Page 1 of Astrid
CHAPTER1
Astrid Montoya lookedup from her menu when she sensed someone standing on the other side of the table. As she lowered her menu, her face broke out in a massive grin upon spotting the woman standing there.
“Angel, take a seat.”
“Thank you,” Angel Carson said and settled into the seat across from a woman she considered a friend.
“I’m glad you could make it.”
“I am too. I have to ask, what brings you to this area?”
“I’m just passing through, I have a job waiting for me over in North Dakota, but I don’t know if I’ll be taking it or not.”
“Why not?” Angel frowned, then without looking at the menu, gave her order to the waitress, along with a drink.
“It seems too good to be true. You and I both know what that means.”
“Ain’t that the truth. Can you tell me about this new job? Wait, you are out right, the military processed you out?”
“Yesterday, I said goodbye to twelve years of being a Marine. I have no clue what I’m going to do. That’s why I’m going to North Dakota to see if the letter I received was real.”
“May I ask what you would be doing?”
“Working for some group called Boswell.” Astrid stopped talking when Angel held up her hand to stop her.
“It’s not too good to be true. Did the letter come from a Morgan Stuart?”
“It did. What do you know?”
“Not a whole lot, just that I know Morgan, and she has two other operatives working with her so far. They’re looking into some nasty shit happening over there. I don’t want to get into details here, because I don’t know whether we’re secure or not.”
“We’re not.” Astrid nodded. “I checked when I sat down. Can I ask one thing about it?”
“What’s that? I’ll try to answer if I can, but I don’t know a lot of what they’re doing, just that Morgan is getting a team together to help other agencies go after the bad guys.”
“The letter I received about a month ago asked me to come to North Dakota to work for the Boswell Group. I think they said it was Boswell Two and that if I accepted a position with them, then I would be in charge of all the communications on all the missions.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Yes, it’s a wonderful thing, if it’s true.”
“Why wouldn’t you think it’s true?” Angel asked as both women sat back, and let the waitress place their lunches before them. Neither said a word until they were alone again.
“Because, when I researched the name of the group, I got nothing. No information came up in any of the databases.”
“I can assure you that it’s a real group.” Angel nodded as she picked up one half of her sandwich. “It’s called Two, because the original group is tied to the government.”
“How?”
“I don’t know all the details, you’ll have to get them from Morgan, but her uncle owns and operates Boswell Group out of Buffalo, New York. He hires honorably discharged military personnel to go on missions that the government sanctions. Other than that, I know nothing about them. Boswell Two is run by his niece, Morgan Stuart, whom I just told you about, and she only wants to employ EWMs. I would love a chance to work with her, but one, I’m not a former EWM. Two, I’m associated with the Brotherhood Protection agency here.”
“What do they do?”
“Mostly private security for the rich ranchers around here. I met Duke, my fiancé, when acting as a double for a famous movie star. She had a stalker, and I played her, and Duke was my bodyguard. That’s how we met.” She saw interest on Astrid’s face, but shook her head. “From what I understand, you won’t be doing that. You’ll be going out in the surrounding areas looking for locations that might be used for doomsday preppers. You know, fenced-in areas, heavily posted with keep-out signs. Maybe even see if people in town are stocking up on certain items. Oh, and these preppers are reputed to be smuggling drugs, guns, ammo, and even women into Canada.”
Angel looked over both shoulders, then leaned in. When Astrid leaned closer, Angel whispered, “It’s rumored that some Cartel from Mexico is involved. So far, the two operatives Morgan has working for her have had run-ins with local law enforcement and others. However, they don’t know who the others are.”
“How do you know all this?”
