The
Pendulum Files
By
pm terrell
BLURB:
Excerpt 2
Brenda was
leaning her head against the window as if asleep and now she began to move her
fingers ever so slightly toward the door handle. She kept her eyes on his
reflection; he was focused on driving, his eyes locked on the road just as it
had been before. Only his right hand was holding the steering wheel now; it had
slipped to a three o’clock position.
A slight
movement caught her attention; it was so subtle, she almost thought she’d
imagined it. Then she spotted the glint of metal across his body, though the
road still held his attention. Her fingers locked onto the door handle as the
metal rose slightly up and away from his body. He turned his head as his left
hand snapped forward.
She jerked the
door open as the shot rang out. She felt something sharp and hot against her
shin as she kicked herself away from the car. She tumbled onto the pavement
before hitting the shoulder, the gravel feeling like a million razors slicing
through her flesh. She heard her own voice as if it was disembodied, screaming
as she forced herself to roll across the sharp gravel before plummeting down
the incline, compelling herself to continue rolling even as she realized she’d
been shot in the leg.
She heard the
car’s brakes slamming, the tires squealing as the man struggled to bring the
car to a stop. At seventy miles an hour, it should have taken the car further
from her even as she rushed to escape. But when she came to her feet and looked
back at the road, she estimated he was about three hundred feet further down
the road—not far enough.
She ran toward
the tree line, which now appeared too far away. As a second shot rang out, she
knew his sights were set on her back, and she struggled to run straight,
fighting the impulse to run opposite of him. It kept her profile smaller but
when he shot a third and then fourth time, she could almost feel the bullets
whizzing past her.
The third and
fourth shots sounded increasingly louder and she knew he was running after her.
Her breath was loud and labored, her blood pounding in her temples. Even as she
drew closer to the shadows of the trees, she could feel herself slowing down.
The adrenaline that propelled her down the slope and to her feet was fighting
against the pain in her leg.
She could feel
the blood oozing down her shin and pooling in her shoe, causing her to slip and
slide along grass already slick with dew. Another shot rang out, whizzing so
close to her hair that she thought it had passed through it.
She threw
herself into the shadows, pushing herself beyond her leg’s endurance to keep
going, to get into the pine forest, weaving and bobbing forward and eastward,
away from the car, away from the interstate. Hopefully, away from him.
She wanted to
stop; she wanted to pull some article of clothing off herself and wrap it
around her shin to keep the blood in, to keep the flesh together, but she
didn’t dare hesitate. She heard the branches cracking behind her; he was there
and he was closing on her. Even as she propelled herself forward, she knew all
he had to do was follow the movement of the branches ahead of him to know
exactly where she was.
AUTHOR INFORMATION:
p.m.terrell is the pen name for Patricia
McClelland Terrell, the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more
than 20 books in five genres. A full-time author since 2002, Black Swamp
Mysteries is her first series, inspired by the success of Exit 22 in 2008. The
books include Exit 22, Vicki's Key, Secrets of a Dangerous Woman, Dylan's Song
and The Pendulum Files. Vicki's Key placed as one of four finalists in the
2012 International Book Awards. Her historical book, River Passage, won
the 2010 Best Drama Award, and her romantic suspense, The Tempest Murders,
placed as one of four finalists in the 2013 USA Best Book Awards.
Prior to becoming a full-time writer, she
founded and operated two computer companies in the Washington, DC area. Her
specialties were computer crime and computer intelligence and her clients
included the CIA, Secret Service and Department of Defense. Computer technology
often weaves its way through her contemporary suspense/thrillers.
She is also the co-founder of The Book 'Em
Foundation and the founder of The Book 'Em North Carolina Writers Conference
and Book Fair, an annual event to raise money for literacy campaigns. She also
serves on the boards of the Friends of the Robeson County Public Library and
the Robeson County Arts Council, and served as the first female president for
the Chesterfield County/ Colonial Heights Crime Solvers.
twitter: @pmterrell
amazon trade paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Pendulum-Files-Black-Mysteries-Volume/dp/1935970097/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395929941&sr=8-1&keywords=the+pendulum+files
Casting
the Characters:
There
are five main characters in the Black Swamp Mysteries series:
There’s
Vicki Boyd, the CIA psychic spy who is the “good girl”, the one who always
tries to color inside the lines. She is often quiet and introspective but still
waters really do run deep. Her love affair with Dylan Maguire has ignited
passions within her, and when she tried to walk away from the CIA to begin a
new life, it was short-lived. She resisted getting pulled back in but now she
is resigned to it. And she is the best in the business when it comes to psychic
spies. When I think of Vicki, I always picture Amy Adams.
Vicki’s
sister, Brenda Carnegie, is just the opposite: a computer genius but a bad
girl, one who prefers to tread on the dark side, the one who loves danger and
who can be sexually charged. She has become one of the two most favorite
characters in the series, according to my fans. It seems everyone loves the bad
girl! I know Lindsay Lohan would do an awesome job with this character.
The
charming, handsome Irishman Dylan Maguire is the character everyone seems to
fall in love with. Men want to be him and women want to bed him. Black hair,
hazel eyes, muscular, romantic, kind and caring but a CIA operative who can
kill when necessary—Dylan’s character is intentionally complex. Kevin Ryan, an
Irish actor from Dublin, would be perfect in the role.
Christopher
Sandige is an anti-hero; a political strategist more accustomed to a desk than
murder; tall, wiry, brown hair and expression-filled eyes. A romantic,
hopelessly in love with Brenda even though he knows trouble is always half a
step behind her. And yet, when the situation warrants it, he can shoot to kill,
fight with the best of them… and keep Brenda under control. Tom Weston-Jones
would be my pick.
Sam
Mazoli is the CIA supervisor who manages Vicki and Dylan. Multi-faceted, he is
gruff, he is no-nonsense, he’s the kind of boss that can have employees
quaking. He can also be unintentionally funny and uncharacteristically
surprising: the crotchety man who murmurs sweet nothings to his very feminine
Persian cat, the brusque supervisor who frets over sick angelfish. There’s
never been any doubt in my mind who should play him: Robert De Niro.
THE AUTHOR WILL BE GIVING AWAY:
a beautiful Celtic cross necklace
The more you comment the better your chances of winning!
Find the tour dates HERE
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
