Jackson Kincaid, a mercenary or current-day Robin Hood, is guest of honor at a black tie charity event in a Haiti missionary school. A nun named Kate, who has ties to Jackson's past, is paying tribute to Jackson for everything he has done for the school. Suddenly chaos breaks out when masked gunmen shoot and kill some of the guests and call out his name. While Jackson, who's been shot, tries to decide how to deal with the terrorists, they grab up men, women and children and march them out of the school; Kate is among the kidnapped.

Vowing that he will rescue Kate no matter the personal cost, Jackson asks one of his men to contact someone to help. His friend contacts the one person Jackson hates, Garrett Wheeler. However, Garret, the director of a secret international group called the Sentinels, has the power and the means to bring in a team to assist Jackson with his search for Kate.

Garrett sends one of his best operatives, Alexa Marlowe. He knows Alexa and Jackson have an intimate past, but he also knows he owes Jackson a great debt and hopes that somehow Alexa will be the tool to bring Jackson around to the idea of returning to his previous job. Alexa is given intel that Jackson, now a mercenary to the highest bidder, is no longer the man she knew before.

Alexa arrives in Haiti with her team and they start the search, which takes them to the mountains of Cuba. Jackson doesn't tell Alexa about his wound because he knows she will leave him behind. When Jackson takes a fever, Alexa drugs him to keep him safe. She will lead the team to the hostages and find this mysterious Kate that Jackson is so worked up over. Alexa has a hard time equating this kind and dedicated man as a mercenary. She thinks Jackson may finally be the person she wants in her life, but who is Kate and what does she mean to him? And what will Jackson think when he finds out Alexa's objective has changed? The Sentinels have learned who the terrorist is and he must be captured alive and interrogated to thwart rumored future terrorist acts. The hostages are second priority. Jackson wants to save Kate and wants the terrorist dead. Alexa and Jackson find themselves at a crossroad again.

Jordan Dane's THE ECHO OF VIOLENCE is the third installment in her Sweet Justice series and introduces us to characters who intrigue and excite us. She weaves in enough mystery about them that we must read the next story to learn more about these "damaged" characters, people who have baggage yet fight for justice for those who cannot. Like the rest of Dane's books, THE ECHO OF VIOLENCE will rest on my keeper bookshelf.

Book Summary

Terrorists attack a Haitian missionary school fundraiser to abduct partygoers for ransom. But when the hostages are brutally killed one by one-with videos of the senseless murders posted online-time is running out. Sentinels' agent Alexa Marlowe is forced into an unlikely alliance with a relentless mercenary-but he's no stranger.

Jackson Kinkaid is the only witness to the raid who can track the killers into their stronghold in the mountains of communist Cuba, but he's not the same man Alexa once knew. Guarding a dark secret, he's linked to drug cartels and rumored to sell his services to the highest bidder. But when Alexa must take the terrorist leader alive for questioning-to thwart an atrocity on U.S. soil-will Kinkaid sabotage her mission to save one life?

Kinkaid has good reason to question the motives of the covert vigilantes Alexa works for. He knows all too well innocent lives can become collateral damage when weighed against a worse scenario. Can he trust Alexa to rescue his good friend, a Catholic nun who got him through the worst nightmare of his life?

Read an Excerpt