Killer Harvest Read online

  Can she stop a deadly crop virus

  from ending up in the wrong hands?

  Biologist and single mom Sassa Nilsson just witnessed her mentor’s brutal murder by environmental extremists. Now she’s the last link to a deadly pathogen they plan on unleashing—and their number one target! But can handsome border patrol agent Jared De Luca shield Sassa and her baby long enough to find a cure…before the entire world faces the unthinkable consequences?

  “Jared, what’s going on? What are you not telling me?”

  Jared turned, and the look in his eyes frightened Sassa.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “Heiser’s dead, but they’re still using his tactic. Distract and attack. They’re sacrificing their own people again. That leaves us spread out with our forces divided.” He paused and looked her straight in the eye. “We have to get out of here. The Black Knights are coming for you.”

  Sassa’s blood pounded through her temples. Jared ran across the room and picked up the radio.

  “Lucero? Come in, Lucero. We’ve got to get Sassa out of here.”

  The radio crackled. “I just got a report of activity on the—”

  The radio went silent. All the lights in the house flashed then went dark. The only sound was the refrigerator cycling down as the power went off completely.

  Flickering fire from the fireplace lit Jared’s features as he stared at her across the room. Sassa gripped Keri and rose to her feet.

  “Jared...”

  But her whisper died as muffled shots sliced the air.

  Tanya Stowe is a Christian fiction author with an unexpected edge. She is married to the love of her life, her high school sweetheart. They have four children and twenty-one grandchildren, a true adventure. She fills her books with the unusual—mysteries and exotic travel, even a murder or two. No matter where Tanya takes you—on a trip to foreign lands or a suspenseful journey packed with danger—be prepared for the extraordinary.

  Books by Tanya Stowe

  Love Inspired Suspense

  Mojave Rescue

  Fatal Memories

  Killer Harvest

  Killer Harvest

  Tanya Stowe

  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you...thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an unexpected end.

  —Jeremiah 29:11

  For my grandson Kaden, for reasons he will understand.

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  DEAR READER

  EXCERPT FROM FUGITIVE TRAIL BY ELIZABETH GODDARD

  ONE

  Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

  Sassa Nilsson stopped in her tracks as her mentor, supervisor and close friend, Dr. Sam Kruger, slowed his pace. All she wanted was to grab their car from the San Francisco airport parking lot and head home to her baby. Instead, Sam halted...again. He pushed his glasses on top of his gray head and stared off into the distance—a nervous habit Sassa knew quite well.

  She dragged her suitcase around him then stopped and looked back. “For someone anxious to get home, you are stalling.”

  He nodded as if jarred from a serious thought. “Stalling...yes. Yes, I am.” He pulled his glasses down, straightened his spine and headed toward the elevators.

  This “trip of a lifetime” had turned into a nightmare. Sassa had been Sam’s assistant for almost five years but she’d never attended even a local meeting with him. Life always seemed to get in the way. The international conference in China with the world’s leading plant biologists and agriculture experts was supposed to be a dream come true. But soon after they’d arrived, Sam received a phone call. His wife, June, was ill...so ill that his incredible focus was shot to pieces. Sassa had not seen him this disturbed since he’d received word last year that his son, Christopher, had been killed in Afghanistan. That loss had almost destroyed Sam. He might not have recovered if Sassa hadn’t had her baby.

  Keri’s birth six months ago had put joy and meaning back into Sam’s life...as well as Sassa’s. This trip was her first away from the baby for any length of time and it was supposed to be a crowning achievement...for both of them since she helped put together Sam’s presentation. Instead she’d watched in horror as Sam bumbled through his lecture on plant viruses and bio-terrorism—meant to be the highlight of the conference. He’d managed to pull it together and make his point of how easily a plant virus could wipe out the world’s crops and food sources, but he hadn’t come across as the expert he was. He was brilliant, even gifted, which was why, as a professor at the relatively midsize California State University at Fresno, he’d still been awarded a massive grant to study plant pathogens.

  Sassa knew Sam too well. Either June was gravely ill or something else was seriously wrong.

  The elevator doors opened to an almost empty luggage area. With dawn just peeking over the horizon, crowds were light. Sassa and the professor were among the first of the flight passengers to arrive at the luggage carousel. Sam’s nervous gaze bounced around the empty baggage area as if searching for something. At last the machine clicked on and the carousel began to spin around.

  “Sassa.” Sam took her arm. “My dear, I might not be driving home with you.”

  “What?” Sassa spun. “You’ve been desperate to get home and see June. What do you mean?”

  “A young man is coming to meet me. His name is Jared De Luca. He’s a friend. It’s just...he’ll probably be in uniform. A border patrol uniform.”

  Sassa stared at him. “Sam, what is going on? What’s wrong?”

  He shook his head. “It’s best you know nothing. I want to protect you and precious Keri.”

  “Protect us from what? You’re scaring me, Sam. Tell me what’s going on. Is June really ill?”

  “No. I’m not sure where June is. I haven’t been able to reach her since we left.”

  “What?”

