Suits and Sunglasses at My Door…Again

If you’ve never had the FBI ring your doorbell, thank your lucky stars. I’ve met with them several times while being investigated and now I worry that they are going to seize my computer and flash drives, based on my Internet search history.

Yes, I have reason to worry. While writing Uncaged Love, I was researching explosives (you could have guessed that one, huh) and downloading maps of Colombia for that book. At the same time I was trying to find the best way to blow up a Cessna jet for a different book. I also had SEAL websites open and was also trying to determine the ten largest cities in the U.S.A. (Getting the picture here?)

 

 

I’m sure my name pinged somewhere in the bowels of the J. Edgar Hoover Building in D.C. and they pulled up my real name and thick file. When the lowly tech looked at it, he probably laughed, counted the number of guns I own, shook his head and refiled it so he could go find a real bad guy. At least I hope that’s what happened.

Before I continue, I need to tell you a little about myself. I went to college intending to be a Navy public affairs officer upon graduation so I was in NROTC. That’s when I met my first FBI agent up close and personal. To become a military officer, you must be investigated and vetted. All I remember about that encounter was how scared I was as a seventeen-year-old from a tiny town in upstate New York and how I hoped my four, vindictive brothers wouldn’t say anything to jeopardize my chances for the secret clearance I needed.

Four years later, I was a lot smarter. The Navy had cancelled my contract as part of the post-Vietnam drawdown, I was engaged to Macho Marine and they were investigating him, not me. I smiled sweetly and answered all the agent’s questions while trying desperately not to drool. He was freaking hot. He had a face that belonged on magazine covers and a body sculpted by hours in the gym. To top it off, he was a nice guy and only a few years older than me. We joked and talked casually long after the official questioning was completed.

Fast forward through several MM promotions and at least two more FBI vetting procedures. By that time I was getting good at this whole interrogation thing.

I owned an advertising and public relations agency in southern Georgia. My business had grown through word of mouth so when a plantation owner introduced me to his Georgia Tech roommate, I thought nothing of it.

The man was from Colombia, an Olympian shooter, and was very serious about his growing import-export business. He was trying to help the people in his country by importing generators since electricity was rare and unstable if available. He exported flowers, primarily to the U.S.A.

SIDEBAR – I used these ideas in Uncaged Love. The book takes place in Colombia and my villain was once idealistic about changing the agricultural focus of the country.

The new client wanted me to come to Colombia and oversee the photo and video shoot for the promotional materials for his side business; an exclusive trip for high-end sportsmen that included a dove hunt, deep sea fishing and mountain stream fly fishing. I’d negotiated in a personal side trip to the emerald mines and a few days at a beach resort on the Caribbean Sea. Sounded like the prefect trip to me.

Macho Marine already had orders for our next move which required a higher level of security, beyond his current top secret clearance.

Enter the FBI once again.

When the cordial agent, who was obviously nearing retirement, asked us if we had plans to travel outside the U.S.A., I excitedly told him about my planned trip to Colombia. He closed his little black notebook and stood. Shaking his head, he announced, “If she goes to Colombia, you’ll never get this clearance and you’ll never be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Your career will end.”

Needless to say, I never made it to Colombia, but it’s on my bucket list.

As I researched the country for Uncaged Love, many of the sites and cities I’d planned to visit all those years ago came back to me. Although economically and politically the country is much more stabilized than it was, it’s still a dangerous place.

BLURB:

The jungle isn’t the only thing that’s hot while escaping a Colombian cartel.

ATF Special Agent Harper Tambini is kidnapped by a Colombian drug lord and forced to use her explosives knowledge to kill his competition before she can escape with the help of undercover CIA agent Rafe Silva. As they make their way through the rivers, mountains and jungles, their desire for each other detonates. But Harper reminds Rafe of his murdered fiancée, and the shadow world he wants to leave. Harper learned the hard way that men never stay, so now she doesn’t keep them around long enough to see if the sparks can light a fire that will last forever. In their short time together, can they crystalize a relationship, or will it all blow up?

Uncaged Love is the second book in KaLyn Cooper’s Black Swan series featuring SpecOps trained, active duty women. If you like Susan Stoker, Sharon Hamilton, and Kaylea Cross, you’ll love the action-packed suspense and hot romance of this series.

Buy this military suspense filled with sensuous heat today.

Click here to read the first few chapters of Uncaged Love

eBook BUY Links:

• Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06W562MP1/
• Barnes & Nobel http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/1125791328
• KOBO   https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/uncaged-love-7
• Apple Coming soon

Comment below and tell me what’s on your Bucket List.