A Lick Of Heat: H.E.A.T. Book Four Read online

  A Lick Of Heat

  H.E.A.T. Book Four

  Nicola Claire

  Copyright © 2019, Nicola Claire

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organisations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

  ISBN: 978-0-473-47447-8

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  About the Author

  Free Download

  Also By Nicola Claire

  Description

  Foreword

  1. “You’re Close To Breaking, Lara.”

  2. “Death Is Undignified And Never Pretty.”

  3. “Picture An Electrical Switch. And Flick It To Off When The Shit Hits The Fan.”

  4. “Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down.”

  5. “Life Doesn’t Stop Just Because You Want It To, Lara. It Speeds Up. Because Life Is A Cunning Bastard.”

  6. “Don’t Let Your Imagination Get Away From You, Sport. Tie It Up, Strap It Down, And Beat it With A Whip On Occasion.”

  7. “Life Is Short. Live It Well. Live It Grandly. But Most Of All, Live It As Though At Any Moment It Could Vanish.”

  8. “This Is The Price We Pay For The Good We Do, Sport. This Is What Happens When Good Cops Don’t Save Themselves First. Save Yourself, Lara.”

  9. “If It Looks Like A Duck And Quacks Like A Duck Then You Can Bet Your Highly Trained Detective’s Arse It’s A Fucking Duck.”

  10. “Trust Yourself, Lara. Above All Else Trust Yourself.”

  11. “Even Scum Of The Earth Want To Smell Like Roses, Sport. They Might Wear Thorns, They Might Be Buried In A Pile Of Horse Crap, But Deep Down Inside They’re Just A Prize-Winning Flower Wanting To See The Sun.”

  12. “Even The Absence Of Something Can Mean Everything.”

  13. “It’s Hard To Tell Fact From Fiction, Sport. Never Make The Mistake Of Believing Something Until You Know It’s The Truth.”

  14. “Sure, Sport, Follow Your Gut, But Always Cover Your Arse With A Little Evidence.”

  15. “We All Have Our Limits. We All Have That Line In The Sand That If We Cross It, We’re Done For.”

  16. “If You Feel Your Back Hit The Wall, Sport, You Better Get Moving.”

  17. “It’s A Shit World Full Of Evil Shit And If You Don’t Get Your Shit Together Then You Get Mired In It.”

  18. “Sometimes All It Takes Is A Gentle Shove In The Right Direction. Sometimes It Takes A Two-By-Four To The Head."

  19. “Carl Always Said You Had A Stick Up Your Butt.”

  20. “Where You Find One, You’ll Find Two. And Where You Find Two, There’s Always Another.”

  21. “Life Sucks. Death Sucks Harder.”

  22. “Pay Attention, Sport. Don't Fucking Fall Asleep On The Job.”

  23. “If You Can’t See The Wood For The Trees, Then Get The Fuck Out Of The Forest.”

  24. “You Can’t Live Life In A Vacuum, Keen. Otherwise You End Up Sucking At It.”

  25. “We All Have Baggage, Sport. Some Of Us Just Require A Forklift To Carry It Around With Us All Day Long.”

  26. “You Can Pray To A Higher Being All You Like. But If You Don’t Get Off Your Own Arse, They’re Sure As Hell Not Gonna Help.”

  27. “What Have You Got, Sport? Talk To Me. Dazzle Me With Your Detecting.”

  28. “Silence Is A Golden Prison Too Many People Willingly Walk Into.”

  29. “To Catch A Thief, You Must First Think Like A Thief, Correct?”

  30. “Keep Pushing And Pushing And Pushing, Sport. But The Moment You Hear Them Snap Back, Shut The Fuck Up And Watch Them Unravel.”

  31. “Tricky Things Spiders. They Hunt With Patience. They Sit And Wait For Their Prey To Come To Them. You Should Try It, Keen. Sometimes You Can Catch The Spider As He Spins His Own Web.”

  32. "Expect The Unexpected, Sport. Then They Can't Use Your Surprise Against You."

  33. "Fear Is What Makes You A Good Detective. But Mindless Terror Kills."

  34. “It’s A Shit World. And Shit Things Happen.”

  Epilogue

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  About the Author

  Nicola Claire lives in beautiful Taupo, New Zealand with her husband and two young boys.

  She's tried her hand at being a paramedic, bank teller and medical sales representative, (not all necessarily in that order), but her love of writing keeps calling her back.

  She has a passion for all things suspenseful, spiced up with a good dollop of romance, as long as they include strong characters - alpha males and capable females - and worlds which although make-believe are really quite believable in the end.

  There's nothing better than getting caught up in a compelling, intriguing and romantic book.

