Kindle Edition
Amazon
Amazon
Category:
Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN-10: B08X1TVZLH
Type: Fiction
Pages: 303
Copyright: October 14, 2010
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
A botched search for an energy weapon in Central America turns into a murder mystery after the team discovers a dead woman, a missing friend, someone trying to destroy them, and they still have to find the weapon. Welcome to a fast-paced, action adventure murder mystery as the team tries to get to the truth.
Tom Curran and his best friend Constantine Caraballo are two army soldiers from Philadelphia, with two different backgrounds. One is an unmarried orphan raised by the Catholic Church with friends all over the world, while the other is married and from a big Italian family that he knows as his whole world. Their special operations team gets assigned to a government agency for the purpose of tracking down an energy weapon, and things don’t go as planned. Trouble seems to come at the team all at once and they find themselves searching for a friend, protecting themselves from evil and uncovering the corrupt forces working against them. Their travels take them to places like Philadelphia, Cuba, Panama and Jamaica, and they travel on boats, helicopters and airplanes in search of a friend, an energy weapon, good coffee, good surfing and fishing and the truth behind who wants them all dead. Although they’re surrounded by adversity, they relish the adventure and realize the only way to survive is to stay together. They move from crisis to faith as they discover and overcome the depths of evil and corruption around them. The story is a dynamic adventure tale about friendship and brotherhood in the face of adversity, life and death, good and evil, keeping your sense of humor, and getting some payback!
Excerpt
A silver Mercedes sedan streaked toward post from the south, its occupant intent on getting home in a hurry. The driver hoisted a brown beer bottle to his mouth, taking a long pull from it. He let out a thunderous burp and wide mouthed yawn as he spotted the six-pack on the seat beside him.
“Another dead soldier,” he proclaimed, returning the empty bottle, and drawing a full one. He realized he was driving without headlights and twisted the control on the turn signal arm.
Seeing her son wriggling, Jenny reached between the seats and gave him a little squeeze on his foot. She smiled. He was okay. They were two minutes from home after a nine-hour trip. Feeling hopeful, she started softly singing the Neil Diamond tune Beautiful Noise; the song her husband said he thought of when he heard the baby’s voice. She began braking for the red light ahead. Nearing the fast-food restaurant on the corner, the light turned green. She stopped braking and coasted toward the intersection.
The man in the Mercedes took another long drink from his bottle. Finished, he put the bottle between his legs, yawned, shut his eyes, and rubbed away the tears with the back of his hand. He dropped his arm, opened his eyes, and terror shot through him like a bullet. All the hairs stood on end. The frightful recoil of his body sent the bottle in his crotch spilling forward. He instantly braced himself, locking his elbows straight on the wheel and stamping both feet to the floor. A car. A face in the window. Too late. Headlights hit the other car and driver. At the last possible second, he recognized her.
Turning back from her son, Jenny saw a bright light. Something caught her eye. A silvery flash. She jerks to the left. Her eyes caught the blast of headlights, then horribly, the front grill of a Mercedes three feet away. A memory of her husband holding their son flashed though her mind.
The broadside hit was so clean, it sounded like a gunshot with breaking glass and shrieking tires. The side of Jenny’s car conformed to the shape of the Mercedes. The aim was deadly perfect. Glass and metal hurled away from the two cars. The roof of Jenny’s car collapsed, the dashboard and steering wheel twisted to the right. Her black hair wrapped around her face as the impact crushed the driver’s side and threw her into the passenger door. She was killed instantly. Only a momentary squeal at the moment of impact marked the life leaving her body.
The back seat buckled. The car’s roof slammed down on the child seat like a lid on a pot. The child seat saved the boy’s life, but he was trapped, injured, and screaming. The car slid sideways and stopped about 16 feet from the point of impact. The crash stopped the Mercedes like a baseball hitting a backstop.
When the airbag in the Mercedes deflated, the man in the car was surprised by how well that new invention worked. It was a feature of all new Mercedes Benz sedans, but not on the woman’s little Ford wagon. The dazed man turned off the already dead motor and groped for the door handle. The door was stuck. His knees jammed against the dashboard. He tried using use his shoulder to get open the door. When it popped open, he spilled out of the car like water from a floodgate. A beer bottle slid out with him. It hit the street and rolled to the curb with a tinkling sound. Slowly, first one foot, then a hand on the door, the man climbed to his feet. He saw the car’s hood rolled back toward the windshield like the lid of a sardine can, the engine and front axle pushed back from their normal position. Amazed, he stared at the car. A trickle of blood oozed from a small cut near the hairline of his steel gray hair. Steam from the two vehicles hissed into the damp night air. The night grew quiet again at the lonely intersection…except for the sound of a screaming child. At Jenny’s house in the residential section of Fort Gannon, the phone was ringing.
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