Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Edison Walker had never seen the man with the wide green eyes before. He only knew that he was in trouble.
And that he took one look at Ed and decided he was his haven. His protector.
Ed would not let him down.
With the jeweled scarab the stranger pressed into his hand and the strange note written in ancient Egyptian, the Shadow Elite mercenaries are off to Cairo to find the stolen professor.
Edison’s Professor is the third full-length novel in the Shadow Elite series and features mercenaries, ancient treasure, danger, explosions, a short grumpy Egyptologist who can be very overprotective of his mercenary, cuddly couples, and love on the run in Egypt.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
PROLOGUE
EDISON WALKER
He was getting too emotional about this.
It was silly.
But it wasn’t his fault. Athena was adorable, sweet, funny, and so damn smart. He’d grown up an only child, and he’d dreamed of having a sister to protect and watch out for. Someone to give all that unsolicited brotherly advice. Athena was exactly the sister he’d dreamed of having.
Athena rushed over and hugged him for a third time as they stood in the private area of the airport. She’d stayed two days longer than originally planned because she’d wanted to make sure Isidore had truly recovered from his kidnapping experience. The siblings probably also needed a little time to themselves to recover from the knowledge that their own aunt and cousin had planned to steal their money and kill them.
She’d put off the parting as long as possible. If she didn’t leave now, she would miss her first day of classes and other important things. As it was, Gabriel and Justin had agreed to travel with Athena to California before going home to make sure she was properly settled.
Bouncing back to her heels, Athena gripped both of his arms tightly and narrowed her eyes at him. “Now, you’ve got my phone number, email address, and my social media contacts, right? Oh! And my new mailing address,” she checked for the third time.
“I do. I do. Don’t worry. I’ll send updates. You promised to send me a video of your new apartment,” Edison reminded her.
“Of course. Plus, I’ll send you a pic of the new habitat I’m planning to build for Joey.”
“With the tunnels that run through all the rooms? Yes! I definitely need to see that. When is Joey joining you?”
“My friend, Olivia, is coming for a visit in October, and she’s going to bring him then.”
“Athena, as much as I hate to break this up, the pilots are waiting on you,” Isidore interjected with a wry smile on his lips. “And please notice that you have hugged Edison good-bye three times now and hugged your only brother just once. I’m feeling neglected.”
Ed choked on a laugh as Athena crossed the posh waiting area to hug Isidore tightly. He rested his head on the top of her curly black hair and closed his eyes as he held her. They whispered little things back and forth in Greek that he’d guessed were poignant until both of them started giggling.
When Isidore finally released Athena, she turned toward Kairo, who was standing next to his boyfriend, and grinned broadly. She slugged the mercenary in the shoulder. “You take good care of my brother for me.”
“I’ll protect him with my life,” Kairo agreed solemnly.
She sighed and hugged him tightly. “I’d like it better if you both stayed alive and out of trouble.”
After releasing them, she stepped away to stand next to the two assassins, who were watching all this family love with happy expressions. They’d said their good-byes to their nephew, Alexei, a couple of days earlier. He and Soren were still lounging in the sun on Santorini with Charlie and Will.
Isidore shook their hands. “Thank you again for all your assistance on this matter and for escorting my sister to school.”
“We were happy to help,” Gabriel graciously replied.
“Yeah, I think you thanked us plenty with that generous contribution you made to our bank account,” Justin chimed in as he took Isidore’s hand, causing Gabriel to roll his eyes.
With all the jokes made and good-byes said, Athena walked out to the private plane, Gabriel and Justin following close behind. Ed shuffled over to stand beside Kairo as they watched out the large window.
“Are you expecting trouble for Athena?” Ed asked in a low voice.
Kairo gave a small shake of his head. “Not really. This is more to make sure that Athena feels safe. She doesn’t want any bodyguards with her while she’s at school, and this will get her started with a sense of security.”
“Plus, I’m having my plane wait in California until Justin and Gabriel are ready to leave. They can take it home as an added thank-you for all they’ve done,” Isidore said.
“That is a very nice bonus,” Ed grunted.
Isidore turned to face him again with that look in his eyes. It was the same look he’d been giving them all since everything got sorted with his family.
Ed lifted both hands as if to ward the man off. “No, no, no. You’ve already paid me and the team plenty. I’ve also adopted your sister as my new little sister, and you’ve made one of my best friends very happy. I don’t want or need anything else.”
Isidore pursed his lips at him and Kairo cackled. “Okay,” Isidore conceded. He turned his attention back to the plane as the door closed and it began to taxi toward the runway.
Kairo flashed him a wide grin, and Edison could only chuckle. Kairo had his hands full with Isidore.