And to celebrate the announcement, here is one of the last excerpts that I will be posting before the book is released.
EXCERPT
The
vehicle arrived in two minutes, and when Amanda saw the headlights
approaching she rushed to it and hopped into the passenger's side of
the warm interior. Kahua sat in the driver's seat and he flashed her
a grin. “Where to, my lady?” he inquired cheerfully, putting the
car into reverse and backing out into the street.
“My
home,” she replied distantly. “I need sleep, and I need it now.”
“Bad
operation? Dr. Charles said it would be complex, no?”
“Something
like that,” Amanda replied. “No, not bad … just …
melancholy.”
Kahua
glanced over at her lap briefly before returning his eyes to the road
ahead. “What's in the package?” he asked conversationally.
Amanda
jumped a little at the question. “Oh, just Charles trying to buy
back my affection,” she said, fingering the case. “A brain
scanner he scrounged for us to use with the SubVersions. I'll take it
over right away after our meeting tonight.”
Kahua
raised his eyebrows. “Some men…” he remarked almost to himself.
“Yeah,” Amanda
breathed, her stomach knotting with an unknown feeling. “Some men.”
She pulled the envelope free from the brain scanner case and turned
it over in her hands. Her name was scrawled on the front in a
masculine cursive hand, Amanda. She bit her lip at Charles'
handwriting, a flood of memories rushing back and threatening to
carry her away on their rising tide. Shaking her head, she slid a
finger into the top of the envelope and ripped it open, pulling out
the card inside.
A cartoon man
stared at her from the front of the card, an apologetic grin on his
face and his hands holding a wrapped gift which he held out to the
viewer. Amanda smiled at the words “Let's Be Friends?” arcing
over the cartoon man's head in puffy red letters. She flipped the
card open…
…and her heart
stopped.
Inside were a few
short sentences written in black pen:
Dear Amanda,
Remember what
you are, a snitch and a liar. Central Admin has not forgotten Project
Wraith.
The brain
scanner you carry must go to where Vérité is keeping the
SubVersions they stole, and it must be placed near a window. If both
of these conditions are not met in the next twenty-four hours, Dr.
Charles Wallace will be tortured to death. If you reveal any of this
to anyone, especially your Vérité friends, I will expose Project
Wraith and you will hang, either from Vérité's gibbet or Central
Admin's.
You decide.
Have a good
night, Mandy.
Love, Maelstrom
