Memorial Day Blowout

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Thriller Thursday - Sneak Peek from Storm Warning

Friday November 27^th, 8:16 A.M. Washington Heights

33^rd Precinct Detective Unit

   Frank Cummins scanned the paperwork and looked up at Kelli. “Larsen wants to drag you down to Colombia on the off chance this woman is willing to turn Garcia over to the DEA. Is he nuts?”

  “Maybe, but this may be our only chance of locating Garcia, Frank. Shit, it’s not like I’m going into this blind. Larsen already has a team on the ground in Medellin, and they know where this woman is staying.”

  Frank leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Well if he’s got all that, why in the hell does he need you?”

  Kelli moved to one of the two chairs in the office and sat. “Larsen thinks I might have a better shot at convincing this woman to give him up. I tried to tell him that I don’t know how I can do that, but he believes she’ll listen to me.”

  “I don’t like it. Why can’t they get one of their female agents to do this? It’s bad enough I had to lose you to this Task Force he put together.”

  “If it gets me closer to finding Garcia, then I need to at least try, Frank. You of all people should understand that.”

  He leaned forward, arms on his desk and nodded. “Yeah, I understand. I don’t like it, but I get it. When are you leaving?”

  She leaned back and sighed. “Monday morning. We’re supposed to arrive in Medellin around two in the afternoon. Larsen has his team meeting us, along with a contingent of National Police. When I asked him why we needed an escort, he shrugged and said it was just a precaution.”

  “A precaution for what?”

My apologies

I just want to apologize to all of my followers here. The past few weeks have been a very dark time for me, both job wise and life wise. I have to admit that I gave up hope, and I was even ready to commit a fatal act. If not for my friends, both ones I know from personal contact, and those I have never met, I may have taken a long term solution to a short term problem. Yes, I was that close to shuffling off this mortal coil. Of all the things to do, especially when I had a direct encounter with a friend that shot himself over something that could have been remedied with time. If not for the support I have received, I may very well have ended my life, if not today, soon.

My friends pointed out to me that I would not be hurting myself in committing this heinous act, but rather that I  would be hurting them. This may sound selfish and rightly so. I never took this into consideration when I contemplated taking my own life. I never realized that by doing this I would have such an effect on others. There is a saying, things are always darkest before the dawn, and that to me is a true statement. I was in such a dark place over the past few weeks that I could not see the light. The storm was upon me and I had lost my will to ride it out.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, no matter how bad things get, no matter how low you get, there is always hope. Even if you can't see it, it's there, waiting in the wings. I had to get this low in my life to see that there are people out there that care, and despite what you may think, you would be missed.

Besides, I still have a book and a half to finish, and I can't let my readers down. Hell, Kelli would be royally pissed if I just left her hanging.

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

Tuesday November 24^th 9:03 A.M. Manhattan

Tenth Avenue – DEA Offices

  Kelli was led to a large conference room by an Agent she had never met, where she was politely told to wait. There was no one else in the room, and when she asked about Agent Larsen, the man directed her to sit down and left.

  She had called Larsen earlier in an attempt to find out what this was about, but he had skirted the issue and reminded her to bring everything she had on her current case. She could only guess what he wanted and why he was being so secretive.

  As she started to stand, the conference room door opened and Larsen walked in, followed by three other Agents, one of which was the man that had escorted her to this room.

  “Good morning, Detective. This is Agent Reyes, Agent Thompson, and Agent Delgado,” Larsen said as he took a seat at the head of the table, the other Agents taking seats opposite from Kelli. “I know you’re wondering why I had you come down this morning.”

  “It had crossed my mind. So, are you going to fill me in?”

  “Like I told you yesterday, I had a meeting at 1PP. I’m putting a Joint Task Force together, and I want you on it.”

  “You’re going after Garcia, aren’t you?”

  He smiled and nodded. “Correct, and I couldn’t think of anyone that’s more qualified. So, what do you say? You in?”

  “Like you have to ask. I take it you’ve already cleared this with the brass, or else you wouldn’t be asking.”

  “Actually, it was a tough sale. You’ve got a reputation for being a loose cannon, but I convinced them that I needed you. You and Garcia have a history, and once I laid out the facts on this case, they gave in.”

  Kelli looked at him, one eyebrow arched. “All of the facts?”

  “Well, I may have omitted a few minor details,” he said and grinned.

  “Just the minor ones, huh?” She nodded and smiled. “So what’s the plan?”

  “Well, first, I need your files. I’ll have copies made and give you back the originals. Then we’ll meet with the rest of the Task Force and go over the game plan.”

  Kelli looked at the other agents, then back to Larsen. “I thought this was the Task Force.”

  “No, this is just my team. I’ve got two FBI Agents, as well as two NYPD Narcotics Detectives that will be joining us this afternoon.”

  Kelli felt her stomach twist and she squirmed in her seat. “Who did you get from Narcotics?”

  Larsen flipped to a page in his notebook. “Javier Vasquez and Dan Davis. Why?”

  Kelli felt the blood run from her face and her stomach knot up. “There might be a problem. Dan Davis and I have, I guess you could call it, history.”

  Larsen looked at her and frowned. “I don’t need any problems, Detective. If the two of you can’t work together, I need to know now. What kind of history?”

  “Well, it’s complicated. Dan and I dated for a while after my divorce, and apparently, he still has feelings for me. The thing is, I’m back with my ex now. I met with Dan the other day and told him, in no uncertain terms, that there is no way we are getting back together.”

  Larsen closed his eyes and shook his head. “Great, that’s all I need. Do you think the two of you can act like professionals and just do your job?”

  “I know I can, but I can’t speak for Dan. When I told him that the other day, he didn’t take it too well.”

 Larsen took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, I’m going to keep the team as it is, but only because I’ve already got time invested. I’ll pull him aside this afternoon and talk to him, see where he stands.”

  “I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, it might be rough at first, but Dan is a professional.”

  “You’d better be right, because I need both of you on this, and I need you to be focused. This is not going to be an easy job, and I can’t afford to have any member of my team off their game. Got it?”

  “Yeah, I got it. I’m sure it won’t be an issue. He wants Garcia almost as much as I do.”

  “Well, that’s one thing we all have in common. We all want to see this son of a bitch out of business.”

  Kelli nodded. You may want him out of business. I just want the son of a bitch dead.

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.