Sneak Peek Saturday - Excerpt from Storm Warning - A Kelli Storm Novel

Friday November 20^th 12:32 P.M. Manhattan 

24th Precinct

Kelli pushed through the double doors with Eric on her heels. She glanced over at the Lieutenant’s office, saw it empty, and pushed through the swinging gate. “Hey, Marco, where’s your boss?”

Marco looked up from his paperwork, an annoyed look on his face. “Hell if I know. He ain’t been in all morning. Probably chasing after that kid of his. What you need, Detective?”

“Has he briefed you guys on an op I’m planning?” She looked around the Squad room at the other Detectives. The man she only knew as Vincente was leaning back in his chair, eyes closed, and she thought she heard him snore.

Marco stood up and walked over to her. He looked at Eric, then back at Kelli. “Did he know you were dropping by today?”

“No, and you didn’t answer my question,” she said, not hiding her impatience. “Did he brief you guys or not?”

Marco turned and walked back to his desk. “As a matter of fact, no, the Lieutenant ain’t briefed us on no operation,” he said, waving his arm around the room.

Kelli looked at Eric, frowned, then back at Marco. “So how’d you guys like to help me take down the DDP and Trinitarios?”

Marco gave her a puzzled look. “What are you talking about? Shit, we’ve been trying to get these shits off the streets for years. They’re too fucking smart.”

“Come on, these fuckers aren’t that smart. Shit, I took Angelo Diaz off the streets. So how are these guys any smarter than us?”

“They’ve got kids running the shit for them. We bust the kids, they go to juvie and the gangs just find more kids to replace them. We try to turn the kids, get them to give up the dealers, but no deal. They’re either too scared or they put on a tough act, like they don’t give a shit. Hell, they know they’ll be out in a few months and back to running.”

“So, we watch the kids and see where they’re getting the stuff, then bust the dealers.”

Marco snorted. “Like we haven’t thought of that. I’m tellin’ you, these fuckers are smart. Shit, we’ve been trying to get someone inside for months, so has Narco, and no dice.”

“Yeah, last time Narco had a guy on inside the Trinitarios, they found him floating in the East River,” Vincente chimed in.

Kelli looked at him, then back at Marco. “We’re not going inside. We’re going to take them down from the outside, one at a time if necessary. We get enough of them off the street, and Miguel Garcia will notice.”

“Wait a minute. This isn’t just about getting the drugs off the street, is it? You want the big boss. So just what the fuck is going on here?”

She looked around the Squad Room. Now all six of the Detectives were leaning forward, their eyes on her. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, here’s the deal. Earlier this year I killed the cousin of Miguel Garcia, and he’s been trying to kill me since then. His men killed my last partner and his wife, and kidnapped my mother.”

Marco sat on the edge of his desk, glanced around the room, and back at Kelli. “So the guy’s a real psycho, I get that, and I get why you want to bring him down. The question is, how’re you planning on doing that?”

Happy Saint Patrick's Day - Some facts

Did you know that Saint Patrick's Day began in America and not Ireland? In the U.S. it's customary to wear green, but in Ireland, the color was long considered unlucky because folklore says that green is the color of the faeries. Faeries were likely to steal children who wore too much of the color.

Shamrocks are believed to represent rebirth and life because of its green color. The four leaves of the clover represent faith, love, hope and luck.

On average, a new Irish pub opens in the U.S. every day.

According to Guinness, 13 million pints of the beer are consumed around the world on St. Patrick's Day. 30 percent of those 13 million pints are consumed in the U.S. alone.

One in 161 Americans is named Patrick. That's about two million people - more than the entire population of Ireland.

Legend credits St. Patrick with banishing snakes from Ireland by chasing them into the sea after they assailed him during a 40 day fast. However, all evidence suggests that Ireland never had any snakes because, as an island, snakes were unable to migrate across open ocean.

Colonial New York City hosted the first official St. Patrick's Day parade in 1762, when Irish immigrants in the British colonial army marched down city streets to reconnect with their Irish heritage.


Slainté!

Winners!

Announcing the winners of the "Author Photo Contest".

Congratulations to Krista Frank and Elyse Salpeter. They have both won a free autographed copy of my book, Storm Rising - A Kelli Storm Novel.

Stay tuned for more fun contest in the future.

Thriller Thursday - Sneak Peek from Storm Warning

Saturday November 14^th 9:32 A.M. Yonkers

Home of Kelli Storm

  Kelli sat the breakfast dishes in the sink, walked back over to the table and sat down. “I don’t know what the hell happened yesterday. If it was Becerra, I’d like to know why Larsen didn’t call me. For that matter, how did Garcia find out so fast?”

