The Waterfall Coup

*** Book 5 in the Extreme Travel Series: ***

The vice president and his family have been kidnapped in Venezuela. It's up to Kes and her team to rescue them, accompanied by some Secret Service agents. However, they also accidentally get involved in a rebel coup, making their lives a lot more difficult.

Excerpt

The security alarm for our home beeped. My head lay on my husband James' lap, while our friends Ben and Anita visited with us in the family room of our very large home.

Ben and James grabbed their guns from the end table and jumped out of their seats, running into the formal living room next to us. As soon as my human pillow left, my head hit the couch with a thud.

"Lower your weapons," an unknown male voice yelled. "It's just me. James, you changed the code again."

I glanced over Anita, who was terrified.

"Don't worry," I said. "It's just a friend of ours. He's trying to see if he can break in again."

The alarm tone changed to a screech but stopped after a split-second. James, Ben, and two of our friends named Ian and Jerome entered the room.

Ian was a very good-looking surgeon and computer genius, with blond-haired, brown eyes, and tons of muscles. As he stepped closer to my couch, he laughed while on the phone to our security company. "Yeah, Harry, it's Ian again. How's the family?" He listened for a moment and smiled. "Yes, James changed the code to his anniversary. I should've guessed it." He listened for a minute more and chuckled. "I'm sure it's still Madrid from when James changed it this morning, but if you want to talk to him, he's right here beside me."

James put his hands on his hips in anger, moving beside Ian.

Madrid was my maiden name, and James had just changed the password for the security system to that name. I was very sure Ian had hacked into the security company's files and found the new password, just for fun.

Everyone in the room was a CIA agent except for Anita, but very few people on the outside—including family, friends, and supposedly Anita—knew it. We all had cover jobs, to keep our real jobs classified.

James scowled and left the room when Ian handed him the phone. Ben, Jerome, and Ian all sat on chairs near the couch. I pulled down a pillow from behind the couch and laid my head on it.

Ian shot me a concerned look. "Are you okay, Kes?" Ben and Jerome stood on either side of him.

I really wanted to slap Ian's face, just because. He'd been promoted because he was the highest-ranking member of the Denver CIA office, making him the one in charge of everyone.

I had to get rid of him. "I'll be fine in a day. It's just the flu."

All three men laughed while Anita cast a glance at me. She seemed to feel as I did, and these men were just annoying.

"Yeah, right. The flu," Ben said with a chuckle. "Kes, we all know what's wrong with you."

Ben, who was blond-haired, blue eyed, good-looking, and muscular, had a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology. His best skill was in reading people because of his minor in psychology.

My husband James had a Ph.D. in psychology. Ben and James were writing a book together about me. I was so lucky to have all these jokers in my life.

"What's wrong with her?" Anita asked Ben. "It does look like the flu to me."

"Nothing that a few days won't cure," Ian said. "I figured you'd have a problem, so I'm prepared. Is it cramps or a headache this month?"

I sat up a bit. "It is the flu and I know it." I fell back to the pillow and closed my eyes.

Ian was extremely bright. He not only had multiple degrees in computer science, but, since he had that medical degree, had assigned himself to be my personal physician. I hated him for it, too.

James returned to the room, lifted my head, and removed the pillow from under it. He threw the thing at Ben, who caught it on the first try. James sat down and rested my head back on his lap.

"How long has it been this time?" Ian asked James.

James stroked my long hair. "About a day."

"You know, Kes, we can take care of that," Ian said. "I have something to help you."

Anita glared at all the men and addressed me. "Are you going to put up with this sexual harassment?"

I smiled at her. "No, actually. Thanks for reminding me." I sat up and covered my face with my hands for a moment. Once I was certain everyone was watching me, I stood up and walked out of the room. Yes, I was acting, but no one else needed to know just yet.

Ian joined me with his arm over my shoulders. He was also infatuated with me, like Ben, Jerome, and James, which made this more difficult. It also made James very jealous.

"I'm here for a reason," Ian whispered. "It's not what you think."

Anita hopped to her feet and followed behind me. "Kes, if you want rid of this guy, let me know."

"I don't think we've been formally introduced." My personal physician turned and shook Anita's hand. "I'm Ian and you must be Anita. Now, aren't you supposed to be taking care of Ben or something?"

"Not when my friend needs me," Anita said. "And from what I see, her husband isn't going to protect her from you, so I'll have to."

I walked up the stairs toward our bedroom. It seemed as if Ian was outnumbered, so he turned back toward the downstairs. "Ben!" he yelled.

I heard running up the stairs just as I turned the corner to our bedroom. While ignoring my guests, I headed toward the king-size bed, pulled down the covers, crawled in with the covers up over me, and closed my eyes.

"Kes, we need you, now," Ian said.

I removed the pillow and placed it over my face, then peeked out of my 'cave' to see who had followed me upstairs. Ben stood beside Anita while Jerome and James leaned up against the bedroom wall with crossed arms. I glanced at Jerome who'd seemed to find it all very amusing for some reason. He was a gorgeous, muscular, black man with a very white smile and a heart of absolute gold.

"Sorry, Ian," I said. "Not a good time. Can't you see I'm sick?"

He pulled the covers and the pillow off me.

I opened my eyes, ready to give him my full wrath.

"You're not sick," he said. "You'll survive. Team Kes has been called and we need to talk."

Ben turned to Ian with lowered eyebrows. "Team Kes? Are you sure?"

"What's Team Kes?" James asked.

Ian shot Ben a knowing look. "Two hours." He glanced toward Anita and Ben nodded.

Ben looked down at his watch. "Will you look at the time? Anita, we have to go."

I had no idea what Team Kes was, but it was nice of them to name a whole team after me. "You can all go if you ask me." I shut my eyes again. "It is after 10 and I need my beauty sleep."