Chapter One
Heathrow International Airport London, United Kingdom
Stepping from the vehicle at Heathrow’s Terminal One, Tori Braithwaite was pleased to see Darcy waiting for her, without an entourage of Airport and Customs officials. The last thing she wanted was another barrage of useless questions, much less the risk of being recognized. Usually that wasn’t an issue. For some reason, the public rarely made the connection between the suit-wearing bureaucrat she portrayed while working, with the hat and dress popularity of her peerage persona. Airport officials, and especially customs Warders, were of¬ten the exception.
In the public eye she was The Right Honorable Viscountess Dufferin, granddaughter of the now-departed Earl and Countess Dufferin, with all the civility and frivolity that entailed. Her cover story, created for days just like this, named her Commissioner, for something called the Special Officer of the Environment, an unpaid consulting appointment to the Security Services. Why the Security Services needed a “green” advisor was simple, or at least it was assumed, she had received the nomination as a make-work project from dear old Dad.
The gossip rags speculated that Sir Richard Braithwaite, Head of the Security and Intelligence Service for the UK, had created the position to keep his daughter out of trouble, whenever she was not attending to her peerage responsibilities. The fact that Tori was a serving Naval officer completely escaped the public eye. After 9/11, a few feel-good pieces showed up in magazines like Hello and Royal, depicting the Right Honorable Viscountess Dufferin in uniform, glad-handing the troops. There was no mention that Tori was actually an officer of the line, commanding a cruiser in the Persian Gulf.
When Tori’s name was offered as a suitable replacement to head the newly re-commissioned Special Operations Executive, or SOE, her father was dead set against it, while the Joint Intelligence Committee was equally divided. When the nomination was confirmed, she suspected certain members of the Joint Intelligence Committee were more interested in discrediting Sir Richard than improving counterintel capabilities. Under Tori’s command, the new SOE had been quickly positioned as a counter-intelligence think tank, and as its World War II namesake had been, was hosted by MI6 and financed by the CIA. Sir Richard had warned his daughter before she accepted the posting, that political scheming was just as much a motivator behind the appointment, as her command experience.
Contrary Warriors Description:
How do you find a secret facility that may just be enriching plutonium – a secret facility in a country notoriously adverse to westerners – a country in the heart of the middle-east – and all without starting a war? Cleo Deseronto doesn’t know how to trust. She considers herself a washed-up military pilot, and can’t imagine why a Joint Task Force would be interested in her. Even when the head of the MI6’s Special Operations Executive lays on the charm, she assumes it’s more for her cousin and soon to be team member, Bo Commanda.
Together, they join forces to lead a team of Mohawk cultural ambassadors, in a staged around-the-world flight tour, with the lone goal of uncovering evidence of Iran’s secret nuclear weapons program. Like any good leader, she’s determined to get her team in and out of Iran. To succeed, her best offense may be to ride into battle backwards! As a two-spirited medicine woman, she knows the contrary approach might just be the advantage her team needs.
This modern spin on the early OSS and Commonwealth SOE, sets three women warriors on a fateful collision course with an old-time CIA handler, the changing dynamics of today’s cultural norms, and the politics of being women in the good old game called Intelligence! The distinct guiding principles that separate the USA, United Kingdom, and Canada, are thoughtfully inter-woven, introducing the First Nations, the question of loyalty, and issues such as Gays in the military. Warning: This fast paced romp through the secret world of western spy craft, comes with high-flying adventures, mysterious players and secret locations, and two very different women warriors; an RCAF officer and her cousin, a US Marine.
