Once a Hero

A former FBI agent and a treasure hunter must join forces to defeat a mutual enemy in a race to find treasures from the lost Amber Room.

Emerging from a deep undercover operation gone wrong, FBI Special Agent Jake Kessler finds himself suspended without pay and left out of the remaining hunt for the most notorious terrorist in the world. The only person who might be able to help him is a random stranger he meets in San Francisco, who wants something in return even when there is a price on her own head.

They say that FBI Special Agent Jake Kessler doesn't follow orders, and that he deserves to be tortured and left to die on that sinking ship. Whatever. Jake is simply thankful he makes it out alive and in one piece, even though his cover is now blown.

The workaholic that he is, Jake doesn't know the meaning of suspension. On his own time, he goes to San Francisco to follow a tenuous lead. All he has to do is meet an informant who has news for him about the international criminal at large, Molyneux. Something goes wrong, and now Jake is fired from the bureau.

Treasure hunter Beatrice Glynn is also at the restaurant to meet the same person, who would recognize Beatrice if not for her disguise. Beatrice's goal is to find the Amber Room before Molyneux does, thus fulfilling her deceased father's lifelong quest. The dutiful daughter thinks she is very close. If she can only get a few more clues to the whereabouts of the Amber Room...

Beatrice does not want Jake to know who she is, but in the chaos at the restaurant, they meet face to face. Their goals intersect, and their hunting parties join forces.

Getting a civilian into mortal danger when he doesn't have his badge isn't Jake's intention, but dying is the least of their worries when his archenemy finds them no matter where they go.

They can run, but they cannot hide from her. Why? How?

Their best bet to survive is to get ahead of their mutual enemy, who will remove everyone in the way toward finding the remainder of the lost original Amber Room. But how can Jake and Beatrice find something that no longer exists?

Once a Hero is book 2 in USA Today bestselling author Jan Thompson's Protector Sweethearts Christian Romantic Suspense series. It follows the story of FBI Special Agent Jake Kessler, who first appears undercover in Reach for Me (Vacation Sweethearts Book 2), where the hunt for an international terrorist forms the undercurrent of that novel.