SHADOW OF THE DAGGER - Anne Greene - One Free Book

Welcome back, Anne. As an author, I know it takes a lot of people to birth each book. Who were the people involved in the birthing of this book, and what were their contributions?

My publisher is Elk Lake Publishing, Inc. Deb Haggerty is my editor. My dear husband always proofreads my books. Crystel Phelps was my editor and Joyce Hart was my agent.

If you teach or speak. What’s coming up on your calendar?

I do book signings, blog interviews, and telephone interviews. I’m thinking of authoring a book on How To Write An Excellent Novel, but my contracts are keeping me too busy this year.

If you had to completely start over in another place, where would you move, and why?

I love to live by the ocean, but in the middle of Texas that’s not possible, so I dream of starting over somewhere on the Texas coast. I don’t want to leave Texas because my children and grandchildren are proud Texans and never plan to move. I love Galveston so if I ever leave this highly-populated, congested traffic Metroplex of Dallas/Ft. Worth, I would start anew in Galveston which is on the southern coast of Texas. People here are fine, loving, neighborly as in helpful, and conservative. Texans are great people.

If you could only tell aspiring novelists one thing, what would it be?

Forget about writing what you know and write about what interests you.

That’s good advice, Anne. Early on, I was told to write what you know, and I did that for the first books, and I’ve done in a few scattered books. The rest have been what I’m interested in. You’ve been asked to be in charge of a celebrity cruise. Who would you ask to take part, and why? (AS in what program, singers, etc. [it doesn’t have to be writing related])

I would have a healthy weight loss and physical activity cruise. The cuisine would be healthy with different options of different diets or life-style menus. There would be choices of yoga, Pilates, cardio, and swimming exercises. This would be an adult only cruise.  All entertainment would be humorous and light-hearted. Music would be peppy to keep people stimulated and moving. Prizes would be awarded for the most weight lost each day by sex and age group.

That sounds like a fun cruise. Count me in. Tell us about the featured book.

SHADOW OF THE DAGGER is set in Texas and in the exotic country of Turkey where the seven churches of Revelation were as well as Paul’s journey.

Three people are murdered and one kidnapped to find the solution to a priceless treasure map.

As Nicole Phillips seeks to find her kidnapped brother, she doesn’t know whom to trust. No one is who they appear to be. All is deception.

To bring his brother’s murderer to justice, CIA Intel Analyst, Josh Baruch, lays his life on the line. Can he walk the tightrope between obeying the killers’ instructions and bringing them to justice?

Because Nicole’s husband died in a mysterious plane crash, she fears falling in love again with a reckless, danger-loving type like her late husband. Josh Baruch, the CIA Analyst using her as bait to track her brother’s kidnapper, is just such a risk-taking man. Besides living on the edge, Josh is bitter about women and questions God.

Please give us the first chapter of the book.

“My marriage can’t end this way!” Nicole Phillips gripped her brother’s arm as the helicopter door opened. Her tears blurred the desolate, wind-swept slice of Texas land abutting the Mexican border.

The hope she’d nurtured since the police helicopter left the Dallas Police Station wilted like the yellowed sagebrush dotting the arid earth. More tears veiled the officer holding up his arms to assist her off the chopper. She stumbled. The unsteady step down to the rough ground jolted her. She ducked her head beneath the whump, whump, whump of the helicopter’s blades.

Her brother thudded to the ground beside her.

She followed Ian and the policeman away from the blasts of wind created by the spinning blades. Her cowboy boots kicked up dust as she walked across several hundred yards of empty flat land. She and Ian reached a dip in the vast, open landscape.

Scattered wreckage glinted in the sunlight.

Behind her, the helicopter shut down.

A cold chill settled over her. She hugged her arms to her chest. “It’s a mistake. This can’t be Paul’s plane.”

With strong, gentle fingers, Ian squeezed her shoulder. “Nikki, there’s no mistake.”

She raised her face toward her newly-deaf brother, so he could read her lips. “Of course, there is. Don’t look so worried. Paul’s fine. Fine.”

Her husband had been missing ten days, six hours, and thirty-five minutes. No, Paul wasn’t fine. She brushed numb fingers across her eyes and blinked hard at the piles of metal.

“Surely, that can’t be all that remains of a plane?”

“I’m afraid so, Sis.” Ian shrugged.

  

I can’t believe it.” Nicole clenched her fists and shook her head. “This scorched earth is no place to say goodbye.” She gazed at Ian. “No place for a man like Paul to die.”

  

“Not much left.” Ian’s scratchy voice sounded strained—unlike the usual well-spoken words he practiced each month at rehab. An early diagnosis two years ago had given both of them opportunity to learn lip reading and signing before silence shut Ian from the world of hearing.

  

“Why here?” Nicole choked, swallowed, then forced words through her constricted throat drier than the desert beneath her boots. “Even if mechanical trouble forced Paul down, he could have skid-landed here. He wouldn’t have crashed. This doesn’t make sense.”

  

Ian rubbed his square chin. “You’re right. The crash here is more than strange.”

  

Her boots crunched on the burned grass as she circled the scattered pile of twisted metal and shattered plexiglass. Stark shadows and deadly quiet added to her sense of unreality.

“Nothing here adds up,” she signed.

  

Ian’s long strides shortened to match her steps. She loosened her hand on his sleeve but didn’t let go.

  

“Bizarre.” Ian stooped by a metal fragment.

 

“Ma’am.” The police officer loomed beside her.

  

She’d forgotten him.

  

“This way, Mrs. Phillips.” He led her to a jagged, misshapen piece of metal hidden by a sheared off bush. “The FAA ruled this crash an accident. Said the plane was out of gas.”

  

She knelt, touched the metal, then jerked back.

 

“Careful, sun’s baked it hot.” Ian’s warning came too late.

  

Nicole rubbed her stinging fingers. With the tip of her nail, she traced the still legible scarlet-painted S. Her heartbeat slowed, turned bleak, deadened.

  

“I’m sorry, Nikki.” Ian’s baritone voice shook.

  

“Summer’s Girl,” Nicole whispered.

  

Ian held out his hand and tugged her to her feet.

 

“Sorry, ma’am.” The police officer’s hat shielded his eyes. His mouth was set in a hard line. “We searched the area but …” He shook his head. “… couldn’t find any remains. We think coyotes …” he paused and cleared his throat. “Wreck’s been here a few days. There’s blood ...”

  

The policeman’s voice drifted into background sound. Paul’s plane found but not Paul. Perhaps he was still alive. Nicole gazed around the vast emptiness and said vaguely, “Paul and I talked of having a baby.”

  

Ian laid gentle hands on her shoulders. “Nikki.” He drew her against his chest.

  

Her knees threatened to buckle. She leaned into her brother’s shoulder and spoke into his crisp dress shirt. “Sometimes …” She remembered Ian’s deafness and lifted her face to him so he could read her lips. “Sometimes, Paul loaned his plane to one of his buddies.”

Ian shook his head, squinting against the harsh sunlight. His blue eyes brimmed sympathy. “Not this time.” He lowered his voice. “But this was no accident.”

Where can we find you on the Internet?

I love chatting with my readers. You can find me at

www.facebook.com/AnneWGreeneAuthor and

https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Greene/e/B004ECUWMG and www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com

Thanks so much for having me on your excellent blog, Lena. You are a fine fellow author, and I appreciate you.

It’s my pleasure to share your book with my blog readers. I’m eager to read it.

Readers, here are links to the book.

Shadow of the Dagger (CIA Operatives) - Pasperback
Shadow of the Dagger (CIA Operatives Book 1) - Kindle

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