  She stared at her mentor. June was missing? Sam was afraid for Sassa and the baby? He stumbled over his words, searching for a way to explain.

  Over his shoulder, Sassa spotted a man walking toward them. Was this Sam’s Jared? He wasn’t wearing a uniform. He wore a black leather jacket, black pants and sunglasses, even though the sun had barely risen. He looked odd. Something about his hair...it looked fake. Even his skin appeared almost waxen as he marched toward them relentlessly, like a robot.

  A walking, live robot. Like the terminator from the movie.

  Sam noticed her distraction and turned. He gasped and stepped toward the stranger.

  “No...”

  Without hesitation, the robotic newcomer pulled a knife from beneath his leather jacket, lunged and stabbed the older man. Sassa stood frozen as Sam cried out and bent over into the man’s leather-clad arms. The terminator man pulled his knife from Sam’s chest. As the professor sagged to the ground, the guy grabbed the strap of Sam’s laptop bag, cut it free of his shoulder and spun, marching for the sliding-glass doors of the exit. Sassa watched the whole scene, frozen and speechless. She wasn’t able to make a sound until Sam hit the floor.

  She screamed his name and dropped beside him. Blood flowed from her friend’s chest and bubbled from his mouth. Sassa cried out again, knowing Sam was mortally wounded.

  “Call 9-1-1!” she screamed at the other passengers moving toward them. “Someone call for help!”


  Sam struggled to speak to her.

  “Don’t talk, Sam. Help is on the way.”

  He shoved his wrist at her, the one holding his ID bracelet.

  She bent over him. “Please don’t move.” Tears fell onto his wrist and the bracelet, tears she didn’t even know she was shedding.

  Sam shook his head again and tried to form a word. She leaned forward to hear him whisper, “Yours.”

  Then his head fell back against the cement floor with a jarring thud.

  * * *

  Jared De Luca stood in a corner of the interrogation room while FBI Special Investigator Daniel Kopack put Sassa Nilsson through the ringer. Jared kept his promise to remain silent, but crossed his arms tightly to hold in his frustration. He was fortunate they’d even let him in the room. Speaking up would get him tossed out.

  All the while his mind ran through one refrain: if only... If only he’d convinced his superiors at the border patrol to take the threats against Dr. Kruger seriously when he’d contacted Jared a year ago. If only he hadn’t taken leave, been away from his office when Sam had tried to reach him during the China trip. Sam and Sassa were three days into the conference before Jared learned that June Kruger was missing.

  If only there hadn’t been a struggle over jurisdiction before anyone had taken action. Was it the border patrol, the FBI or Homeland Security’s job to investigate Sam’s claims? Well, now that he’d been murdered, the job obviously fell under the FBI’s rule and the capable hands of Agent Kopack. In spite of all Jared’s words to the contrary, the man continued to assume Sassa knew about Sam’s involvement with the Black Knights.

  She didn’t. Over the months and the multiple phone conversations he and Sam had shared, the good doctor had assured Jared time and again that Sassa knew nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sam couldn’t keep the fact that he was being harassed by the environmental terrorist group from his wife, but he’d done everything he could to keep Sassa and her “precious Keri” safe. Sam had always referred to Sassa’s baby as “precious Keri.”

  Sam had also stated that Sassa should have been called Sassy instead. She had spark and fire. She wouldn’t have sat by silently, waiting for the Black Knights to act. Those were the instructions issued to Sam by Jared’s superiors. The doctor had assured Jared that Sassa would have made something happen. Another reason he’d kept the information from her. He didn’t want her getting into trouble with the authorities. All to no purpose.

  Now she was right in the middle of this disaster and definitely didn’t look sassy.

  Her round face seemed hollowed out. Dark circles, leftovers from a twelve-hour flight, rimmed her eyes. Tears had washed all her mascara into smudges beneath. Add to all that a red nose, puffy lips and long blond hair tied in a messy knot on top. The woman was bedraggled, exhausted and in shock. She didn’t deserve what Kopack was putting her through and it was all Jared could do to keep silent. He couldn’t give them a reason to kick him out.

  The entire situation was beyond frustrating. Not to mention the fact that Kopack asked all the wrong questions. No wonder Sassa appeared to have mentally checked out.

  In her hand, she clutched an ID bracelet. Sam’s, of course. He’d seen it on the man’s wrist many times during their phone/video chats. When had Sassa unhooked it from her boss’s wrist? Why was she clutching it so tightly her knuckles turned white and her fingers red? Those were the important questions, not the accusatory ones Kopack kept throwing at her.

  The agent leaned back in his chair. His self-assured manner grated Jared’s nerves. He stared at Sassa for a long time before leaning forward. “What do you know about the Black Knights?”

  For the first time life came into Sassa’s blue eyes. She studied Kopack awhile before she drew her tongue over chapped lips. “I know they’re not what they say they are.”

  “How’s that?”

  Now a real spark came into her gaze. “They say they’re an environmental group, concerned with the future of the planet. But they’re really environmental terrorists.”

  Kopack nodded. “What connection did Dr. Kruger have with the Black Knights?”

