Extraordinary Rendition Read online




  EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION

  A SPECIAL AGENT DYLAN KANE THRILLER

  J. ROBERT KENNEDY

  About the Special Agent Dylan Kane Thrillers

  "Dylan Kane leaves James bond in his dust!"

  Though this book is part of the Special Agent Dylan Kane Thrillers series, it is written as a standalone novel and can be enjoyed without reading the other installments.

  What readers are saying about the Special Agent Dylan Kane Thrillers Series:

  “The action sequences are particularly well-written and exciting, without being overblown.”

  “I love how the author explains what's needed but doesn't just ramble on in narrative.”

  “Don’t mess with Kane, he takes no prisoners, especially when you target his friends.”

  “Fast paced international spy thriller with good old American values among its main characters. I'd like to think we really do have agents like Kane.”

  BOOKS BY J. ROBERT KENNEDY

  * Also available in audio

  The Templar Detective Thrillers

  The Templar Detective

  The Templar Detective and the Parisian Adulteress

  The Templar Detective and the Sergeant's Secret

  The Templar Detective and the Unholy Exorcist

  The Templar Detective and the Code Breaker

  The Templar Detective and the Black Scourge

  The Templar Detective and the Lost Children

  The James Acton Thrillers

  The Protocol *

  Brass Monkey *

  Broken Dove

  The Templar’s Relic

  Flags of Sin

  The Arab Fall

  The Circle of Eight

  The Venice Code

  Pompeii’s Ghosts

  Amazon Burning

  The Riddle

  Blood Relics

  Sins of the Titanic

  Saint Peter’s Soldiers

  The Thirteenth Legion

  Raging Sun

  Wages of Sin

  Wrath of the Gods

  The Templar’s Revenge

  The Nazi’s Engineer

  Atlantis Lost

  The Cylon Curse

  The Viking Deception

  Keepers of the Lost Ark

  The Tomb of Genghis Khan

  The Manila Deception

  The Fourth Bible

  Embassy of the Empire

  Armageddon

  The Special Agent Dylan Kane Thrillers

  Rogue Operator

  Containment Failure

  Cold Warriors

  Death to America

  Black Widow

  The Agenda

  Retribution

  State Sanctioned

  Extraordinary Rendition

  Red Eagle

  The Delta Force Unleashed Thrillers

  Payback

  Infidels

  The Lazarus Moment

  Kill Chain

  Forgotten

  The Cuban Incident

  The Detective Shakespeare Mysteries

  Depraved Difference

  Tick Tock

  The Redeemer

  The Kriminalinspektor Wolfgang Vogel Mysteries

  The Colonel’s Wife

  Sins of the Child

  Zander Varga, Vampire Detective Series

  The Turned

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Table of Contents

  The Novel

  Preface

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 105

  Chapter 106

  Chapter 107

  Chapter 108

  Chapter 109

  Chapter 110

  Chapter 111

  Chapter 112

  Chapter 113

  Chapter 114

  Chapter 115

  Chapter 116

  Chapter 117

  Chapter 118

  Acknowledgments

  Sample of Next Book

  Don't Miss Out!

  Thank You!

  About the Author

  Also by the Author

  For Michèle Easey, who helped rekindle it all.

  “Any organization or citizen shall support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work in accordance with the law, and keep the secrets of the national intelligence work known to the public.”

  Article 7, Chinese National Intelligence Law Passed June 27, 2017

  “There is no force that can shake the foundation of this great nation. No force can stop the Chinese people and the Chinese nation forging ahead.”

  Chinese President Xi Jinping October 1, 2019

  PREFACE

  One day, during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, he received a standard morning intelligence briefing. This particular meeting included the national security advisor Brent Scowcroft, and the CIA director Robert Gates, as well as one other participant unfamiliar to the President—something not unusual, as many on
e-off attendees were often invited to give a specific briefing.

