Twin Powers
by David
Pereda
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While
vacationing with her mother in Havana, a 10-year old American girl is taken by
members of a child sex ring intent on selling her into forced prostitution.
When the human traffickers avoid capture and escape the island, the father of
the girl, surgeon Raymond Peters, decides to take matters into his own hands
and initiates a worldwide investigation. The Cuban government assigns a lethal
professional assassin named Marcela to help Raymond track down the culprits.
The search for Stephanie takes the unlikely pair – a man who has sworn an oath
to save lives and a woman who kills for a living -- to the Middle East in the
hunt for the mysterious mastermind, Mohamed. Working against the clock, Raymond
and Marcela must pull out all stops to save Stephanie and flee Dubai before
Mohamed and his gang of thugs kill them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
“You want a
lollypop, little girl?” the man in the robe and headdress asked in accented
English, startling Stephanie. He had a grumbling voice, like a truck going up a
hill in low gear. He was huge. Stephanie had been so caught up in the unfolding
drama between the lady bug and the spider she hadn’t seen him approach. Dressed
all in white, the man stood out in the festival crowd wearing shorts and a
T-shirt like a hippo on a ski slope. A friendly Arab tourist, Stephanie
thought. She decided to be careful, anyway. Her mother had warned her about
sexual predators before leaving with Stephanie’s twin sister Sophia to browse
around the starving artists’ show on the other side of the park.
“Don’t talk
to anyone,” were her mother‘s parting words. “And don’t accept candy from
strangers!”
“No, thank
you,” Stephanie said and turned her attention back to the captivating scene.
“Here!” The man waved a hand in front of her
face, obstructing her view. “Take it, little girl.”
This was the
second time the man had called her a little girl. Stephanie hated to be called
a little girl, especially by a stranger on the street. She was ten years old
already, a big girl! She scowled at the intruder. Who are you, creep? First you barge in on me, and then you insult
me.
“No,” she
said, a hard edge on her words now. “Didn’t you hear me the first time?”
The man
shrugged as if he didn’t care and pocketed the candy. Stephanie stepped to one
side in an effort to have a better view. Again, she focused on the awesome
scene she’d been watching in the azalea shrub before the man showed up: a
spider trying to catch a lady bug. The stranger moved closer, and his body odor
wafted after him – a pungent mixture of rancid sweat and poor hygiene. Phew!
She wrinkled
her nose. The man stood next to her, not talking. Stephanie did her best to ignore
him.
She watched
the spider expand its web till the outer strands were nearly touching the lady
bug. Unaware of the danger, the beetle was busily extracting the sweet nectar
off a bright-red azalea. Stephanie’s heartbeat quickened. She had a camera inside
the tote bag hanging from her shoulder and was tempted to snap a quick photo to
capture the moment, but decided against it. She didn’t want to risk scaring the
lady bug away.
Stephanie
exhaled slowly and tried to memorize every detail of the scene. The lady bug
had the typical orange-red oval body with black dots and a curious ebony head.
It was a fine specimen, larger than most. The spider’s color was nearly
indistinguishable from the deep-green of the azalea leaves.
“That nasty
spider is going to eat the pretty insect,” the man whispered into Stephanie’s
ear. “She’s mean, that spider.”
Stephanie had
forgotten about the man. He had bad breath, too. She felt like screaming at him
now for being so ignorant. Her sister Sophia had a special name for grown-ups
like the man with the weird headdress: “People who live in la-la land.”
“That nasty
spider is a garden orb-weaver!” She wanted to yell. “And the pretty insect is a
lady bug!”
Stephanie
liked to read anything she could get her hands on about insects and bugs. Her
dislike of the man grew with his ignorance. Besides, he was treating her like a
dumb little girl, which infuriated her even more. She gave him a closer look.
He was brown skinned and had a black goatee sprinkled with silver. She remembered
him now. He had been standing under a tree by the crowded sidewalk when they
arrived at the park.
“Where’s your
mama, little girl?”
“I’m not a
little girl,” Stephanie said. “I’m a big girl.”
The man gave
her a broad smile. “How old are you?”
“None of your
business.”
The man’s
smile vanished. Stephanie held her breath as the orb-weaver’s web expanded
closer still to the lady bug.
“Yes, you’re
a big girl. When is Mama coming back?”
“Any moment
now.”
“Where is
her?”
She,
Stephanie corrected the grammar in her mind and emphasized the word when she
answered. “She is shopping with my sister.”
“Where?”
