About the Book
A trio of IT thieves dig in deep under the radar in a
California mountain village to divert a truck shipment to sell on the black
market in China. Holly Seabright, Village patrol chief and animal activist, is
pulled into a high-tech heist of a rare cancer drug for children. Distracted by
burglaries, and her best friend’s decision to become a dominatrix, Holly
struggles to calm the Facebook-fueled anxiety that is setting neighbor against
neighbor in this isolated town with one road in, one road out.
The murder of a popular dump worker and a rich Chinese tech
marketer, people Holly knows, must connect? But how? Murder is the business of
Holly’s boyfriend, the sheriff’s detective who could use her help but is too
proud to take it. Despite his allergies, he is still pushing Holly to move in
with all her cats. Where does he fit in her crowded life? How does Holly run a
department, flee with her own animals and then rescued horses during a wildland
fire?
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Excerpt
Russ DeMarco knew he’d found his man when he
saw Gerald Mencken prying the top off a Tupperware sandwich container, sniffing
the contents, and pulling a Thermos from a refrigerated bag. Ah, bringing his
lunch and saving money. Mencken set up his laptop in front of him, giving
anyone who approached his corner table an icy stare of discouragement. A
skilled hacker, Russ already knew Gerald had medical debts; he was passed over
for promotion. Russ figured he’d be open to his plan. Like Gerald, Russ’s
career as an IT specialist at a national freight forwarding company was
stalled. Nearing thirty, and in lifetime competition with his brothers, it was
time to take the risk. But he needed someone like Gerald to make it happen.
Russ sat down at the table opposite Gerald with
a swagger of confidence. They were an unlikely match, Russ tanned and sinewy,
Gerald, fat and pasty pale. Russ ignored the noontime buzz of the cafeteria at
a pharmaceutical manufacturing company in Los Angeles. Nobody was looking at
them.
“I’ve got an idea,” Russ said.
“Who are you?” Gerald growled.
Russ handed him a business card from a
well-known freight shipping company. He read IT Security and the name Russ
DeMarco.
Gerald looked at it, turned it over, and
shrugged. “Do I know you from somewhere?”
“Not yet. But I know a lot about you.”
“Yeah? I don’t talk to people I don’t know,”
Gerald said, pulling the screen down on his laptop, packing away his lunch in
the refrigerated bag, and stiffly getting to his feet.
Russ toned down the smile. He was a shrewd
judge of people, especially the ones under pressure. Besides, Gerald had two
ways to interpret the invitation.
“You have access to cargo shipments by truck. I
can access — and change — schedules and drivers and destinations.” He carefully
enunciated each word. “You ever heard of pharmaceutical shipments diverted,
trucks getting out of the GeoFence and turning up missing?”
Gerald gave Russ a pale stare. “I could report
you.”
“You didn’t ask me what else I know about you.”
Russ leaned forward and took the business card from Gerald’s hand. “Maybe you
will. Maybe you won’t. There’s a bar in the hotel at Sunset and the 405 on the
way home. Meet me there at seven tonight.”
“You live in the mountains?”
“I do,” Russ said, bringing up the smile. “Just
like you.”
That was the beginning. Russ’s job was to plug
the weak spots an able thief could exploit to snatch cargo from a loaded semi.
No one was better placed to pull off a major cargo heist. He had tested his
plan, a simple one, a few palettes off the back of a truck, and it worked. To
make it lucrative enough for a heist big enough for the risk, he needed
partners.
Gerald’s company had a cancer treatment in
production Russ had been following in the industry news. A major shipment was
going out to Asia sometime this summer. Diverting that shipment off the back of
the truck was a payoff that would set him up for years. He knew it could be
done. And how.
He needed Gerald and one other partner who had
Chinese connections.
Russ didn’t have friends he could casually
sound out to see if they were interested. He woke up at night, ridden with
anxiety, trying to think of somebody he could approach. Jerking off calmed him
briefly, but it wasn’t enough. The pestering thoughts wound around him, making
him forget all the problems sex caused him.
Maybe something would happen. Maybe it
wouldn’t. Urgency throbbed in his chest like a worrying A-fib heartbeat. Soon.
It had to be soon. He tossed the ID badge he’d dummied up into the trash on the
way out. So much for the plant’s security.
About the Author
A second series takes place in a tranquil California mountain village, featuring a Sheriff’s detective from Bakersfield and his ally, the chief of the village patrol department. The third in the series is titled “Nothing Ever Happens Here.”
She distilled what she learned writing whodunits into a series of seven eBooks on the topic of “Writing Your First Mystery.”
She would like to tell you that she has a writing and blogging schedule that she adheres to rigidly, but this is also not true.
In 2019 she upended a 40-year hiatus in California, 20 of it
in Pine Mountain Club, where “Nothing Ever Happens Here” is set, and returned
to her roots in Ottawa, Canada. She has almost convinced herself she can stand
the Canadian winter.
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Interesting cover. It catches the eye.
ReplyDeleteSounds good.
ReplyDeletenice excerpt
ReplyDeleteThis book looks like it would be interesting to read.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading about cyber crimes -this looks like a good book for me
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great book!
ReplyDelete