Suspenseful Seven Sentence Sunday: Week 3

Can I just state for the record here that the week flew by so fast my head is spinning.  I don’t know that I’m having fun, as the cliche goes in regards to how time flies.  But I do know that I worked hard on accomplishing something and still don’t have anything done!

Anybody else having that kind of week?  Or am I rowing this water-filled boat alone?

Okay.  Enough bellyaching.  First up, my seven suspenseful sentences from COLLATERAL DAMAGE and then I have NEWS!

This is an introduction to one of the men Lauren and Jack are up against.  A man who knows what Drug Lords and terrorists know and what policy making politicians don’t.  No amount of collateral damage is too high a price to get what they want.

Death stalked the darkest hours before dawn, when innocents blissfully slept and even the depraved lowered their guard for a moment’s respite. Tonight was no different, except for the predators slipping like ghostly reapers across sandy ground, carrying a vicarious visitor among their ranks. The cameras embedded in ANVS-9 night vision goggles attached to the operatives’ helmets gave Andreas Miles a clear, green-lit feed of the night and the movements of the black op teams on mission. His black op teams.

Andreas’s body tingled as he pointed his baton at one of the screens. Via the live feed, he saw his operative ready a black KA-BAR blade as his man crept silently to an unsuspecting guard. Andreas raised his left hand, palm up, building to a crescendo as his man sliced the guard’s throat.”

Now for the NEWS!

I have a print date for COLLATERAL DAMAGE!  It is supposed to hit the shelves on 11/1/11!  The same month that Tactical Deception will be out!  How is that for perfect timing?

So guess who will be working her frantic fingers to the bone before then?  I have work to do and a deadline looming now.  Not to mention taxes and job hunting.  On the bright side I am almost finished with the final edits for the re-release of MIDNIGHT SECRETS, a Victorian murder mystery that will curl your toes.
What?  You want a taste of that one, too?

“I would if I was sure neither of my sons had killed the chit, but I’m not. The evidence was entirely too damning. I’ll—”

A leather gloved hand clamped over my mouth and nose from behind. An arm wrapped around my stomach and arms, trapping me, and jerking me back against the hard body of a large man. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t reach my pistol. I could barely move.

Terror flamed in my breasts and fired through my veins. The man pulled me deeper into the darkened room, shutting the door. Dear Lord. Is this how Mary disappeared?

Wrenching violently, I tried to free myself, but the man clamped me tighter to him, crushing me with his strength. I pressed my head back, fighting to ease the pressure on my face enough to breathe. In my panic I remembered the size of Jamie Frye, his anger, the veiled threat that if I were to die none would care. Then the hand covering my mouth and nose loosened enough for me to suck in blessed air. I smelled leather, mint and something frighteningly unknown, but compelling enough that I drew another needed breath.

“The scent of roses,” a deep, cultured voice with a hint of an Irish burr whispered close to my ear, and I knew it wasn’t Jamie. “The feel of a woman.” As he spoke, his arm about my stomach slid higher, pressing beneath my bosom, almost caressing the undersides of my breasts a moment. I rammed my spine back, lifting myself to my tiptoes, trying to keep from knowing the warmth of his muscled arm so intimately against me. This brought his mouth and the heat of his breath closer to my ear.

“The actions of a thief.” His tone was soft, menacing. My heart thundered harder, more painfully. “Will you come to such an ill fate, lass?

‘Like a rose, she has lived as long as roses live…the space of one morning’? Or will it be even less for you?”

Any affinity I had for Malherbe’s poetry met a quick death at that moment. I shook my head, trying to speak, but only managed a muffled squeal.

“Let’s see what you’ve stolen, my rose.”

I didn’t understand what he meant to do until he moved his gloved hand from beneath my breasts, sliding downward, pressing firmly along the contours of my body all the way down to my hips, then brushing over my intimate flesh as he slid from one dress pocket to the other, and finding my father’s pistol. His body jerked with surprise and he drew a sharp breath.

“Run or scream and I will kill you instantly.”  He pulled the pistol from my pocket. His voice chilled and became deadly. I’d never heard true menace before now.

MIDNIGHT SECRETS will be available in April!

Enjoy the rest of the Weekend!  And remember if you don’t own your life, somebody else will.  Carpe Diem.
Jenni