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Pneuma Springs Publishing - Courtney Silberberg

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170 pages

English

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A mountain biking vacation goes terribly awry in the Mexican jungle when a small group of innocent vacationers and their guides stumble into a massacre between cartel rebel forces and militia over drugs and antique gold coins. Now a race for survival, the unequipped group is forced to deal with greed, betrayal and finding their way back to civilization, all the while being hunted by the owner, wanting his gold, drugs and... no witnesses.The characters include DR. BRAD SOMMERS, who is trying to forget, if only for a little while, a wrongful death lawsuit that could affect his life and career. KEVIN BLACK is a throwback, embroiled in a corporate family battle. CELIA DANE is a camera toting attorney in the middle of an ugly divorce. ROBBIE ROBERTS is a compulsive gambler and obnoxious loudmouth, who won the trip at a casino. RAMON GARCIA, a somewhat shady persona and his sister, ELENA, a collegiate bike racer, are their biking guides. ENRIQUE SALERNO, is a nefarious smuggler and owner of the contraband, who will stop at nothing to retrieve what is his.Life and death decisions confront them at every turn and ultimately, greed decides who lives and dies.

Sujets

Adventure (Guyana)

Adventure

Thriller

Informations

Publié par	Pneuma Springs Publishing
Date de parution	20 octobre 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781782284017
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Fierce Thunder

Courtney Silberberg & Jacquelyn Kinkade Silberberg
Copyright
First Published in 2015 by Pneuma Springs Publishing Fierce Thunder Copyright © 2015 Courtney Silberberg & Jacquelyn Kinkade Silberberg Courtney Silberberg and Jacquelyn Kinkade Silberberg have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors of this Work British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Mobi eISBN: 9781782284000 ePub eISBN: 9781782284017 PDF eBook eISBN: 9781782284024 Paperback ISBN: 9781782283966 Pneuma Springs Publishing E: admin@pneumasprings.co.uk W: www.pneumasprings.co.uk Published in the United Kingdom. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of the publisher. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, save those clearly in the public domain, is purely coincidental
.
Dedication
We would like to dedicate FIERCE THUNDER,
our first novel,
to our parents:
Richard Alan and Tissie Silberberg and
CMDR Martin J. and Bette Kinkade.
Contents

