The second book in the trilogy, The Master Key spins a tale of mystery and intrigue as Josie’s life is now thrown back into her past.
All is not idyllic as Josie begins her new life in the future as wife to the world president, John Lancaster. A dangerous man from her past returns — Michael Ho — to wreck more havoc and destruction. With him, Ho brings a hostage, Margeaux, who turns out to be Josie's great-niece. He demands a trade off — a keycode for the life of her niece.
As revelations of Josie's past, three hundred years ago, begin to unfold, every question she has ever asked is answered. Together with John, and head of security, Simon, they head to the Scrap Yard, a cybernetics space station where they battle it out with Ho who is hell-bent on taking control of the world.
Can Josie save the life of her new-found niece? Will learning the truth of her past and family really be enough to put the ghosts to rest?
“She’ll never make an operative.” Simon propped his arm companionably over John’s shoulder and watched as Josie sheepishly recovered from a stumble.
“She’s my wife, not one of your lot.” John clamped his mouth into a line and rolled his eyes, a habit he seemed to be borrowing lately from Josie. “But you’re right. An operative she will never be. I’m just glad she’s learning to hone her skills at defending herself. Clumsily, but still…”
“There’s that,” Simon agreed with a shrug then suppressed a chuckle. “And now, thankfully, she looks more the part so her cover will stand.”
Though he’d never let on, Simon did like her. She was a bit crass, rude, nosy, and childishly naïve, but she’d somehow managed to tame his best friend’s turbulent heart and reawaken his humorous nature. And, she had the uncanny ability to make John swoon like a girl, something that was practically unheard of until she came to live at the Citadel.
“At least now she won’t second-guess her own strength and abilities,” Simon continued.
At best, she and Simon resorted to a friendly banter of words and insults that sometimes erupted into violent outbursts of temper. But generally, they enjoyed the insults and would never openly admit—to themselves or others—that they were actually quite fond of one another.
With a final twist of the torso, a pivot and a lunge, Josie completed a rather difficult counter-attack kick on the sparring droid, successfully upturning it. Then, rather childishly, gave it a final below-the-belt kick, not that it mattered much to the droid. She huffed off and strode determinedly toward the two men who watched.
“Temper, temper.” Simon clicked his tongue, not quite masking the impressed nod of approval as he mentally rated her performance.
The Lancaster Series, Book 2
