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5 star book review, Accidental Spy Russia Adventure, Amazon, books by Lada Ray, free ebook, Gold Train, Kindle, romantic mystery thriller, romantic suspense, Russia, Russian Civil War, Russian Empire, spy thriller
EXCITING NEWS!
Mark your calendar! GOLD TRAIN ebook will be FREE on Amazon Kindle on Friday 5/17 for one day only! Grab it here: Amazon US UK DE CA JP. Also available on all other international Amazon sites.
Update 5/20: GOLD TRAIN will be on sale: $1.49 (reg. $3.99) for a limited time on #Kindle! Or you can try it FREE with #AmazonPrime trial membership! Download today!
From the publisher: GOLD TRAIN (Accidental Spy Russia Adventure) has been beautifully re-edited and redesigned, new scenes and artwork have been added to both paperback and ebook versions! The new length is 288 print pages. New passages and scenes make characters and events stand out better, adding a more reflective/spiritual tone to the book and highlighting the romantic element, while preserving this novel’s trademark rip-roaring pace. Published by RAY HOUSE.
New Synopsis
Experience Moscow and St. Petersburg like you’ve never imagined them before; travel through Russia’s turbulent history and ever-changing present; immerse yourself in a world filled with oligarchs, hidden treasure, ultimate royal glamour, state secrets and FSB spies. It’s the world guided by destiny’s hand and spiced up with passionate love affair that could only happen where stakes are deadly and every day may be your last!
1918: Civil War in Russia. The entire Gold Reserve of the Russian Empire vanishes without a trace. But what if it’s about to resurface? And what if it’s about to be used to shift the global balance of power?
Today: Jade Snow, sexy international journalist turned spy extraordinaire must choose between her worst friends and best enemies, and the future just might depend on her choice.
288 print pages. Includes bonus: Excerpt from next Accidental Spy Asia Adventure, DRAGON GATE.
From the recent 5 Star review by John Paul Davis, bestselling author of The Templar Agenda: “I enjoyed the novel in general, but what separated this from most thrillers I’ve read is the plot and the historical pedigree of the settings and the situation. As a lover of both thriller novels and history, I was captivated by the plausibility of the ambitious plot and the impeccable surroundings in which it was set. From gorgeous palaces and stately homes to deserted monasteries and underground railways, Gold Train was an absolute treat. As the novel progressed, I often found myself looking things up, and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to visualise the novel as having taken place in real life. It really makes one wonder, if something like this could happen.” Read full review on Amazon.
Read one of the re-edited scenes, complete with the newly added passage. This scene, where Jade gets trapped in a cave, highlights both the dangerous thriller aspect, as well as the hot romance theme of the story, while adding a spiritual tone to the narrative.
EXCERPT
Standing silently by the left side of the arched entrance was a man with a gun in his hand. The gun was pointed smack between my eyes. I turned my head to the right, then left. The cave didn’t have any other exit. The only way out was through the arch. I was trapped.
The man with the gun made an ominous step inside the cave. I took a step to my left, attempting to get out of the line of fire. He made another step and readjusted his aim. I eyed him carefully, edging sideways towards the mouth of the cave. But my avoidance dance wasn’t working, as every time I made a step the man resolutely made one as well, again fixing his aim, his finger on the trigger.
A solitary second that I still had left to live slowed down to a crawl, and every last millisecond of it was vivid and memorable like nothing I’ve experienced in my life.
As the gun formed a direct line with the spot between my eyes, I realized that my nemesis was already some distance inside the cave, while I managed to edge closer to its entrance. This meant that if I dashed to the arch now, maybe I still had a chance to escape through the opening.
I inhaled, mentally measuring the distance…and ran with my eyes fixed on the arch. The man calmly followed my move with his gun, but at that very moment a shadow appeared out of nowhere and flew past the entrance right towards me! The gun fired; I almost saw the bullet that was about to end my life cross the space between the shooter and me. But in that instant, the shadow materialized right in front of me. Inertia carried it a few steps into the murky depth of the cave, where the figure collapsed, as the bullet that was meant for me hit it in the chest.
“Evgeny, what the hell is going on here?” Another man with a gun in his hand ran into the cave, blocking my escape route.