  This individual gave a talk regarding the latest technologies employed by the CIA to disguise their agents. At the end of her briefing, she indicated she would now remove one of these new technologies. The President, the former head of the CIA, stopped her. He wanted to try and figure it out himself. He rose and circled her, but was unable to determine what form of disguise she was using.

  The moment he returned to his desk, she peeled off her face, revealing her true self hidden behind a mask so realistic, even the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency couldn’t tell. The reveal shocked everyone in the room, and photos of that meeting were only recently declassified.

  The extremely sophisticated and realistic face mask was her and her team’s brainchild, and has been employed by the CIA for decades.

  And who was this mystery woman? The CIA’s Disguise Chief, Jonna Mendez, a titan in the intelligence world.

  This technology, along with all of the technologies described in this book, are real, and are in use today by various governments around the world.

  1 |

  Falls Church, Virginia

  Lee Fang loved the high an intense workout afforded her, though sometimes a leisurely jog through her new hometown was as enjoyable in other ways. After all, an all-out sprint down the streets of Falls Church would draw attention, and would likely end up in several collisions.

  She was as fit as any athlete, professional or otherwise, and liked to keep it that way. It was a holdover from her former life—Chinese Special Forces, a major in the Beijing Military Region Special Forces Unit.

  She had loved her job, the intensity of it, the adrenaline, the sense of accomplishment.

  The violence.

  She was small compared to a man, especially the Americans she was now surrounded by. But technique easily made up for that. She was strong for a woman, a turn of phrase that had her bristling at times, though biology had to be acknowledged. Not all men were stronger than all women, though that wasn’t the most important thing. A man might deliver the strongest blow, but if that blow was dodged and his kneecap taken out a moment later, he was down, no matter how strong he was.

  Or she could just put two in his chest from a distance.

  I miss that life.

  It wasn’t the killing. She never enjoyed that, but she would do it when necessary. It was the act of doing something. She had been forced to betray her country a few years ago, an act she didn’t regret. What the rogue generals were doing was wrong, and hadn’t been approved by the Party. She had defended herself, killing one of them, then delivered her precious intel to the Americans in an attempt to head off a coup in Washington, aided by her own military leadership.

  The crisis had been averted, the day saved, but her life as she knew it was over.

  She was a traitor to her country, relegated to a life of exile in a grateful America, where she was paid a generous pension and forbidden from working in any job related to her field.

  I can’t even be a cook because it involves knives.

  She didn’t regret her decision. It was the right thing to do despite the cost.

  And because of it, she had met the love of her life.

  Dylan Kane.

  She had never thought she’d fall in love with an American. Caucasian men had never been her thing, though her exposure to them in China was only through television and the movies, both mediums of which she had little time for back then.

  Her job had been her life.

  Dylan Kane had been the CIA asset assigned to extract her from China, and once saved, they had discovered a shared pain that drew them together.

  Loneliness.

  What had begun as a friendship quickly blossomed into a romance, then a love so intense, she would never return to China even if afforded the opportunity.

  Her life was here now, with the man she intended to spend the rest of her days with.

  She rounded a corner, spotting a van out of the corner of her eye making the same turn but not accelerating out of it. Her trouble-radar had a shot of adrenaline heightening her senses and she slowed slightly.

  “I got me a case of Yellow Fever, baby! Can you help me out?”

  Fang came to an abrupt halt and stepped into a coffee shop as the teenagers roared away laughing. It was something that happened to her all the time, though it was the first since she had moved from Philadelphia. The smaller town of Falls Church was far more civilized. In Philly, she had taken to wearing baggy clothing to hide her body, and it was something that pissed her off. Why should she have to hide how she looked because some men couldn’t control themselves?

  And unlike back home, I can’t beat the living shit out of them.

  She smiled slightly. She could, but…

  “Men are pigs.”

  She turned to see a woman sipping her coffee. “Excuse me?”

  “What just happened. They’re pigs.”

  “Not all of them.”

  “You found yourself a good one?”

  She smiled as she pushed open the door to leave. “The best.”

  “Then you hold on to him, honey, they’re few and far between!”

