Title: The Innocent Assassins
Author: Pema Donyo
eBook, 344 Pages
Published June 2014
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Summary: There are three rules to staying an assassin at the corporation of Covert Operatives: (1) your parents must be deceased, (2) your contracts must remain confidential, and (3) you must be under the age of eighteen. After a murder mission goes awry a month before her eighteenth birthday, Covert Operatives assassin Jane Lu finds herself caught by the federal government and forced to spy for the CIA while remaining in Covert Operatives. Once her spying mission is over she will be allowed to live a civilian life without facing criminal consequences, a life she's only dreamed of having. As Jane leaks information to the CIA, she uncovers secrets with enough power to both destroy Covert Operatives and her own boyfriend, Adrian King, who's next in line to be CEO of the company. When her identity as a double agent for the CIA is discovered within Covert Operatives, she must decide where her allegiance, and her heart, truly lies.
Exclusive Excerpt of The Innocent Assassins, provided by author Pema Donyo:
Rough cloth slid across my face and pulled down against my shoulders. I screamed. Someone yanked my wrists behind my back and tied them together with coarse rope. Another set of hands bound my legs. How many were there?
I struggled to make contact with a body, swerving from side to side with wild abandon in spite of my inability to see anything. What worried me most weren’t the people trapping my body or the sudden needle injected into my neck which slowed my thoughts and faded away my consciousness.
It was the voice next to my ear—cold, hard, and determined.
“You’re right on time,” Adrian whispered.
****
Freezing ice water snapped my eyes open.
I blinked away the unconscious haze, my hair and face dripping from the unwelcome drench. The first thing I noticed was the boardroom, similar to the ones I negotiated contracts in. But there was no contract here—only a long, empty rectangular table and looming executives and agents on either side.
In front of me stood Adrian, his expression unreadable as he studied me.
“I tried to stop you.” His voice reminded me of the cold water dripping from my clothes. “I warned you.”
“By hiring assassins to scare me? I thought you knew me better. Nothing scares me.”
“Death should.”
“You know I never wanted to be…” I swallowed hard. “This.”
“I changed Covert Operatives for you.” Emotion leaked into his voice, brimming with frustration. “I tried to give you what you wanted.”
“And force others against their will to work for CO their entire life?” I spat. “I think not.”
“When did you switch sides?”
“When I was arrested, Adrian. It was after our mission went wrong. The CIA gave me a choice. Go to prison and face the death sentence or work for
them.”
He gritted his teeth. “The CIA? You’re afraid of the CIA? You know as well as I do CO can keep you away from them. I can keep you away from them.”
I glared at him. “And hide away for the rest of my life?”
His shoulders stiffened. “No one would be hiding.”
“I want a life removed from murder. The CO job was always temporary! It was never what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.” I averted my gaze.
“Don’t you know there’s only one way this can possibly end? Kill me or let me go.”
Praise for The Innocent Assassins:
"...it's an excellent book with a strong concept and equally strong characterization. The ending of this book couldn't have been any better." --4 1/2 stars, JC's Book Haven
"...I absolutely adored The Innocent Assassins...action-packed and extremely fast-paced that it keeps you turning pages from start to end..." --4 stars, Pretty Bookmarks Book Reviews
"...From the first page, I was hooked...plenty of plot twists and turns that kept me guessing!" --4 stars, ITIO Book Reviews
"...will keep you up until 3 am because you can't put it down. One of those fast paced, fun reads, that sucks you in from the beginning..." --4 Stars, Fangirl Confessions Book Reviews
"...just too fantastic to miss..." -- 4 Stars, Bookish Treasures
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About the Author:
Pema Donyo is a coffee-fueled college student by day and a creative writer by night. She currently lives in sunny Southern California, where any temperature less than 70 degrees is freezing and flip-flops never go out of season. As a rising sophomore at Claremont McKenna, she’s still working on mastering that delicate balance between finishing homework, meeting publisher deadlines, and… college. Pema’s debut novel, The Innocent Assassins, is a thriller/romantic suspense published by Astraea Press. Her second novel, One Last Letter, is a western historical romance published by Crimson Romance.
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