“Damn, who was that?!” yelled the shooter, again pointing his gun at my head. But just before it went off, I rushed to the fallen man, who’d taken the bullet for me. The newly fired round whizzed by my left side and ricocheted off the wall.
With a grunt of pain, the wounded man braced himself slightly off the ground and fired the gun, which suddenly appeared in his left hand. My attacker cried out, dropping his gun and grasping his bleeding hand.
“He has a gun!” he yelled.
The other attacker raised his own gun to fire, while the man at my feet barked in a hoarse voice, “Run! Now!”
I took his advice without further ado and ran into the deepest and darkest corner of the cave, where I ducked, trying to blend with the wall. The wounded man kept shooting at the second attacker over and over again. The attacker groaned and grabbed at his leg.
Then he yelled to his companion, “Evgeny, lock them in! We need to call for reinforcements!” With these words, he quickly limped away.
The other one hurried out as well, but paused by the protrusion I noticed on the left of the arch, pressing on it with his uninjured hand.
Immediately, I heard the dreaded rumbling sound I knew all too well. It was the sound of a moving rock. I ran toward the entrance, but it was too late. By the time I reached the arch, the rock had already snapped in place, blocking the exit.
Again, I was trapped underground! Once more, I recalled the Gypsy’s warning to stay away from dark, underground places, as the ominous sense of déjà vu made me shudder. I desperately banged my fists on the cold rock. But who would hear me? And even if they did, they wouldn’t let me out anyway. I came back to my senses and stopped.
That’s when I heard a moan. The wounded man, the one who took the bullet for me! He was still on the ground and he needed my help! I dashed to him. The man was motionless, the gun still in his left hand. I dropped to my knees in front him and stared at his face in disbelief… The man on the ground was Alexei!
I carefully pried the gun out of his fingers and placed it safely by the wall. His hands were cold and his face looked pale. I knew I needed to warm him up immediately. Hands trembling, I took off my puffer jacket and covered him with it as well as I could. Then I took off my cashmere sweater and placed it under his head, in lieu of a pillow.
Now that I was left only with my thin cotton blouse, I started shivering, but he needed the warmth much more than I did. I kissed his forehead, his lips, his hands. I held him tight to warm him up. I willed him to wake up, refusing to believe that after all we’ve been through together, this amazing man wouldn’t survive. He had to survive! I couldn’t live without him! As my hot tears streamed down on his face, he stirred and tasted them with his parched tongue.
“Don’t cry, my love,” he said softly.
“Thank God! You are back, my darling,” I exclaimed.
Pulling me gently toward him, he kissed me hungrily on the lips.
“You have no idea how long I waited for you,” he whispered hoarsely.
“Is this all you can think about?” I asked reproachfully.
“When you are around, yes!” he said, as his left hand reached for the buttons of my blouse.
“But you are wounded,” I tried to object.
“All the more reason,” he retorted. “What if this is our last…”
“Don’t even say it!” I yelled at him. “Don’t you dare!”
“Then help me,” he whispered, his hand slowly unbuttoning my blouse. “Help me stay alive.”
“I need to examine your wound,” I said.
“Later. I need you now.”
I couldn’t even begin imagining on how many levels this was the absolutely wrong and impossible thing to do from the standpoint of traditional logic, morality, and Alexei’s condition. But it occurred to me that this man, whom I loved more than life itself, completely accepted the fact that in the alternate universe of spies and ultimate danger there was no such thing as tomorrow. All we had was the present moment in the midst of an obscure expanse that humans normally referred to as eternity.
I agreed with him wholeheartedly. In my life, I’ve already experienced more than my share of loss. My parents and my beloved Grandma Anastasia were gone when I was still young; during my Stepford adventure I lost Adelaide, who became like a surrogate mother to me when I needed it most, and recently, I lived through the horrible murders of Svetlana and Vera Golitsina. Alexei was right – all we had was this precious singular moment in time to be happy and to feel alive, and it could not be wasted. If he…if we…would never make it out of this cave in one piece, I’d never forgive myself if we weren’t together, one last time…
Before I knew what I was doing, my fingers deftly unbuttoned the rest of my blouse.
Buy GOLD TRAIN ebook & paperback on Amazon US DE UK (Available on all international Amazon sites)
Also available on B&N
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