by Donna Galanti
Two loud cracks shot out over the
howling wind. The hands on him fell away. He let out a huge sigh, dizzy from
holding his breath.
Ben opened his eyes and craned
his head around to see what had happened. Under the bright moonlight the
outline of the two big Samoans rose up from the overgrown road. They didn't
move. The wind whipped the giant leaves of the banyan and guava trees about like
sails on a great clipper ship. The buzz of traffic from the new Pali road
carried up to him from below. He scanned the area. What had happened? Who else
hid out there? He pulled at the stakes. His hands shook as he tried to break
free.
"Forget it, kid, they're
held down in cement," a deep voice said. "These stupid locals make up
these playgrounds just to mess with us haoles."
Ben swallowed the saliva stuck in
his throat and focused on his surroundings. There stood the green-eyed man,
hidden in the swaying banyan trees. His black outfit blended into the dark
forest. He moved toward Ben and holstered his gun, then popped open a
switchblade from his back pocket.
"I am not here to hurt
you," the man said when Ben shrunk into the rock. "I'm going to cut the
ropes."
In a few swift movements he slit
the ropes binding Ben, who staggered back. The man caught him and held him up,
then ripped off the duct tape.
"Who are you?" Ben's
body trembled from the rush of fear and a fierce headache pounded in his temple.
The man didn't answer. He bent
over one of the dead Samoans and pulled out a wallet. He looked inside and
threw it at Ben. "It's yours." Then the man led him by the arm down
the overgrown road where he handed Ben his clothes from the brush. He tried to put
them on but his hands shook so bad the man had to help him. He winced from the
whip marks brushing against his jeans and shirt.
"Come on," the man
said. Ben looked back at the dead men sprawled face down. They oozed like two
fat walruses sunning themselves in the moonlight. "Don't worry about them.
I'll dump them later, somewhere they'll never be found."
In a daze, Ben followed his
savior up the rough road, stumbling behind him in the dim moonlight. Those men
had carried him unconscious down this road.
"I'll take you back to base
then you're on your own," the man said once they reached his car, parked
off the main road. "Don't speak of this to anyone. Understand?"
Ben nodded and climbed in the
car. He looked over at the stranger in black who had saved him. "You were at my foster mother's funeral.
Why are you following me? Why save me?"
"I'm an interested party.
Leave it at that."
"I can't. I would have died
up there for sure."
The man didn't respond.
"Thank you."
The man looked at Ben. His green
eyes glowed in the moonlight that filtered into the car. "Someday you
might not thank me. Someday you may not survive."
About A Human Element:
Evil comes in many forms…
One by one,
Laura Armstrong’s friends and adoptive family members are being murdered, and
despite her unique healing powers, she can do nothing to stop it. The savage
killer haunts her dreams, tormenting her with the promise that she is next.
Determined to find the killer, she follows her visions to the site of a crashed
meteorite in her hometown. There, she meets Ben Fieldstone, who seeks answers
about his parents’ death the night the meteorite struck. In a race to stop a
madman, they unravel a frightening secret that binds them together. But the
killer’s desire to destroy Laura face-to-face leads to a showdown that puts
Laura and Ben’s emotional relationship and Laura’s pure spirit to the test.
With the killer closing in, Laura discovers her destiny is linked to his, and
she has two choices—redeem him or kill him.
Praise for A Human Element:
“Be afraid. Be very afraid. And be utterly absorbed by this riveting debut that had me reading till the wee hours of the night. A thriller star is born.” –M.J. Rose, International bestselling author
“An
elegant and haunting first novel. Unrelenting, devious but full of heart.
Highly recommended.” –Jonathan
Maberry, New York
Times best-selling author “Be afraid. Be very afraid. And be utterly absorbed by this riveting debut that had me reading till the wee hours of the night. A thriller star is born.” –M.J. Rose, International bestselling author
About Donna:
Donna
Galanti is the
author of A Human Element and A Hidden Element of The Element
Trilogy (Imajin Books) and the Joshua and The Lightning Road
series (Month9Books). Donna is a contributing editor
for International Thriller Writers the Big Thrill magazine and blogs with other middle grade authors at Project Middle Grade Mayhem. She’s lived from England as a
child, to Hawaii as a U.S. Navy photographer. Visit her at www.elementtrilogy.com and www.donnagalanti.com.
1 comment:
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