When "The End" Turns Into A New Direction - The Courage Under Fire Series Continues, And a giveaway!

 

As a reader, I love series because you get the chance to revisit your favorite characters again in other books. As an author, it’s like hanging out with dear friends every day. That’s hard to let that go.

But sometimes, a series and its characters will take you in a different direction than you ever expected to go. 

In August of 2019, I wrote the first Courage under fire book for an anthology called Summer of Suspense. It was entitled Storm Warnings and featured a spy by the name of Casey Montgomery who was accused of killing her entire CIA unit. On the run and hiding out in Alaska, Casey’s location is discovered by CIA fellow agent Reed Decklin, the man Casey loved. But Reed isn’t the only one chasing Casey. Neither Casey nor Reed realized the depth of lies surrounding what happened during the attack that killed her CIA team, or the level of evil they would be facing as they fight to bring to light the truth.

Storm Warnings turned out to be the prequel to the Courage Under Fire Series. A previous book, entitled Distant Thunder, explains how the conspiracy began.    

When I first wrote Storm Warnings, I’d planned to write a couple of books to tie up the story, but I had no idea where this conspiracy would lead Casey and Reed at the time.

Firestorm is the eighth book in the series and comes out on March 23rd.

Her brother told her if she ever needed help—no matter how serious it might be—she should find James Cooper. Well, Sarah Hancock certainly is in need now, after Blake is arrested for treason and taken away in the middle of the night. Somehow, Daniel Pamphili’s men have connected Blake to the former commander of his SEAL unit. Blake’s life is in real jeopardy.

Desperate to save her brother, Sarah drives straight through from Colorado to Idaho where Blake told her James and members of Strike Force were in hiding. Sarah arrives in time to see the team’s compound go up in flames. An attempt meant to wipe Strike Force off the face of the earth.

Has she hung all her hopes on this trip only to arrive too late to save Blake?

When James Cooper receives an unidentified call from a female claiming to be Blake Hancock’s sister, he is filled with doubts. Is this another attempt to ferret the team out lead by Daniel Pamphili, the real power behind the One World drive that James and the rest of Strike Force believe is taking the world toward a future Armageddon?

Yet, from the minute he sees her, James is confident that not only is this Blake’s sister, but Sarah would not be here if Blake were not in danger.

The story she tells about her brother’s imprisonment is frightening. No matter what, James will move heaven and hell to save his brother in arms from death, but will he and Sarah, along with the rest of Strike Force, be walking straight into another carefully designed trap that might result in all their deaths?

The series reads in this order:

Distant Thunder

Storm Warnings

Strike Force

Zero Visibility

Thin Ice

Chinook Winds

When Lightning Strikes

A Gathering Storm

Firestorm

In the recent books, the series has taken on a new twist that is leading the cast of characters toward the rise of the antichrist and the rapture. All are looming on the horizon.

When I set out to write the Courage Under Fire story, I hadn’t intended it to be an end-times series, but the characters have a mind of their own and that is the fun part of writing a series. You never know where it will take you next or what interesting characters you might meet along the way.  

For a chance to win any ebook from the series of your choice, what do you like most about reading a series? 

Leave a comment with your email address and I will announce the winner on the 26th. 

All the best...

Mary Alford 

www.maryalford.net