  Another spark flashed in that blue gaze. Sassy Sassa had finally showed up but Jared feared her timing was all wrong. “He contacted them with questions about their organization, but he had no long-term connection with them.”

  “I beg to differ. We have emails. He exchanged emails with the group’s leader for several months.”

  She nodded. “He did, a long time ago. Right after his son died in Afghanistan. Sam went through a rough patch. He was angry at the government...at the world. He wanted to do something, be part of a change. But as soon as he discovered the group’s real goals, he broke contact with them.”

  “Not true. We have emails from two months ago.”

  “They were harassing him. He promised me he’d report them. Surely you know that.”

  Kopack shrugged. “They wanted the formula.”

  Sassa’s lips parted and her gaze widened even more. Smart girl. She caught on faster than most. Sam had said she was one of his brightest students.

  “There is no formula.” Her tone hardened like bronzed steel.

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded again. “Yes, I’m sure. I helped Sam destroy all our notes and information after the accident. We were working in a closed container. Sam was so cautious—he always insisted on closed containers. We had a strain of Xylella Fastidiosa and he was attempting to apply another strain of staph—” She halted and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Our equipment failed. The arm broke, dropped a large quantity of one strain onto the virus plate then the arm fell to the bottom of the container. Sam sealed off the arm, then went back to sterilize the plate. The virus had multiplied so fast you could see it with the naked eye. It scared us.”

  “Why?”

  Kopack was playing dumb. He knew exactly why.

  Sassa’s sigh sounded frustrated. “It was a pathogen. A virus that kills plants. It had multiplied with nothing to feed on.” Kopack’s blank look frustrated her more. “Don’t you understand? The virus was growing, even without a host or a carrier. That meant it could attach to any plant, any crop and destroy it in hours or days. Airborne, it could travel the world and kill every living plant in its path. Sam tried to eradicate it. Nothing worked. Finally, he was forced to fry the equipment, everything in the container, with a blowtorch. It frightened him so much, he ordered me to wipe out all of our files so it couldn’t be repeated. We hadn’t recorded much, but I personally wiped most of what was there off the computer systems in the lab.”

  She leveled her gaze on Kopack. “I know there’s no formula because it was an accident. We couldn’t repeat it because we shredded what info we wrote down and what was online, we deleted. I did it myself.”

  Kopack shook his head. “Oh, there’s a formula...and the Black Knights knew your mentor had found it. That’s what they were after when they killed him. They stole his computer bag. Didn’t you wonder why, Ms. Nilsson? By the way, what is your real name? Up until a year ago you were known as Sassa Larsen.”

  Her jaw stiffened and Jared winced.

  Don’t lose your cool now, Sassa. Don’t you see he’s baiting you?

  “I’m divorced. I preferred to go back to my maiden name.”

  “Where is Mr. Larsen?”

  “I haven’t a clue. Probably at the closest casino. He’s not my problem anymore.”

  “On the contrary, he might be your biggest problem. As you noted, your ex is always looking for money. Is it possible he offered to get the formula for the Black Knights for a price?”

  Her lips parted. “I haven’t seen Erik in over a year. He has yet to lay eyes on his own daughter.”

  “Then how did the Black Knights discover the formula?”

  She closed her eyes. “There...is...no...formula.”

 
Slowly, Kopack turned in his seat and leveled his gaze on Jared.

  “What do you say, Officer De Luca? Is there a formula?”

  Thanks, man. Way to put me on the spot.

  Jared sighed, hooked his thumbs on his gun belt and met Sassa’s wide-eyed stare. “Yes. There is.”

  * * *

  Sassa stared at the tall stranger in the corner. Black hair, slightly wavy. High cheekbones and dark eyes. A chin that looked carved from granite and a perfectly trimmed goatee with a little five-o’clock shadow behind it. Maybe he’d had a rough night, too, as rough as hers. But those wide shoulders looked like they could handle anything that came his way, and he was handsome. Too handsome. She’d learned all about handsome men and their oh-so-charming ways from her ex.

  “Excuse me. Exactly who are you?” The you came out with all the scorn she had for his type and her gaze scoured down the green uniform to the gun belt wrapped around his waist.

  Green uniform. “Wait...are you Sam’s young man? The border patrol agent he was watching for?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  She was exhausted, worn to a frazzle, and now she was angry. Ready to lash out.

  “You were late...too late.”

  He winced as if in pain.

  Good. At least one of these cold, brusque men with their blank faces had the decency to feel something for Sam...kind, gentle Sam. Tears pricked her eyes and she looked down, refusing to cry again, especially in front of the man who had failed Sam in so many ways.

  “You’re the ‘official’ he contacted regarding the Black Knights. You’ve been talking to him since all this started. Why didn’t you stop that man from killing him? And why on earth did he contact the border patrol in the first place?”

  That verbal dart seemed to strike a chord. He straightened his broad shoulders. “I head up the border patrol’s bio-terrorism section in Riverside. Sam and I had a previous connection regarding a species of plant coming in from Mexico. I’m a biologist. He knew I’d understand the pathogen’s danger.”