Killer Harvest. Tanya Stowe

      

      Can she stop a deadly crop virus

      from ending up in the wrong hands?

      Biologist and single mom Sassa Nilsson just witnessed her mentor’s brutal murder by environmental extremists. Now she’s the last link to a deadly pathogen they plan on unleashing—and their number one target! But can handsome border patrol agent Jared De Luca shield Sassa and her baby long enough to find a cure…before the entire world faces the unthinkable consequences?

      TANYA STOWE is a Christian fiction author with an unexpected edge. She is married to the love of her life, her high school sweetheart. They have four children and twenty-one grandchildren, a true adventure. She fills her books with the unusual—mysteries and exotic travel, even a murder or two. No matter where Tanya takes you—on a trip to foreign lands or a suspenseful journey packed with danger—be prepared for the extraordinary.

       Also By Tanya Stowe

      Mojave Rescue

      Fatal Memories

      Killer Harvest

      Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

      Killer Harvest

      Tanya Stowe

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      ISBN: 978-0-008-90641-2

      KILLER HARVEST

      © 2020 Tanya Stowe

      Published in Great Britain 2020

      by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

      All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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       www.millsandboon.co.uk

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      “Jared, what’s going on? What are you not telling me?”

      Jared turned, and the look in his eyes frightened Sassa.

      “What is it? What’s wrong?”

      “Heiser’s dead, but they’re still using his tactic. Distract and attack. They’re sacrificing their own people again. That leaves us spread out with our forces divided.” He paused and looked her straight in the eye. “We have to get out of here. The Black Knights are coming for you.”

      Sassa’s blood pounded through her temples. Jared ran across the room and picked up the radio.

      “Lucero? Come in, Lucero. We’ve got to get Sassa out of here.”

      The radio crackled. “I just got a report of activity on the—”

      The radio went silent. All the lights in the house flashed then went dark. The only sound was the refrigerator cycling down as the power went off completely.

      Flickering fire from the fireplace lit Jared’s features as he stared at her across the room. Sassa gripped Keri and rose to her feet.

      “Jared...”

      But her whisper died as muffled shots sliced the air.

      Dear Reader,

      I was fortunate enough to grow up in Southern California in what I considered one of its golden ages...the ’60s and ’70s. The state has probably had many “golden ages” but for me those years were especially great. It was the time of Jan and Dean, the Beach Boys, the Monkees, Walt Disney and a young Kurt Russell—he went to a nearby high school and I dreamed of meeting him at every football game. I never did, of course. I think he was into baseball.

      We even had a local television broadcast of a beach party hosted by a radio DJ named the Reale Don Steele and a blond, teenaged bikini beauty named Kam Nelson. I grew up just twenty minutes away, never missed the show and dreamed about joining that party. It was an exciting time and I was right in the middle of the whirlwind.

      Even though I lived less than a mile from the beach, every other weekend during the summer months we traveled to California’s Central Valley where we water-skied behind flat-bottom boats with engines that roared up and down the King’s River. I absolutely loved skimming across the glass-smooth water at a high speed. At night we sat on the sandy banks and looked up at a million stars. The cottonwood branches brushed the river’s edge and we inhaled the scent of ripe fruit from the orchards and vineyards around us. My life felt like one grand adventure!

      But all things change, including me. I grew up, married and moved away, but those golden times stayed with me. Twenty years later when my daughter moved to the Central Valley, I returned. I found the warm summer nights, the corner fruit stands, the orchards and the vineyards just as I had left them. For a short while, I felt sixteen again, and I knew some day I’d write about the valley.

      I added a few terrorists and killers, but I hope reading this book gives you the same sweet escape!

       Tanya

      For I know the thoughts that I think toward you...thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an unexpected end.

      —Jeremiah 29:11

      For my grandson Kaden, for