  When she's not writing or reading, she's out on her family boat at Lake Taupo, teaching her young boys to fish, showing them the beauty that surrounds them in nature and catching some delicious trout for dinner.

  Creating rich worlds with dynamic characters and unexpected twists that shock and awe has been pure bliss for this author. And just as well, because there's a lot more story yet to tell...

  For more information:

  www.nicolaclairebooks.com

  [email protected]

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  Starter Library

  * * *

  Also By Nicola Claire

  Kindred Series

  Kindred

  Blood Life Seeker

  Forbidden Drink

  Giver of Light

  Dancing Dragon

  Shadow's Light

  Entwined With The Dark

  Kiss Of The Dragon

  Dreaming Of A Blood Red Christmas (Novella)

  * * *

  Mixed Blessing Mystery Series

  Mixed Blessing

  Dark Shadow

  Rogue Vampire (Coming Soon)

  * * *

  Sweet Seduction Series

  Sweet Seduction Sacrifice

  Sweet Seduction Serenade

  Sweet Seduction Shadow

  Sweet Seduction Surrender

  Sweet Seduction Shield

  Sweet Seduction Sabotage

  Sweet Seduction Stripped

  Sweet Seduction Secrets

  Sweet Seduction Sayonara

  * * *

  Elemental Awakening Series

  The Tempting Touch Of Fire

  The Soothing Scent Of Earth

  The Chilling Change Of Air

  The Tantalising Taste Of Water

  The Eternal Edge Of Aether (Novella)

  * * *

  H.E.A.T. Series

  A Flare Of Heat

  A Touch Of Heat

  A Twist Of Heat (Novella)

  A Lick Of Heat

  * * *

  Citizen Saga

  Elite

  Cardinal

  Citizen

  Masked (Novella)

  Wiped

  * * *

  Scarlet Suffragette Series

  Fearless

/>   Breathless

  Heartless

  * * *

  Blood Enchanted Series

  Blood Enchanted

  Blood Entwined

  Blood Enthralled

  * * *

  44 South Series

  Southern Sunset

  Southern Storm

  Southern Strike (Coming Soon)

  * * *

  Lost Time Series

  Losing Time

  Making Time

  Stitching Time (Coming Soon)

  * * *

  The Sector Fleet

  Accelerating Universe

  Apparent Brightness

  Right Ascension

  Zenith Point

  * * *

  The Summer O’Dare Mysteries

  Chasing Summer

  Sizzling Summer (Coming Soon)

  Description

  "You’re close to breaking, Lara.”

  Words Detective Lara Keen never thought she’d hear spoken aloud. Let alone have them spoken to her by the Department shrink in his official capacity as her psychologist.

  Things start to unravel not long afterwards.

  The H.E.A.T. arsonist is still at large. Carole Michaels, Lara’s boyfriend’s sister, is still missing. And a shadowed figure dressed in a familiar fedora hat and trench coat keeps popping up when she least expects it. If that isn't bad enough, CIB still has a traitor in its midst and Lara’s determined to find out once and for all who it is.

  But the enemy is not what he seems, and his reach is very far indeed.

  With copycat crimes and explosive criminal acts mounting all around the city, Lara sets out to end the mayhem one way or another.

  The clock is ticking.

  People are dying.

  Auckland City is set to burn.

  Can Lara stop a madman before she loses everything? Or will the arsonist have the last word?

  A sexy, sizzling crime-thriller sure to add a lick of heat to your night.

  For:

  All EMS workers everywhere.

  And for those I left behind at Pitt Street.

  Foreword

  Hello, Readers!

  H.E.A.T. or “Hauraki (Auckland, NZ area) Emergency Assistance Team,” overlaps the Sweet Seduction World with some of the characters from that series appearing in H.E.A.T. In particular, you'll see Detective Ryan Pierce of the Auckland CIB (Criminal Investigations Bureau) and Nick Anscombe of ASI (Anscombe Securities & Investigations).

  It follows the lives of a CIB detective, Lara Keen, and her H.E.A.T. investigator love interest, Damon Michaels. And in particular concentrates on the grittier side of emergency services life; the fallout that can sometimes ensue from working in such a stressful environment.

  This story is based on personal experience, furnished with a little of my imagination, and doctored to show the best, (and on occasion the worst), of what humanity goes through every single day; sometimes challenging, sometimes exciting, and at others a mix of mysterious and chilling.

  But first and foremost it is a romance series, because I absolutely believe in that old adage: "love makes the world go 'round."

  ❤️ Nicola

  Chapter One

  “You’re Close To Breaking, Lara.”

