Jewel Of Atlantis

by Gena Showalter

• ISBN13: 9780373773572
• ISBN10: 0373773579
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-01
• Publisher: HQN Books

Summary

All of Atlantis is seeking the powerful Jewel of Dunamis. Otherworld Bureau of Investigation agent Grayson James has orders to keep it from the wrong hands and destroy it. What he doesn't know is that the Jewel is actually a woman. Reissue.

Excerpts

It was supposed to be an easy mission. An in-and-out job. A one-day extraction.His boss had fed him that line of bullshit, and Grayson James had foolishly believed him. Upon first entering this lushly green, sea-kissed land known as Atlantis, however, Gray realized he would have had better luck trying to sell a Frigidaire to a goddamn Eskimo. At a goddamn jacked-up price.Atlantis.Not a myth. Damn it. He'd hoped otherwise.He scowled. In one hand, he held a beeping, miniature GPS system programmed from coordinates found on a map. An actual, honest-to-God map of Atlantis his boss had discovered in a missing millionaire's stash. Right now, the GPS signal bounced off the earth's magnetic core, helping him navigate his way through this Atlantean jungle. In the other hand, he gripped a machete. The sharp silver blade hacked at the thick foliage blocking his path.No, Atlantis was not a myth. It happened to be home to the most loathsome creatures he'd ever encountered. And as an employee of OBI, the Otherworld Bureau of Investigations, he'd encountered plenty.Made him wonder why he'd even joined the agency.He knew the answer, though, and it wasn't because he'd (secretly) watchedStar Trekfor most of his teen years and knew how to speak Klingon. "Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam," he sighed.Today is a good day to die.When he'd learned (to his horrified shock) that there actually were other colonized worlds in the vast expanse of the galaxies, he'd left his job as a detective with the Dallas PD and began searching for aMen in Black-typeoperation. When OBI finally contacted him he'd signed on immediately. He believed fiercely in the need to learn about these otherworlders and protect his own planet from them.How could he have known that the most fearsome creatures of all resided here, on his own planet? Simply buried beneath the ocean, protected by some kind of crystal dome?As he dodged a stray limb, he ground his teeth together. "Atlantis," he muttered. "Code name, Hell."After entering a swirling, gelatinous portal OBI had discovered underwater in Florida, he'd found himself inside an enormous crystal palace guarded by huge, sword-wielding men. Luck had been on his side as he stealthily maneuvered his way past them, unnoticed, and entered this jungle.That's when he kissed that fickle bitch Lady Luck goodbye.For the past two nights, a blood-sucking vampire, a fire-breathing dragon, and a hungry, salivating winged demon, aka the Welcoming Committee, had chased him, each sharpening mental forks and knives.The memories made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.He knew the routine now. In less than one hour, night would fall and those...things would emerge again. They would hunt him. They would attempt to fucking eat him. And not in a good way.His blood ran cold at the thought and not even the hot, humid air could warm him. For fifty-eight hours he'd been stuck in this seemingly never-ending maze, and for fourteen of those hours, he'd followed the exact same pattern: creatures track, Gray evade.The first night, he'd tried to shoot them with his Beretta. He managed to nail the dragon between the eyes, but his other pursuers dodged the bullets, quickly and effortlessly gliding out of range.The second night, when the two remaining creatures appeared, Gray utilized his combat skills and slit the vampire's throat. A pleasure, he had to admit, but he hadn't emerged unscathed. Five deep, raw scratch and bite wounds adorned his neck and thigh, throbbing constantly. Not festering, but never quite healing.How he'd escaped the demon after that, he didn't know. Injured and weak as he'd been, he would have been easy to overpower. Hell, his bleeding body would have made a delicious dinner buffet. Many times he'd wondered if the demon had purposefully let him go, enjoying the thrill of the hunt a little too much.Well, the demon wasn't the only one who was going to enjoy himself