Without
looking at the man, she pointed to the center of the park where the starving
artists’ art show was being held. It was so crammed with onlookers that it was
impossible to see the tents protecting the artists, and their art, from the
harsh sun.
“Your mama
left you all alone?”
“She’ll be
right back.” Stephanie gave a small shrug and pointed with her chin to the
spider and the lady bug. “I prefer insects to art.”
“You’re an
odd girl.” The man glanced to the park and then back to Stephanie. “Smart.”
He gave her a
crooked smile that flashed a couple of gold teeth, then extracted a cell phone
from his clothes and punched a number. Stephanie turned her head away. She
heard the man squawk something into the phone and then snap it shut. She
flinched at the sound.
A moment or
two later a white van turned the corner and rocketed down the narrow street,
scattering passers-by and distracting Stephanie. The street was packed with
people, and the van was moving too fast. A woman with a shrill voice screamed
“idiot!” and a man bellowed “watch it!”
The driver ignored them, leaning on the horn. He brought the van to a
full stop with a screeching of brakes two yards away from Stephanie, raced to
the back, and flung open both doors. He was a thin man with a beard and a hat
like those of the man standing next to her.
Stephanie was
momentarily sidetracked and a warning alarm went off in her mind, but the lure of
the drama between the orb-weaver spider and the lady bug was too powerful. She
returned her attention to the spider just in time to see a strand touch the
beetle. She drew in short, shallow breaths. Stephanie knew the strand had a
powerful sticky substance that wouldn’t allow the beetle to move. The poor lady
bug was trapped.
“Little
girl,” the man yelled in her ear. Stephanie smelled his foul breath.
“I’m not a
little girl!” She spun around.
The man
clamped a dirty handkerchief on her nose with his calloused hand. In a panic
now, Stephanie held her breath and tried to run away, but the man lifted her
off the ground with his powerful arms and rushed her toward the open door of
the van. She tried kicking at him, but the man held her from behind.
“Breathe, you
little bitch,” the man murmured in her ear. “Breathe!”
Stephanie
struggled, shaking her head stubbornly.
“Breathe!”
Stephanie
couldn’t hold it anymore. Her ears were ringing and her lungs were burning. She
took a cautious, little breath. Immediately, she felt lightheaded. The strong
smell of the handkerchief, like rotten alcohol, made her eyes tear. The world
started whirling around her, slowly at first and then faster and faster. She
took another breath, deeper this time, and her eyelids started closing.
She felt
herself being thrown, like a package, inside the van. Her body bounced hard on
the rough floor and rolled to a stop, but Stephanie felt no pain. She tried
with all her might to get up, but her arms and legs felt like limp noodles.
Tiny black stars rushed at her from the edges of her vision. The last thing she
saw before darkness totally enveloped her was the man with the weird headdress
slamming shut the van doors.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MY REVIEW
Twin Powers by
David Pereda
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
How can I explain to you the type of feelings that went through my body as I was reading this book? If you're reading this review from my Blog, check the excerpt, that one summons it all.
Breathtaking, electrifying, hair raising, mind bending, gripping, frantic, etc, I could give you a really long list of synonyms.
This is my first book of this Author, and I must say that is not going to be the last one. Twin powers it has an excellent narrative, the author deliver us a fast paced novel, with very complex characters, the main theme is complicated, but written in a tasteful way. The plot is full of twists and turns, some intense moments that will keep you knotted to your Kindle, mystery, action and even romance!
This is a must read type of book, if you enjoy Thriller, this is for you!!
*I received a Free copy in exchange for an Honest Review*
View all my reviews
David Pereda is an award-winning author who enjoys crafting
political thrillers and mainstream novels. His books have won the Lighthouse
Book Awards, the Royal Palm Awards, the National Indie Excellence Awards, and
the Readers Favorite Awards. He has traveled to more than thirty countries
around the world and speaks four languages. Before devoting his time solely to
writing and teaching, Pereda had a rich and successful international consulting
career with global giant Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked with the
governments of Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and Qatar, among others.
A member of MENSA, Pereda earned his MBA from Pepperdine
University in California. He earned bachelor degrees in English literature and
mathematics at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He loves sports and
has won many prizes competing in track and show-jumping equestrian events.
Pereda lives with his youngest daughter Sophia in Asheville, North
Carolina. He teaches mathematics and English at the Asheville-Buncombe
Community College.
Visit him online at:
Other titles
by David Pereda:
However Long
the Night
Havana: Top
Secret
Havana:
Killing Castro