  Fang resumed her jog, putting a little speed on, returning to the sanctuary of her apartment she shared with Kane. She spotted her new home and relaxed, not realizing how tense she was from the ridiculous encounter.

  Her life was always one lived on the razor’s edge. She had to always be watching out for the unusual, for anything that might be a threat. And in the entire time she had lived in America, not once had anything happened.

  When will you let it go? Eventually, you have to acknowledge they’re not coming for you.

  She entered her apartment building and headed for the elevator, smiling at the caretaker as he swept the lobby. “Hi Titanic, how are you today?”

  The middle-aged man stopped and leaned on his broom. “I’m still on the right side of the dirt, so I guess life is good. How about you, Miss Lee?”

  She laughed. “I can’t complain.”

  “Cuz’ no one will listen, right?”

  She stepped onto the elevator as the doors opened. “Dylan listens, though sometimes he pretends not to.”

  “You have yourself a nice day, Miss Lee.”

  “You too!” she replied through the closing doors. Bob “Titanic” McCormick always made her feel good. He reminded her of the handyman at her apartment back in Beijing where she had grown up. Friendly, helpful, and always repeating the same jokes.

  It made her feel warm inside.

  She inserted the key to her apartment into the lock and turned it, opening the door.

  And immediately a taser was shoved into her stomach. The electricity flowed, but the protective undergarment she wore just for such an occasion—provided by her apparently justified paranoid boyfriend—absorbed and spread the electricity over a greater area, reducing though not eliminating its effect.

  She snapped out a kick, her foot catching her attacker in the jewels as two more emerged from behind the door.

  Then another three.

  All Chinese.

  They finally came for you.

  That meant this was to the death.

  She shifted to the right, toward the smallest of her assailants as the first writhed on the ground in agony. She redirected his blow then swept his feet, grabbing his arm on his way down then planting her foot at his armpit, twisting the arm out of its socket. A hand grabbed her from behind and she dropped, using her body weight to break the still unestablished hold, then jerked her elbow up and into his scrotum, the remaining three backing away as they finally drew their weapons.

  They meant to take her alive.

  That much was obvious, though it still meant death at the other end of this journey. She would be interrogated and tortured for weeks if not months or years, then finally put to death for treason.

  She’d rather die here, now, and get it over with.

  She grabbed one
of her victims around the neck, putting him in a chokehold as she backed toward the door. “Come any closer, he dies.”

  Her warning was delivered in Chinese—there was no use wasting time with pretenses.

  All three advanced.

  She snapped her man’s neck and shoved him toward the men as she kicked her first assailant in the head, then dropped her foot down hard on his neck, snapping it.

  She faced four, unarmed, and now that they were aware of her capabilities, she didn’t expect the rest to go down so easily.

  This was about to be over, even if their orders were to take her alive.

  No more would be willing to die for the sake of following orders.

  They advanced, splitting apart as she backed toward the now closed door, cursing the pneumatic closer. She could yell for help, but that might get one of her innocent neighbors killed.

  And Kane was on a mission somewhere in the world, too far to help her.

  She took a fighting stance. “Let’s do this, bitches.”

  2 |

  Leroux/White Residence, Fairfax Towers Falls Church, Virginia

  “That’s not like her.”

  “Context, hon.”

  Sherrie White glanced up from her phone at her boyfriend, Chris Leroux. “Oh, I texted Fang to see if she was ready to go to lunch, but she didn’t reply.”

  “Maybe she’s in the shower. Weren’t you two supposed to go for a jog together first?”

  “Yeah, but I tweaked my ankle during training yesterday. I have to take it easy for a few days before I can recertify for active duty.”

  Leroux gave her a peck on the cheek. “My girlfriend, the super-agent.”

  She grabbed him by the back of the neck. “Is that all you’ve got for me?”

  He eyed her. “I thought you had lunch plans.”

  “I do, but I can have a proper kiss, can’t I?”

  He smiled and planted one on her that had her tingling from the inside out.

  She sighed. “You’re getting damned good at that.”