Hyper Fiona Quinn Table of Contents Table of Contents Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Epilogue THE WORLD of INIQUUS Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright Prologue Dedication To my dear sister, Melissa Berman, Thank you for your love, kindness, and the encouragement you’ve given me from my very first steps on this journey. I am ever appreciative. The World of Iniquus Ubicumque, Quoties. Quidquid Iniquus - /iˈni/kwus/- our strength is unequaled, our tactics unfair – we stretch the law to its breaking point. We do whatever is necessary to bring the enemy down. The Lynx Series Weakest Lynx Missing Lynx Chain Lynx Cuff Lynx Gulf Lynx Hyper Lynx Strike Force In Too DEEP JACK Be Quick InstiGATOR Uncommon Enemies WASP Relic Deadlock Thorn FBI Joint Task Force Open Secret Cold Red Even Odds Kate Hamilton Mysteries Mine Yours Ours Cerberus Tactical K9 Team Alpha Survival Instinct Protective Instinct Defender's Instinct Delta Force Echo Danger Signs Danger Zone (2021) Danger Close (2021) The Players The HYDRA The Mastermind – Indigo (Deceased) The Moneybags – Sylanos The Private Army – Omega The Political Cover – The Assembly The Diner Jim – the owner Destiny – server Barb – Server Nicole – Server Huahine – Short-order cook Strike Force Gator and Christen Striker and Lynx Jack and Suz Deep and Grace Blaze and Faith Reaper and Kate Axel Randy CIA Oliver John Black Johnna White Casper Cho DiSalla FBI Special Agent in Charge Damian Prescott Special Agent Steve Finley Dr. Gupta Ph.D. Modesty (Destiny) asset Cerberus Tactical K9 Ridge and K9 Zeus Ryder and K9 Voodoo Delta Force Echo Ty and Kira Davidson Family and Friends William and London Davidson – father and stepmother Christen Davidson - daughter Karl Davidson – eldest son Rochambeau Family Mama Rochambeau Gator Genevieve Auralia London Bridges London Bridges falling down, Falling down, Falling down. London Bridges falling down, My fair Lady. Build it up with iron and steel, Iron and steel, iron and steel, Build it up with iron and steel, My fair lady. Iron and steel will bend and bow, Bend and bow, bend and bow, Iron and steel will bend and bow, My fair lady. Build it up with silver and gold, Silver and gold, silver and gold, Build it up with silver and gold, My fair lady. Chapter One It was such a relief when my phone’s buzz suddenly yanked me awake. Mentally thrashing through an endless dream, I was too exhausted to stay asleep. I had gone to bed last night braced for torment—whether it showed up as warm, loving pictures or angst-filled ones. Either would make my heart bleed. Today was Mom’s birthday. In my life, which was overflowing with heroes, she stood out as the miracle maker. I missed her dearly. All day yesterday, childhood memories had been popping up. My brain had been feeding them to me like bon bons. Closing my eyes, I savored each one. The flavor on my tongue of Mom’s extra-special raspberry chocolate rum cake. The warmth of her voice as she whispered, “You’re my favorite,” into my ear. The earnestness in her eyes as she gave me good counsel or just stared out the window, thinking. I remembered Mom as bright slashes of color on her pallet as she brought her imagination into a tangible form on a canvas. Whenever I saw a bouquet of flowers, she was there in the richness of the hues and the delicacy of the petals, easily bruised and crushed. She was still part of my every day. Painfully sometimes. Joyfully sometimes. The emptiness she left was only made more acute this last week as I probed around my memories like a tongue finding and fiddling with the space from a lost childhood tooth. Only this ache didn’t come with the expected Tooth Fairy reward. Or knowing that another tooth would come in and replace the baby one that had fallen out. Nothing could replace Mom. There were just certain days that were more biting than others. Her birthday was always the hardest for me. My life growing up had been enchanted. My parents had given me the Willy Wonka gold ticket of childhoods. Living a working-class lifestyle, my father seemingly owned a garage and acted as a mechanic. I believed that to be true until last year. That’s when I discovered that the garage was a cover story for his actual job as a CIA officer. Though my family didn’t have a lot of material trappings, I never felt want. My parents filled my life with the colorful, the exciting, even the fantastical at times. And they brought into my unschooled education a parade of amazing people to mentor and teach me, despite Mom’s being sick for almost all of my life. Mom’s imminent death had been part of my every day. And because I kept expecting her to die and then she didn’t, I convinced myself she’d always beat the odds. That she’d be able to stay in her bed where she’d always been, making a nest of pillows for me to join her. I’d cuddle up to listen to her read to me. Or I’d draw quietly while she slept… Dad had positioned the parental king-sized bed in such a way that we could watch through the window as airplanes flew low in the sky on the way to one of the D.C. airports. We’d tell each
