Breach of Protocol Read online

  Special Agent Kyle MacKerron returned to duty leading a new team of CIA agents working counterterrorism cases. Cade Williams, as well, returned to work as an analyst at NSA on Uncle Bill Tarleton’s team.

  Special Agent Jana Baker spent six weeks in rehabilitation at the Bethesda Medical Center in Maryland, a hospital she was all too familiar with. She spent much of that time deep in thought, reliving the terrifying events over and over in her mind. Worst were the nights. Alone in the hospital room, Jana often awoke in the throws of a recurring nightmare, a nightmare she could not shake. It was her mind’s twisted version of the experiences two years prior that had orchestrated her PTSD in the first place.

  In the dream she saw herself running toward the white van, balloons adorning its side. She slid to a halt at the back of the van, fired three rounds into the lock and yanked open the door. Then Shakey Kunde, the first of Waseem Jarrah’s suicide bombers, raised his Glock and a spitfire torrent of gunfire erupted. Jana felt the bullets slam into her chest and she rocked back. Kunde plunged his hand into the metal canister and detonated the nuclear device. The white-hot flash was unbearable. After that, Jana walked among the dead whose flesh fell from their bones. She would scream herself awake.

  Her psychologist, Kelly Everson, worked daily with Jana to create a new version of the dream. In this version, Kelly reinforced the truth of that day’s actual events; Jana had shot the terrorist to death an instant before he detonated. But Kelly mixed truth with fiction and had Jana imagine her own skin as being as impenetrable as Kevlar. The terrorist’s bullets simply bounced off.

  As Jana came to grips with the flashbacks, she came to another truth, the realization that she no longer knew herself. So much of her childhood she now knew to be a lie. Her father, a career CIA officer, had committed treason along with her uncle. Jana was the only child of one of the worst spies in US history. She was a child of broken trust.

  And her mother, murdered by her father’s Russian handlers, gone, gone forever. But the most painful was her grandfather, the one man she had trusted her entire life. He had become her whole world, and yet not even his words could be trusted. He had never told her the truth about her father and uncle and had lied to cover it all up.

  Finally there was the self-knowledge that while Cade had risked everything to rescue her, she had chosen the mission over Cade’s life. The words of the late Director of the FBI, Stephen Latent, played out in her thoughts. “I chose my career over my wife. I may as well have divorced her the day I took office. Don’t make the same mistake.” Cade visited the hospital with frequency, but Jana knew that in the jumble of her mind, she would need time and space in order to make sense of it all. She would have to get away from everything in order to find out who she really was. She withdrew, and their relationship fractured.

  To this day, the federal government has never disclosed to the American public the truth about what almost happened at the Yellowstone Caldera. Rumors and unverified stories circulate on conspiracy-theory websites about the events that led up to the death of the most wanted terrorist in the world, Waseem Jarrah. But government officials provide no corroboration, and wild theories continue to abound in such circles.

  One theory, though, the one proposed by Russian analyst Konstantin Slokovich, has taken on a life of its own. He had first suggested that the United States be taken out in one swift blow by a single nuclear detonation at Wyoming’s Yellowstone Caldera. The story gained validity when it was later rumored the US government had permanently relocated radiation-detection sensors to the hillsides surrounding the greater Yellowstone park area.

  As the questioning over Rafael’s death intensified, Jana Baker applied for, and was granted, a leave of absence from the FBI, the second in her short career. Without telling anyone, she packed a bag and walked into Reagan National Airport. She had no plan, and no destination in mind.

  As she studied the list of outbound flights, it occurred to her to fly back to Spain and once again hike the Camino Trail, a place of solace and peace that she would carry inside her for the rest of her days.

  But in the end she purchased a one-way ticket to the Caribbean island of Antigua where she rented a small, one-bedroom house on the outskirts of the township of Saint John’s.

  She took a job at a little tiki hut just off the beach, and much to her pleasure, the hut sold suntan lotion.

  A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  Get a free copy of book 1 of this series, Protocol One, below.

  Protocol One

  The first casualty of terror is innocence

  When Jana Baker first landed the internship of a lifetime, she never imagined walking into a pit of terrorists. But when a secretive federal agent approaches her, she learns the truth and has no choice but to infiltrate their plot. As Agent Stone tries to protect her, Jana pushes past the outer edges of peril only to find herself clinging for life.

  Visit NathanAGoodman.com/one/ for a free copy today.

  ***

  I’ve had a lot of readers ask me, how much truth and how much fiction is in Breach of Protocol? Well, there’s a lot of both contained in the story you just read. But consider these things:

  ● The Yellowstone Caldera—the caldera itself is real, but a supervolcano sleeping underneath? One of the largest active continental volcanic fields in the world?

  ● Does the Russian government believe detonating a nuclear weapon at the caldera would annihilate much of the United States? Is that even possible?

  ● What about the two-mile-deep mine shaft at Parkfield, California? What’s the truth behind that?

  ● Tri-methylfentanyl? Was it actually used in by Russian Spetznatz troops as they conducted a raid to save hostages?

  ● Who was the real Aldrich Ames? An American CIA employee turned spy?

  ● How about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? What do the Bible and Koran actually say about these?

  ● And finally, the sword of Al-Battar. Are there really nine swords that belonged to the Prophet Mohammad? Is Al-Battar really said to be the sword Jesus will use when he returns?

  As a thank-you for being a reader, all the answers and more are available free. Just visit the author’s website at NathanAGoodman.com/breach/ for an instant download.

  Thank you for reading, and as always, you can sign up to be notified of new novels in the Jana Baker Spy-Thriller Series at NathanAGoodman.com/email/

  And finally, it would mean a lot to my author career if you would rate Breach of Protocol at the retailer you purchased it from.

  Thank you and good reading,

  Nathan Goodman, Author

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Special thanks to the following experts, without whom this book would not have been possible: David Bakken, MD and Michele Burns, MD for their thorough review of medical details, the U.S. Geological Survey for providing information used in the geological-related scenes, and the tireless work of my Vermont-based editor, Keith Morrill, who added such value to the story.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, places, incidents, characters, and all contents are products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any relation or resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, businesses, agencies, government entities, or locales is purely coincidental.

  THOUGHT REACH PRESS, a publishing division of Thought Reach, LLC. United States of America.

  Copyright © 2019 Nathan A. Goodman

  Cover art copyright © 2019 Nathan A. Goodman

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. No portion of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations used in articles and reviews.

  First Thought Reach Press printing January, 2017

  ISBN: 978-1540470812

  Printed in the USA and United Kingdom.

  For information regarding special discounts for bulk purchases, or permission to reprodu
ce any content other than mentioned above, contact the publisher at

  [email protected].