Codename: Carla
 

Carla ID photo

Meet Carla

I was born in 1982; my parents gave me the name Angela Bayard. Seeking excitement after graduating from college, I joined the Navy and threw myself into the most dangerous job I could get: I became an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician. With two wars going on at the time, I found myself rolling through the Iraqi desert looking for IEDs. It was hard, dirty, nerve-wracking work, but none of this prepared me for my next job with an unnamed counter-terrorist organization run by a man we only referred to as The Colonel.

In 2009, I was reborn; The Colonel named me Carla. For 10 years, I was given assignments that went beyond the realm of most Homeland Security agencies. I faced dangers not always of this Earth and phenomena not encountered by most humans. I felt so compelled to share these experiences with the world, I began writing them down. My first book was not well received by my superiors, but I was not fired—simply reprimanded and told not to disclose any more classified information. After five more years of keeping quiet, I could not suppress this information any longer.

I left my little spy agency and took up with a new group dedicated to uncovering the world that lies beneath the one we see. Maybe someday I will write about my recent experiences. For now, I am publishing the exploits of my previous life.


Meet the Author

Neal Patterson is the author of the Codename: Carla series of fantasy spy thrillers.

Neal Patterson has been a writer for most of his life. His writing has appeared in magazines, websites, blogs, and anthology collections, and he co-authored three books celebrating the food and culinary traditions of the Chesapeake region: Food Lover's Guide to Baltimore, Baltimore Chef's Table, and Maryland's Chesapeake: How the Bay and its Bounty Shaped a Cuisine.

His fascination with espionage, military history, and adventure fiction eventually led him to create counter-terrorism agent Angela Bayard, first introduced in the short story collection The Codename: Carla Casebook. She returns in The Green Mountain Covenant, the first novel in an action-adventure series blending espionage, military intrigue, and the unexpected.

Neal lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with his wife, author Kathy Wielech Patterson, who writes cozy mysteries as Kat LaGue.

Author Neal Patterson photo
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Books

The Green Mountain Covenant

Book One
Angela Bayard was beginning to regret her decision to go to work for a federal agency so secret, it didn’t even have a name.


The former Navy demolitions expert was in Vegas posing as a call girl named “Carla,” snuggling up to nefarious characters who ran guns, bombs, and money to terrorist organizations bent on wreaking havoc in the U.S. Then on one bad night, she simultaneously blows her carefully developed cover and accidentally kills the arms dealer she was supposed to bring back alive.


Fearing she took on too much too soon, her boss sends her on a thankless mission to bodyguard Dr. Brandon Cope, an undercover FBI operative in Vermont who has infiltrated a generations-old society thought to have anti-government leanings. Under the guise of a chance romantic encounter, she meets the professor and embarks on a series of strange confrontations with creatures whose origins and intentions could only be the result of one’s nightmares… or could they be real? Angela soon learns there may be something other worldly to the origins of Vermont and that secret could lead to global devastation. The assignment she once thought demeaning puts her in the middle of a fight to save the human race.


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Codename: Carla Casebook

Classified Case Files
As an explosive ordnance disposal technician for the Navy, Angela Bayard knew exactly what was trying to kill her. In her new role as counter-terrorism agent codenamed Carla, friend and foe are not so clear.


Working for a newly formed federal agency and taking orders from her mysterious boss known only as The Colonel, Carla finds herself in a sea of action facing dangers not always of this Earth and phenomena never before encountered. The six stories take Carla from tracking a visitor from the future to battling black holes in the South Pacific to uncovering an unorthodox smuggling ring in the Mississippi Delta. The Codename: Carla Casebook is an exciting blend of espionage, fantasy, and suspense. Carla takes on menace and mayhem with a touch of humor and boatload of daring.


Codename Carla: Casebook is currently available in paperback and kindle formats on Amazon.com with its original cover and price. Stay tuned for an updated edition with a new story and this cool new cover!