Force of Nature

CHAPTER ONE

A Year Later

"I’m going in.”

Ric laughed out loud, which was probably not the best thing to do, given the circumstances. “No, you’re not.”

But Annie only narrowed her eyes at his amusement instead of delivering a smack to the side of his head.

Which, he realized, was something she hadn’t done to him since she was thirteen. Still, he could tell that she was tempted.

“Look,” he tried reason. “I said you could ride along. There’s an unspoken understanding there that you’ll stay in the car.” Of course, they were both already out of the car, standing in this suckhole of a parking lot on the crap side of Sarasota.

At least they were standing in the shade.

Annie, too, tried reason. But hers was laced with attitude. “You can’t go in. And unless Hutch is on his way over . . .”

Damn, but he hated when she called him Starsky, even by omission like that. But this time he clenched his teeth and kept his mouth shut. This was definitely not the time or place to get into The Argument, which went something like: “Oh, that’s right, Ric, you don’t have a Hutch. You don’t want one, don’t need one, even though I’m standing right here, volunteering for the job. No, you prefer to believe— despite years of police work that proved otherwise—that you don’t need any backup whatsoever. You’d prefer to end up lying in an alley again, with the shit kicked out of you. You’d prefer to pee blood. Again.”

Annie’s second day of work as his new office assistant at Alvarado Private Investigations hadn’t been a particularly good day for Ric.

Her third day, however, had included his successful apprehension and delivery to the FBI of the shitkicker’s brother, who was wanted in four states for a variety of violent crimes. Ric had received a twenty-thousand-dollar reward for his diligent, but not particularly brilliant detective work. Twenty thousand. After adding up the time he’d put in, plus expenses, it worked out to just over four hundred dollars an hour, which was sweet. Well, sweet, with the exception of those particularly nasty twenty minutes during which he’d allowed himself to get stomped in order to gain possession of the kicker’s cell phone—which subsequently revealed the location of his even nastier older brother’s girlfriend. And again, it wasn’t Ric’s skill as a detective, but rather the fact that Nasty the elder had just broken the woman’s nose, that had worked to Ric’s advantage. For a slim five percent share of the reward, plus a truckload of revenge, she’d eagerly divulged the wanted man’s whereabouts.

Still, four hundred dollars an hour, however he’d earned it, wasn’t something to sneeze at. And the fact that he’d finally worked a lucrative case that didn’t involve bored, wealthy suburbanites cheating on each other was another reason to cheer.

Yet it was the getting-beaten-up-and-peeing-blood part that Annie brought up over and over again.

Along with the fact that she had been sorely misled by her own asshole-of-a-brother-Bruce—her name for him, not his—to believe that Ric needed an assistant rather than a receptionist. Annie

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Title of ebook: Force of Nature
ISBN: 9780345500465
parent-ISBN: 9780345480163
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 08-2007
Released online for download: 08-14-2007
Author of eBook: Brockmann, Suzanne
Series: More eBooks from the Troubleshooters series
Number in this series: 11

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Force of Nature

A Novel
CHAPTER ONE

A Year Later

"I’m going in.”

Ric laughed out loud, which was probably not the best thing to do, given the circumstances. “No, you’re not.”

But Annie only narrowed her eyes at his amusement instead of delivering a smack to the side of his head.

Which, he realized, was something she hadn’t done to him since she was thirteen. Still, he could tell that she was tempted.

“Look,” he tried reason. “I said you could ride along. There’s an unspoken understanding there that you’ll stay in the car.” Of course, they were both already out of the car, standing in this suckhole of a parking lot on the crap side of Sarasota.

At least they were standing in the shade.

Annie, too, tried reason. But hers was laced with attitude. “You can’t go in. And unless Hutch is on his way over . . .”

Damn, but he hated when she called him Starsky, even by omission like that. But this time he clenched his teeth and kept his mouth shut. This was definitely not the time or place to get i ... read full excerpt from: Force of Nature ebook

Share your thoughts on the Force of Nature ebook with other internet viewers!

Title: Force of Nature
Avg. Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Number Of Comments:
2 Rating(s)
5 Review(s)

0 of 1 people found the following eBook review helpful:
	2 04/10/2009
Reviewer: A viewer from Hanford, CA US
If you love the troubleshooter series you won't be disappointed. Ric and Annie have a great chemistry, Jules and Robin reunite. It is a fun read.
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9 of 18 people found the following eBook review helpful:
	2 07/25/2008
Reviewer: A viewer from Colonial Heights, VA US
As a huge Brockmann fan, I've got to say that this book is awesome. Yes, some of her old stuff is traditional romance but her new books are GREAT. AND you get Jules/Robin action in this one that is fabulous. The plot is tight, the action is steady, the climax is off the charts! Read it, read it, read it! You won't be disappointed!
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12 of 25 people found the following eBook review helpful:
	2 04/22/2008
Reviewer: A viewer from Colonial Heights, VA US
If you're a Suzanne Brockmann fan - then you'll fine this is more of the same. The same being engaging, exciting characters, seriously well-thought-out plots woven together with some hot sex! Yep, more of the same.
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11 of 23 people found the following eBook review helpful:
	2 04/22/2008
Reviewer: A viewer from Colonial Heights, VA US
Suzanne Brockmann tells a story like nobody's business. This is an amazingly coordinated story by a master in her field. I love the recurring characters in the Troubleshooters world. Jules Cassidy is SUCH a favorite. Exciting, fast paced, full of action and serious, sexy goodness!
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35 of 72 people found the following eBook review helpful:
	2 10/10/2007
Reviewer: A viewer from Santa Fe, NM US
Suzanne Brockmann's latest story involves Ric Alvarado, the Miami cop whom we first met in Max and Gina's installment, and the woman he has secretly loved for years, Annie Dugan. In the past, Ric never put the moves on Annie because she not only was his best friend's little sister but she was also, according to her brother, a lesbian. After Annie starts working for Ric at his PI firm, his self-restraint and illusions as to her sexual preferences are happily destroyed. When the two are "on the job" together and inadvertently save a mobster's son, a huge spanner is thrown in their romantic works. Now Ric's only excuse for not committing to Annie is that doing so would require her to go undercover with him, infiltrating the mobster's organization, and chances are good they might not survive this latest assignment... As with many of Brockmann's other novels, the subplot is equally involving and complex; this time around it focuses on the long-awaited romance between Jules Cassidy and Robin Chadwicke. I imagine that Ms. Brockmann's interest in finally giving her gay hero, Jules, his richly deserved romantic resolution stems from the fact that as the proud mother of a gay son she wishes to draw attention to our similarities, rather than our differences, when it comes to matters of the heart. I thought both romances were uniquely and thoughtfully spun out. Robin's alcoholism was deftly and delicately handled and made for a truly compelling story, along with the dangers of undercover work and its inevitable discovery by the bad guys. Kudos on a wicked, awesome job, Suzanne!
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