A series of books by Jack Higgins and Justin Richards.
Rich and Jade Chance are a pair of twins living with a single mom, who dies in car crash. They move in with their dad, only to end up sucked into his spy business.
- Sure Fire: October 2007
- Death Run: September 2008
- Sharp Shot: October 2009
- First Strike: October 2009
Tropes:
- Brandishment Bluff: Rich convinces Mark Darrow he is armed using a pen and a toy that sounds like a cocking gun. It helps that actually armed backup arrives right after Darrow realizes he is had.
- Chekhov's Gun: Rich wins a toy at a carnival, and is later told to stop playing with it, due to it sounding like a gun. He uses it along with a pen to trick Mark Darrow into believing his is armed.
- Deadly Environment Prison: When Jade is held captive by Crown Prince Ali, she is told that if she tries to escape they will simply let her die in the desert.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Mark Darrow pretends to be Ferdie McCain, which works because the Chance twins have never meet either of them but seen them both in a photo.
- Distressed Dude:
- The plot Sure Fire opens up with the twins father John Chance being kidnapped.
- In Death Run both Rich and "The Banker" are kidnapped and taken to a remote castle.
- Played with in Sharp Shot. While Rich is captured and Jade is able to evade her pursuer, their "protector" turns out to be hitman Mark Darrow and the people pursuing them are Secret Service Agents, so Jade ends up kidnapped.
- The Dragon:
- Ryan Stabb to Victor Vivishky in Sure Fire.
- Mark Darrow to Crown Price Ali in Sharp Shot.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Crown Price Ali has only two short scenes. Mark Darrow has much more pagetime, and is an active threat throughout the book.
- Dramatic Guncock: Rich fakes a gun cock to trick Mark Darrow into thinking he is armed, and when Darrow realizes he is had, a very real gun is cocked.
- Evil Uncle: Crown Prince Ali tries to undermine his nephew and the Americans supporting him.
- Faked Rip Van Winkle: This is "The Doctor" tricks Mark Darrow into giving away the location of the nuke. After Darrow wakes up he makes a casual reference to the passing of time. Then he plays faked news footage of the bomb going off and has pistons shake the building. He then furiously accuses Darrow of deliberately targeting civilians, who admits he had a military target, a bomber plane's wing.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Ryan Stabb is an obviously dangerous name.
- Prisoner Exchange: In Sharp Shot Jade Chance in released in exchange for the heroes releasing Mark Darrow.
- Taking the Bullet: Invoked when Crown Prince Ali is thrown in front of his own assassin's bullet, so that they can make it look like he died saving his nephew who he tried to have killed in the first place.
