books. She likes to wander among the genres, rampaging like Godzilla, because she does love peril mixed in her romance.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://paulinebjones.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulinebjones
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/paulinebjones