Well, this book explains a lot about the Archangel’s story. During the first book, I really didn’t understand much of why everyone was after Captain Brent Parthet. But they were after him and wound up destroying his life which consisted of his wife, Miriam and his son, Sam. Why they did this was not really explained, but Brent now has a reason to go after those who did the deed.
But, he’s also trying to form a bigger organization to take on the Coalition that was responsible for the latest war that killed so many people. He had learned from Willwood, a Southwind survivor of the war, that the Southwind had not started the war as they had been accused. Now Brent knows that it was all setup by the Coalition with the SID (Security & Intelligence Directorate) and he wants to question one of the former Directors to get proof of the corruption.
Brent has been able to recruit quite a few people to his cause with the help of some former Archangels. These original Archangels were previously enhanced by the Coalition to perform dangerous missions. Brent was definitely an Archangel. He had capabilities that allowed him to do some very tough things when challenged. But, this latest mission had a different kind of challenge.
He and a Lieutenant Riva Powell, a former Marine Officer, were going on a clandestine mission posing as a couple very much in love and enjoying a luxury vacation. The resort they were headed for was an exclusive one that only catered to high government officials and strong CEOs of very powerful corporations. You had to have been raised by parents who used their money to ensure their children were genetically modified to fit the upper class of citizen that visited these type of resorts. While Brent had definitely been genetically modified, Riva Powell seemed to be one of those rate humans that had perfect genes from the start. She was a stunner to say the least and she was willing to undertake this mission knowing that she and Brett would have to be intimate when in public. Brent, on the other hand, was still troubled by his wife’s death. It has been over a year, but he’s not quite ready to let go of that sorrow. Riva, to her credit, understands this and doesn’t try to push Brent too far nor too fast, but they do make a convincing couple.
Their target of this mission is a former military intelligence officer and former SID Director, who now ran Kinetic, LLC. His name was Ethan Rhule and he had the information that could definitely expose what the Coalition did to start the war with Southwind. Mr. Rhule was also on vacation and he wasn’t alone. He had a blond young lady with him that they too were intimately involved. That was a complication that Brent and Riva weren’t sure how to handle. They needed to get Rhule alone so they could kidnap him and do some thorough interrogation at a secret location. Their plan was to capture Rhule and then call in the other Archangels to sweep Rhule, Brent and Riva out of the area without anyone really noticing. The only problem was that Mr. Rhule was also enhanced which shouldn’t have been a surprise since his organization was responsible for the enhancements developed for the Archangel program.
So, taking down Rhule was going to be a problem for Brent. That was even more of a problem when they found out his young companion was also his body guard and she was quite deadly on her own. Fortunately, Riva was just as deadly and between her and Brent, they got the job done.
Now came the interrogation part against someone that was trained to resist most techniques. Brent didn’t want to kill Rhule but if that’s what it took then that’s what would happen. He eventually did start talking, but there was some discussions about whether the information he was providing was true. Most of what he said did confirm the Coalition and SID’s involvement in starting the war with the Southwind. They now just had to get that information out to the rest of the Coalition so they could effect changes in their government. Except Rhule had a tracker embedded in his chest and he had been signaling his people his location for a while now. They had arrived in mass and ready for a fight.
Brent’s people weren’t enough to put up much of a fight. They needed to leave immediately. Rhule wasn’t going any where. Once the Archangels realized he was transmitting, he was ended. Brent decided to stay behind until every one had escaped, but that didn’t work so well. He eventually gets captured and now he’s the one getting interrogated. Yet, Brent is also talking to this Deputy SID Director and she is hearing things that might be causing her to question whether what he was saying was true or not. Still, Brent has to escape or die.
Of course Brent eventually does free himself, but they now learn that the Coalition is planning something even worst than the previous war they started. Brent and company need to stop this new effort or a lot more people will die. More will be coming in book 3, “Ascending”, not available on Amazon.
**[Note 1 (12/23/2025): I’m no longer associated with Amazon and will no longer provide any links to books from that website. You can usually find books that you like at your usual source.]**
**[Note 2: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be posted on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. ]**