The Phoenix Law

When she retired from the espionage game, former CIA operative Alisha MacAleer chose to live a quiet life near her family. Thus, when CIA brilliant inventor Brandon Parker arrives at her home under fire, she is unhappy as she wants nothing to do with the agency. He explains he trusts no one except her and had no other place to run to with his new invention, an intelligent AI computer. Everyone seems to know what Brandon has created and who he turned to for safety as they want his invention and preferably him too though he is somewhat expendable; Alisha is totally disposable and for that matter so is her family. As they run from dangerous adversaries, she takes him to the only person she thinks can keep them alive, her former lover Frank Reichart. Alisha is the key to this delightful thriller as a former spy out of the cold forced back into the game to keep her loved ones safe from apparently both sides. Her reluctance and outrage seems so genuine just as Brandon's fears and believes she is his only hope. Frank is courageous as he sees a second chance with the spy who he loves, but first he must keep her, her family, Brandon, and the AI safe. The Alisha-Frank teaming make for a top rate romantic adventure tale. Harriet Klausner