Excerpt: Team Alpha - Book III: Saving Melissa

The three groups met back at the staircase, arriving within minutes of each other. Burke and Rasta were all smiles until the saw first Rosa and Vicki, then Doe and Petra, stalk over to them.

“We have a problem,” Doe, Petra, and Rosa all blurted out at once.

Rosa shook her head, smiling gently. “I think Melissa – or whoever set this place up – was expecting us. And not in a friendly manner.”

“No shit,” Doe replied. “But it wasn’t Melissa. Someone’s laid out a spell in the back room here. Can’t see what it is, can’t get past the rope outlining the ritual circle. But it’s nasty.”

“Ja. It was casting shadows and it didn’t like being probed,” Petra added with a slight tremor.

“Why do you say it couldn’t be Melissa? Isn’t this her place?” Vicki asked Doe.

“Because Melissa didn’t know shit about magic,” Doe replied. “She was the resident hacker.”

“So, couldn’t she have learned in the last few years?”

“In between killing off inconvenient family member and taking over the crime syndicate in the Eastern United States, sure, she could have picked up a few pointers. But this is the big leagues. The only way she could have picked up that much power in the last five years was if she devoted herself to studying and practicing magic. And we know she didn’t do that.”

“How can you know,” Vicki persisted. “I mean, you said she killed family members, maybe she used them to buy-“

“Not the way she did it,” Doe interrupted. “Besides, if she bought it, she couldn’t control it. And this setup reeks of control.”

Rosa, who listened to the exchange thoughtfully, said quietly, “How do you know Melissa hasn’t already turned?”