Chapter 1 Sommers
Chapter 2 Enrique
Chapter 3 Turbulence
Chapter 4 Kevin
Chapter 5 Celia
Chapter 6 Cargo
Chapter 7 Rebels
Chapter 8 Robbie
Chapter 9 Where’s Lorenzo?
Chapter 10 Elena
Chapter 11 Last Call
Chapter 12 Cracking The Eggs
Chapter 13 Lupe
Chapter 14 Ramon
Chapter 15 Jorge
Chapter 16 The System
Chapter 17 The Mountain
Chapter 18 Hunting
Chapter 19 Survival Of The Fittest
Chapter 20 Texas
Chapter 21 Paradise
Chapter 22 Campfire
Chapter 23 Storms
Chapter 24 The Boar
Chapter 25 The Grand Morass
Chapter 26 Lieutenant Rosa
Chapter 27 The Race
Chapter 28 The Locket
Chapter 29 Go To Ground
Chapter 30 Choices
Chapter 31 Turning Tables
Chapter 32 Accusations
Chapter 33 Hide And Seek
Chapter 34 Ambushed
Chapter 35 Unfriendly Jungle
Chapter 36 Massacre
Chapter 37 Mama
Chapter 38 The Well
Chapter 39 The Chamber
Chapter 40 Passages
Chapter 41 The One
Chapter 42 Game Changer
Chapter 43 Greed
Chapter 44 Spared
Chapter 45 Broken Trail
Chapter 46 Salvation
Chapter 47 Wrong Guide
Chapter 48 A Chance
Chapter 49 Liar’s Poker
Chapter 50 Pushing Pedals
Chapter 51 The Pilot
Chapter 52 Jungle Music
Chapter 53 Mules
Chapter 54 Keeping It Together
Chapter 55 Masks
Chapter 56 Violations
Chapter 57 Negotiations
Chapter 58 So Go The Spoils
Chapter 59 Tracks
Chapter 60 Coke Bottles
Chapter 61 Just Press Play
Chapter 62 Raging Legs
Chapter 63 Unfinished Business
Chapter 64 Big Dog Barks
Chapter 65 Simple Plan
Chapter 66 Necklace
Chapter 67 Pale Riders
Chapter 68 Treasure Lost
Chapter 69 The Apothecary
Chapter 70 Ghosts
Chapter 71 Maps
Chapter 72 Valley Of The Lost Souls
Chapter 73 Death Leads
Chapter 74 The Marapa
Chapter 75 Swimmers
Chapter 76 The Oath
Chapter 77 Found
Chapter 78 Tourists
Chapter 79 Doctor Sommers
Chapter 80 In Plain Sight
Epilogue
1 SOMMERS
Mountain biking at the Big Bear Ski Resort, high above the Los Angeles basin in the middle of summer, was like being on a different planet. The once crowded, manicured ski runs where virgin powder once lay were now unpatrolled, barren, mountain bike trails. An accountant, who was also an extreme sports enthusiast at the corporate offices, had realized a ski resort could run basically year round, hence, greater revenues and stronger balance sheets.
Chairlifts carried both bikes and bikers up to the top, where lodges that fed hundreds during the winter months, now worked with a skeleton staff, parading in bikinis and shorts. It was in sharp contrast to the congested, smoggy metropolitan area below, as it was pure up there, the air and water clean. The crisp blue sky canopied any danger for the rough and tumble adrenaline junkies the trails attracted, making for an exhilarating place to go, as it was supposed to be fun.
It probably wasn’t fair. At least that’s how Dr. Brad Sommers saw it in that glimpse of time and space that passed before he was forced to react. Of course “fair” wasn’t one of his favorite words at the moment.
An athlete, the twenty-nine year old Sommers was riding hard, too hard, stressing the mountain bike to its limits, pointing down a narrow, winding chute. The gravel and sand rooster-tailed up from the trail as his rear, knobby tire found grooves and then hopped between them, inches from peril.
Sommers tightened the muscles in his strong arms, gingerly maintaining and sensing his precious balance… shifting, leaning. He was a good biker, instinctive, but it was almost futile, as this downhill ride was equivalent to gliding over shiny black ice, and going down or catching an edge here meant falling off the mountain. But Sommers didn’t care about that. He was on a mission, trying to forget, cope maybe; with the odd hand fate had dealt him.
The phones kept ringing in his head and cryptic messages about appeal decisions, court dates and where his case was headed if he didn’t respond bounced around in his brain like his tires skirting between the ruts for precious traction.
His case.
Those two words pierced him. He was being sued, embroiled in what he thought was a frivolous legal battle for just doing his job. Frivolous or not, a career, his career and professional life, was on the line for, of all things… helping.
He was a third year resident on the internal medicine fast track. Being a professional, a physician, now made him a target. Over analyzing, he thought it perverse to stay buried in books in dank libraries or labs, work double shifts in a thankless environment in order to find some light at the end of the tunnel, to ultimately become vulnerable and twist in the wind in this unique profession that ultimately saved lives.
But that was the system. His hand.
Sommers had paid his dues and kept paying them, spending a fortune garnered from different crap jobs, a small trust fund and many, many high interest student loans. So where was the light?
“Sommers,” bellowed the beleaguered voice of his attorney, friend and novice mountain biker, David Wethers. He had heard the voice earlier, but kept riding, plunging down the trail… cerebral wheels racing. Seeing Wethers, overweight and whale-like, awkwardly wrestle the high-tech two-wheeler would have been comical on any other day, but Sommers had brought him to the ski resort to get away, to escape the turmoil that was crippling him, and perhaps find a solution.
Sommers twisted his bike into a perfect power slide and skidded to a halt. Moments later, the pudgy Wethers wobbled down the narrow trail. Upon spotting Sommers, he panicked and turned the bike into the hill, riding up a few feet before promptly falling over in a heap. Coughing up a lung full of dirt, he ripped off his helmet and wheezed for air.
“Why are you trying to kill me, Sommers?”
“The hill will do that without my help. Here, have some water.”
Staggering up, Wethers almost lunged for the water. “Why did you bring me up here? How much farther to the bottom?”
“Three, maybe four--”
“MILES?”
“Yes, miles. You’re on top of the world here. Look around. Enjoy it.”
“Right,” Wethers whined sarcastically, gulping more of the quenching fluid, a trickle dripping on his chin and shirt. “We need to talk.”
“I didn’t bring you here to--”
“Yes, you did.” Wethers took on a serious tone. “The Medical Board isn’t backing you.”
“Bunch of hypocrites--”
“Be that as it may, your appeal, and how and when it’s filed, is all you have. That is, if you still want to be a doctor in this country.”
“Forget ’em. I didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing!”
“Ethically and morally, no. Believe me; any attorney can put a defense together. But these guys have momentum. It’s high profile. My suggestion is we cop to a lesser charge. Go the probation route and in, say, six months--”
“I’m not copping to anything. I did my job.”
“And someone died.” Wethers didn’t like ramming the point home, but he knew his friend was in trouble, career trouble. A cautionary fine line needed to be delicately walked. “Look, it’s not your fault it was a Senator’s daughter. Wrong place, wrong time.”
Sommers adjusted his chin strap. “I suppose her alcoholic, ex step-mom, whose blood alcohol was three times the legal limit, driving a hundred and five down Pacific Coast Highway into oncoming traffic was my fault too.”
“Sommers--”
“I’m not taking the fall. You didn’t see her face, Wethers. You didn’t see--” At a loss and disgusted, Sommers swung his bike around.
“Sommers… Sommers,” came Wethers’ pleas to no avail. “We have to file the appeal-- and I’d cancel your vacation--”
Wethers’ voice became an echo, as Sommers pedaled quickly away. The angry tires bit and spewed, and Sommers’ focused mind raced into another state, another time.
The police report read like a bad headline from a second rate newspaper. “Traveling at a high rate of speed, the singular car drove into the oncoming traffic lane and made no attempts to correct direction. The Mercedes clipped a swerving car head on; then was propelled upside down for approximately sixty feet, where a nine year old girl was thrown from said vehicle into the sand, sustaining fatal head, neck and spinal injuries. Female driver was killed instantly. Autopsy later found her to be intoxicated from alcohol and three different prescription sedatives.”
Sommers didn’t care about the bimbo driver or the gory details. If the old Senator wanted to shack-up with Bambi and party every day in Malibu, so be it. The problem, his problem, was when Bambi decided to take her act on the road.
In order to cover his sins