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Sailaway Publishing
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Sailaway Publishing
Category:
Action/Thriller
Publisher: Sailaway Publishing
Type: Fiction
Pages: 366
Copyright: July 16, 2016
ISBN-13: 9781370934959
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
River Brookes finds herself in the middle of an undeclared war along the Texas border and discovers love and finds the family she has always wanted.
River Brookes is a young medical school student from New Zealand studying in the US. During a break in her last year of medical school she decides to explore the southwest US. She finds herself lost in the deserts of southwest Texas and falls afoul of Mexican drug cartels. She is rescued by a wealthy local rancher and his family and finds herself embroiled in a clandestine border war. The Martingale family, longtime ranchers and landowners and their friends and employees become the unofficial enforcement force for a top secret state department operation, working to stymie the drug cartels and their operations along the US border with Mexico. Keith Martingale, the Patriarch of the Martingale family, is determined to keep his ranch and his family on the land that they have owned for more than 100 years. This determination leads him into the world of international intrigue and business. In the midst of the violence and intrigue, River finds what she has never had, a family, love and acceptance.
Excerpt
Suddenly the dirt road she had been bumping along came to a washed out arroyo filled with large boulders. There was no way “Bessie” was going any further. Ahead of her was desert as far as the eye could see. “Great!” She thought, “Good job River. Great start to your American adventure.” With no other options left she popped Bessie into reverse and prepared to turn back toward the hotel still hours away. As her foot pressed down on the accelerator, Bessie responded by sputtering a few times, uttering a rather underwhelming belch, and then producing a much more dramatic cloud of acrid black smoke that began to billow out from under Bessie’s seriously dented hood.
Panicking, River leaped out the car and ran for several meters before turning back just in time to see the flames jumping from around the hood. Within seconds Bessie was ablaze and all of her carefully packed kit, including water bottles, pup tent, iPhone, and Swiss Army knife were gone. Falling to her knees in the burning sand she started to giggle hysterically as she realized that the only thing she had grabbed before fleeing was the lonely planet guide and the drug company sponsored pen she had attached to its cover, ironically advertising a new fluid rehydration system. Abruptly her giggling turned to sobs and tears began to fall in earnest as her predicament, and the very real danger of her imminent demise, began to sink in.
Sitting in the dusty road, watching the car slowly burn down until it was nothing more than a black charred hunk of junk metal, River shivered. Surprisingly, it was now quite dark. The desert, bright, interesting and enticing by day, was now a dark, threatening oppressive presence surrounding her. Shivering, she was surprised at how cool the air had become. Wearing nothing but the thin blouse, shorts and sneakers, she wrapped her arms about herself and began to take stock of the situation.
"This is bad." she thought. "I am miles from the paved road I left hours ago." Just then, the lonely howl of a coyote in the distance broke and with a start she stood and looked around. Panic gripped her.
"Oh God! I have done some stupid things but this has to be the most idiotic. No one knows where I am or where I was going!” Her heart pounding, she turned to look back down the road, trying to see something in the darkness that would give her some hope. All she could see was blackness.
"Think. River, Think!"
"You can get out of this. You are smart, resourceful, and brave. All you need to do is THINK!"
Talking out loud to herself, she began to walk back along the road. Into the darkness she plodded. Soon she could no longer see the hulk of the burned out car behind her. Fortunately, the moon was almost full and in the clear desert air it was bright enough to see a few meters ahead.
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