Today’s excerpt comes from the Mystery/Thriller Target Identified by Lindsay Downs

The body count continues to rise. Unexplained stock transfers persist. Is there any connection between the two, or is it coincidence?

Ezra Swanson receives a mysterious note. Far more cryptic than the one he’d received the year before.

On the anniversary of her brothers funeral Alison Swanson observes a soldier place something by his headstone. Could this person hold a clue to what’s been going on, or is he the stranger she’d met twice before?

When she returns to Myrtle Beach, Sergeant Richard Bosch, the soldier from the funeral, is also staying there along with his collie.

Alison and Richard return to her parents’ home in DC only to find someone has kidnapped her father.

During their attempts to rescue her father, Alison and Richard confront a possible suspect, Shane Goodrich. Unfortunately, he has the perfect alibi.

Richard is captured when he sets out, with the help of several special ops friends, to rescue her father.

Now it falls on Alison, her feminine logic and planning to save not only her father but also Richard.

Identified and cornered will the perpetrator of the murders, kidnapping and stock thefts escape; or will they get what is coming to them?

“-Let’s put it this way, she’s suppose to be mine and was,” Richard stared daggers at Alison, “until she came along. Now I can barely get her to do anything. Like swimming. Before her, she’d never go near the water even at Aunt Maddie’s, now, she loves it. Either that or she does it to annoy the hell out of me.”

Janice didn’t have to think on how to answer that particular question. Since she’d done it so many times in the past. “Alison,” she beamed a loving motherly smile to her daughter. “has always been like that. Even as a child. For some reason, dogs, in particular collies, seem to respond to her. For example, several years ago we, Ezra, Alison and I were down at ‘Mother Rucker’. We saw a guard dog, leashed. Course you know how they behave, all bark and threatening. Well, Alison looked down at the dog and said, ‘why don’t you sit down and stop talking’ in that calming tone she has. Well, wouldn’t you know it, the guard dog did just that, much to the consternation, anger, frustration and embarrassment of the MP. She then walked right up to the dog, gave him a pat on the head.”

Richard shook his head, first looking at Janice then her daughter in total disbelief.

Alison could tell from the look Richard flashed at her that he didn’t believe a word her mother had said. She did her best to suppress the urge to bite his head off, but she pushed her chair back almost knocking it over. “Fine if you think it’s bull shit, sorry Mom, then I’ll prove it.” Intentionally she left out ‘I hope.’ “Go stand in front of the pool,” In anger, some at herself, but mostly at him she growled the words.

With a smug, ‘yeah, good luck’ expression in his eyes he followed her direction but made sure he grabbed his beer. “I’m waiting, for what I don’t know, probably nothing, is my guess.”

Alison, fought to keep her anger down which would only be counterproductive and walked over to Kebi. Getting down on her hands and knees she whispered in her ear, “Kebi, push daddy in the pool.”

Before Richard had a chance to blink, he went flying backwards into the pool.

Kebi, overly pleased with herself, lay down at the pool edge, ears perked up and cocked her head side to side. She watched as Richard struggled to the surface. A distinctly unhappy look on his face, which pleased Kebi so much she looked back at Alison for a reward. Food, which she got.

Alison watched the water glisten off his deeply tanned, lovely muscled chest. Her gaze slipped down to his damp stomach. The muscles now more pronounced from the mix of water and sun. She felt a dampness form between her thighs. She could feel her nipples pebble with the want of his chest pressed against her. His mouth suckling them. A desire to feel his naked skin on hers was growing. But, a cough from behind her quickly deflated any and all ideas of they could do if left alone. And in the dark, or light for that matter. She wasn’t particular.

********************

About Lindsay Downs:

I live in Connecticut and am the product of a dysfunctional family. Dad was Navy. Mom Army. If you know anything about the military that’s almost as bad as having one parent in the Army, the other a Marine. Since I never really took to the water, when I started writing my stories tended to have Army slant to them. But that wasn’t enough. I knew that the best stories, don’t forget I write mystery/thriller and suspense, had to have a little humor in them and since I have a collie I thought that including one in the story would be the perfect foil. So that’s how, in this case, Dakota, a tri-color rough collie, and Emily ended up together. One smart. One smarter. Some of Dakota’s personality comes from the collie that owns me.

You can get your own copy of Target Identified from:

Smashwords- http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/61903

Amazon- http://www.amazon.com/Target-Identified-ebook/dp/B0052LG84E/