Category:  Action/Thriller Publisher: Publish America ISBN-10:  1608137570 Type: Fiction Pages: 341 Copyright: Jan,2009 ISBN-13: 9781608137572 Cowley College student Jack Garrison is used by a KBI agent to track down and destroy a secret organization dealing in drugs, murder, and mayhem, that Garrison's ex-girlfriend and her family are an integral part of.   Excerpt Chapter 1 Night Visitor Late December 1997 Sedan, KS The passing truck on the highway, in front of the Phillips 66 convenience store, in Sedan, KS, had done little to muffle the sound of the rumble from the pistol being fired. The bullet, homing on Store Cashier Jack Garrison’s heart, flashed over across its quiet two yards. Jack, on instinct, had pitched forward, expecting to be dead any second. What he was greeted with, instead, was the sound of the bullet burying itself in the open doorway just to his right. Bits of wooden shrapnel exploded, scattering everywhere. The young man who was about to kill him, Javier, was stalking him now, rushing forward to put another bullet in his direction. Jack pushed himself back from the area behind the cash register and towards the doorway leading to the back room. How far away was the back door, he wondered? Could he make it? No, it was too far. He would never stand a chance. Breathing hard, he stole a glance at anything useful he could find that was within easy reach. Just as Javier came around the corner of the counter, his right hand with the gun extended, Jack made his move. He swung the top of the wooden stool violently into Javier’s direction and suddenly cried out as he heard another very loud gunshot. The stray bullet had struck the top of the stool, streaking through it and burying itself in the wall just above Jack’s head. The maneuver still had worked, knocking the weapon free from his hand, and causing the bastard the slightest bit of pain. The nasty, snub-nosed .38 finally had clattered to the white tiled floor and Jack fell after it, feeling as if every nerve in his body had been paralyzed. A flailing foot swept the gun aside and another glanced off his rib cage. Some inner voice of self-preservation brought him to his senses, and he rolled aside and scrambled to his knees, but it was too late. Javier came in again hard, knocking them both against the counter where the hot coffee and cappuccino makers were. With the impact, the wind was crushed from Jack’s body. Javier’s breath against his face stank of the lust to kill. Jack scrambled desperately for any kind of weapon that came to hand and his fingers closed around a pot of steaming hot coffee. Javier struggled to hold Jack around the throat, but Jack swung the coffee pot with all of his force, connecting with the right side of Javier’s temple. The pot shattered, sending broken glass and hot liquid everywhere, but Javier kept coming, even with blood streaming from his lacerated temple. Jack staggered backward to the doorway leading to the restrooms. Javier stood with his lean, trim body poised to kill. He suddenly came forward again, pushing Jack back into the hallway. Javier’s eyes glinted with impersonal hatred, like the slits in a gun turret, but his small, obscene mouth had opened to reveal two rows of tiny teeth parted like those of a predatory fish. Outside, he could hear cars pulling up to the gas pumps. Already the first beeps were being heard on the console, requesting authorization to begin pumping fuel. But, Jack was in no position to comply. There was no other way out of the store from where he was. Here, he must stand and fight. Fighting back his fear the best he could, he took a deep breath and acted. With a quick glance to his right in the women’s restroom, he grabbed a hold of a toilet plunger and held it close to his leg. Javier roared his rage and blundered into Jack, just as he swung the wooden end hard into his gut, breaking it in two. Quickly throwing away the broken plunger, Jack dropped his shoulder and lashed out with a left hook that struck Javier flush on the side of his recessed jaw. Javier just smiled, though, unnerving Jack. C’mon, where’s the Goddamned cavalry, he wondered? Jack quickly began to move back out into the main area of the store. Staggering back, he reached down and grabbed a hold of a potato chip spinning rack display. He hefted it and thrust it, end first, hard into Javier. Jack smiled as it literally knocked him on his ass into the women’s restroom. But, he was still coming. As Javier made another lunge in his direction, Jack stepped aside at the last minute, lashing at him with a piece of broken glass, swiping him on the jaw. Javier seemed to weaken, but still staggered forward, desperately trying to lay his hands on Jack, who fell back almost to the front door. He thought he now heard police sirens in the distance, getting closer, ever so closer… Javier seemed to hear them, too, and let out a blood-curdling scream. Behind Jack, there were a few people standing at the gas pumps, literally gawking at the spectacle inside. Jack’s trembling body was covered with sweat and specks of blood. Javier, though, looked the worse for wear, and Jack wondered how much longer he could still go on. He got his answer when Javier made one last lunge. Jack was about to send an uppercut to Javier’s bloody jaw, but Javier had other plans, smashing into him, knocking him off balance, and headlong into the glass door behind him. At that last minute, Jack was able to sidestep a bit, allowing Javier to take the brunt of the impact. With a violent explosion of blood and glass, they exploded out into the night, landing hard on the sidewalk before rolling out into the dirty, oil-stained driveway. By the time they were done rolling, Jack already was feeling where a few shards of glass had gotten him. Blood trickled down the side of his face and from his right arm. His right knee also was throbbing, feeling like it was twice its original size. He happened to glance over at Javier, who was barely moving. Laying face down in a pool of blood, various sizes of glass shards stuck out from his back, making him resemble a human pincushion. But, he was still not done. His right arm was moving, with the hand still snaking along the driveway, trying to retrieve what looked like a knife. Jack struggled to get up, seeing other cars pulling into the driveway. One of them was a white Sedan police car. With no time to lose, he staggered over and, with his good leg, kicked Javier hard in the face, knocking him out cold. That last exertion was enough to send Jack back down on his ass, where he lay, smiling warily at the oncoming express of the law.

Arkansas City Traveler Review By Foss Farrar
Jack Garrison's life becomes quite complex as he faces a series of intense experiences all occurring around the same time - his first serious romantic relationship, imminent danger from some bad-crowd acquaintances from the past and the process of deciding on a future career. Garrison becomes a sort of Hamlet who asks himself whether he should take a stand against the forces of evil by getting involved in law enforcement, or let them be and move on to something else. The plot of "Synchronicity" brews to a boiling point that spills over to an action-packed conclusion.