  The room smelled of lemon fresh pine cleaner, with a hint of desperation thrown in for good measure. The latter didn't originate from the nondescript man sitting opposite me, but rather permeated from the comfortable chairs, the box of, no doubt, well-used tissues on the low lying table between us, and the lone picture of Auckland's One Tree Hill on the far wall.

  "What do you think, Doc?" I asked Andrew Hennessey. The Department's shrink and I had a somewhat strained relationship. The fact that this was my weekly personal visit and I was waylaying his psychoanalysing of me to obtain a criminal profile on the HEAT arsonist probably added to that strain a little.

  "What have you concluded so far, Lara?" he threw back in a soft, non-confrontational voice, designed to belie the fact that he was lobbing the proverbial hot potato at your head in what some would call a death shot.

  Andrew Hennessey, BPhil, MPsy, DClinPsy, tended to be spot on with his aim.

  I looked down at the manila folder he'd left open on the table, knowing my personal involvement in this case was clouding my vision, but not giving a damn. Hennessey wouldn't judge, but he'd sure as hell take note of every word out of my mouth, every twitch of my eye. The file he had on me was probably thicker than the one I had on Rhys Kyle Weston.

  “Weston has an axe to grind," I said steadily, returning my gaze to the soft blue of the doctor's. He sat statue still; rather like a benignly smiling mannequin. It was a little creepy. "He's on a power trip of vengeance. He lacks the ability to form true emotional attachments; instead, he considers his relationships in one of two categories: Useful or no longer relevant. Carole Michaels is still useful to him. But when she becomes 'no longer relevant' he'll dismiss her without a backward glance."

  I waited for Hennessey to correct my assessment, but I could have been waiting for hell to freeze over for the good it would do me. The man was a gently smiling safety zone. No threat here! His patience was far greater than mine.

  "He's a high functioning psychopath," I added, because silence is a good tool, but only if I'm the one wielding it.

  Hennessey smiled that safe-zone smile at me, and I suddenly had the entirely inappropriate desire to pull my service weapon and aim it at his head. The visceral and extremely detailed image that formed in my mind shocked me so much that I grimaced.

  You don’t grimace in front of Andrew Hennessey.

  He shifted, ever so slightly forward in his seat.

  The Department shrink was good. But I was, too — a damn fine cop. You're a damn good cop, Keen. But stick with me and I'll make you a superstar.

  The grimace turned into a scowl.

  Carl. Always present. Never lost. Even when I’d thought him lost to me forever.

  “This is hard for you,” Hennessey said.

  I wanted to close my eyes and pretend we weren’t having this conversation. I wanted to turn my head away and stare out the front window to his clinic and watch the leaves on the tree outside flutter in the wind. Maybe they’d blow away like I’d hoped my attachment to my former mentor would blow away eventually, too.

  I stared the doctor down and offered my own form of a benign smile. I was sure he could see right through it.

  “Weston got away,” I said. “After knocking me out with gas and tying me up on a cross for an old family friend to sacrifice. Yes, this is hard for me.”

  Maybe admitting part of the truth would make Hennessey back off.

  His gaze sharpened, his posture remained relaxed. It wouldn’t do to excite the patient with your own excitement, now would it?

  “That’s good, Lara,” he said encouragingly. “Addressing what happened in Sweet Hell is a solid place to start a recovery from.”

  I waved a hand dismissively. “I’m not concerned about that,” I told him. “I want to know what you think he’ll do next. Fire seems to be a favourite of his. He’s burned down sheds and hotrod cars, blown up livestock and created false bombs. I think he’ll do it again, but I can’t figure out if he’ll escalate or not. Taking Carole might be considered an escalation,” I went on, “but as he’s already done that once, I don’t think we can call it that. Perhaps it’s a pattern of behaviour. Perhaps I’m looking at this all wrong.”

  I stopped and thought about that for a second and then realised that Hennessey wasn’t agreeing - or disagreeing - with me. He wasn’t doing anything I’d come to expect of Andrew Hennessey in fact. And for that reason, his silence was as loud as a klaxon going off. My eyes darted up to his face.

  There was slightly more grey in the blond of his hair than I remembered. Small lines bracketed his mouth which I hadn’t noticed before. His clothes were bespoke and made of fine material. His loafers were buffed to a fine shine. And yet, I thought he looked a little world-weary.

&
nbsp; “What?” I said, holding his solicitous gaze.

  “Lara,” he began, which was never a good way to start a sentence. Not in that tone of voice, anyway. “You mustn’t get caught up in the minutiae. Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees. At the moment, this case is the trees and your health and wellbeing is the forest.”