  Kevin set his cup down and looked at her. “When did you talk to Larsen?”

  “Yesterday morning. Why?”

  “Don’t you think it’s a little strange that you get shot at the same day you go to see him?”

Kelli shook her head. “There’s no way he’s involved in this, he can’t be. All he’s done is try to help me on this. Why would he sell me out?”

  “Maybe you should be asking him that. You don’t know anything about this guy, Kelli. For all you know he could be working with Garcia.”

  “Are you serious? He didn’t even know about Garcia until he took over for Farnsworth, and that was just a month ago, if that long.”

  “You know I don’t believe in coincidence, Kelli. Other than you, Dan and myself, who else knows about what happened this summer?”

  “Just the three of us, your cousin and Renato.”

  “You didn’t tell Larsen anything?”

  Kelli felt her face flush and she clenched and unclenched her fist. “Why in the fuck would you even think that, Kevin? Do you think I’m stupid? No, I didn’t tell him anything about our trip to Mexico City, and I sure as hell didn’t tell him what we did at Garcia’s Villa. Shit!”

  Kevin threw his hands up and waved them. “Calm down, Kelli. I wasn’t calling you stupid. It was just a question. Sometimes you unintentionally let things slip, and I just thought maybe when you two were discussing Garcia, it may have slipped. That’s all, jeeze.”

  Kelli took a deep breath and let it out slow. “Okay, I’m sorry. It’s just this whole thing has me on edge and getting shot at yesterday, well, it sure as hell didn’t help.”

  Kevin stood, walked around the table to her and held his hand out. “Come on, we’re not going to just sit around here doing nothing.”

  Kelli looked up at him, curious as to what he meant. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to get you off your ass and take you down to the range. Call it therapy. It’ll help you clear your head. After you’ve fired a few rounds into that silhouette, I know you’ll feel a lot better. Always makes me feel good,” he said and smiled.

  Kelli looked up at him, took his hand and grinned. “You’re a nut, you know that?”

  “Yeah, but I’m your nut,” he said and laughed.

Author Photo Contest

Identify as many of the famous authors as you can. E-mail your answers to me at kennhoss@gmail.com. Please DO NOT post your answers here. This contest will run until 8:00 p.m. CST 12 March. The winner will receive an autographed copy of Storm Rising - A Kelli Storm Novel. In case of a tie, I will award an additional copy to that person. Good luck!

Identify these authors:

 1.

2.

3.

 

4.

 

5.

6.

7.

8.

Teaser Tuesday - Storm Warning - A Kelli Storm Novel

  “Now who’s being the smart ass?” She started toward the drugstore when she heard the squeal of tires. The black four-door sedan raced up West 170^th, both driver side windows down, and came to a stop in front of the restaurant. Kelli instinctively pushed Eric to the sidewalk and fell on top of him as the gunmen sprayed the building.

  She managed to crawl to the side of a parked car and Eric followed. Both of them drew their weapons while shouting for people to get off the street. Kelli looked at Eric. “We wait until they have to reload, then we take these sons of bitches.”

  “You think it’s Garcia?” He shifted toward the front of the car, weapon ready.

  “I didn’t have time to see who the fuck it was, but I wouldn’t doubt that it’s his men. You take the front and I’ll come around from the back, okay?” She started moving to the rear of the car as the bullets pounded the metal, glass shards raining around her head.

  She made it to the rear of the car and turned to check on Eric. He was crouched near the front of the car, leaning against it, his Sig P226 in his right hand. She whistled and when he looked back at her, she motioned that she was going around the back of the car and he nodded.

  Kelli started around the rear when the gunfire stopped and the sedan’s tires screeched as it sped away, cutting across Broadway. She cautiously peeked over the trunk just in time to see it turn left onto Saint Nicholas Avenue. She stood and walked back to the front of the car. “You okay, Eric?”

  He brushed some glass off his jacket and nodded. “What the fuck was that? Shit, Kelli, this motherfucker is nuts. In broad daylight?”

  “Yeah, in broad daylight. I’d better get the boss on the phone, and we’re going to need CSU down here. You want to check on the people inside,” she said, thumbing at the restaurant.

  “Sure,” he said and started for the door.

  Kelli took her phone out and punched her speed dial for the Squad. In the distance, she heard the wail of several sirens. Where were you guys five minutes ago?

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