Espionage Thriller with Romance
He
expected security breaches, but the conspiracy she discovers sends them running
for their lives.
HIDE
AND SEEK is an espionage thriller about
an ingenious plot to neutralize several critical U.S. military weapons systems
using cyber-warfare. When the two very bright MCs, Lee and Jennifer, discover
the sinister plot, they are targeted for elimination before they can disclose
their findings.
A computer security breach within a US defense contractor’s
firewalls leads investigators, Lee Brandt and beautiful, brilliant Jennifer
Akihara, onto the cyber-turf of terrorists, where they are detected and
targeted for elimination. Lee leads them on a desperate and prayer-filled
flight for survival into the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Will
Jennifer’s pursuit of truth about the conspiracy, and the deepest issues of
life, lead her into the clutches of terrorists, into the arms of Lee Brandt, or
into the arms of the God she deems untrustworthy?
Excerpt: from chapter 6
When they entered the north end of
the parking area he glanced at her. “You can follow me over to Joe’s place.
It’s just about a mile east of here, a block off from North Fourth Avenue.”
“OK. When you tell Joe I’m involved
in the investigation…”
“Don’t worry about Joe. I can
handle him.” A short way down the lot he stopped, smiled, and gestured to their
left. “There’s my car.”
Jennifer pivoted towards his car
and stopped. Her eyes lit up and checked out his Mustang like a scanner
digitizing an image. She smiled warmly at him. “A classic. Very nice, Lee.”
It was the second genuine smile she’d
shown him. What that smile did for an already beautiful face was incredible.
Good taste in cars. I wonder
about her taste in men.
No, I don’t wonder anything
about her.
Now in control, the right side of
his brain turned a deaf ear and continued to savor the smile.
“I’ll swing by your parking spot
and lead you to a shortcut through a couple adjacent lots. And about National
Aerospace Computing Security…have no fear, Lee is here.”
Even in the dimly-lit parking lot
he could see the rolling eyes. She strode down the lot towards her car.
In her presence he couldn’t turn a
decent phrase. But he sure could turn a decent phrase into something stupid. He
pulled out his keys, stopped, and snapped his fingers.
Jennifer’s visitor’s badge.
Randy wasn’t in the gate shack and
he forgot to return her badge. When he glanced down the lot Jennifer was nearly
to her car. He trotted towards her. “Hey, Ms. Akihara…Jennifer. I forgot—“
The area lit up like mid-day. A
deafening boom sounded behind him. The shock wave blindsided him with the force
of an NFL linebacker, knocking him forward to the concrete. He stuck out his
arm to protect his face. His body rode on his right forearm for several feet,
while the rough concrete rasped off his coat sleeve and much of the skin
underneath it.
He lay sprawled out on the parking
lot pavement. His mind struggled to comprehend what had happened. When he
picked himself up, he shook his head to remove the cobwebs. There were too many
of them. Blood ran down his right forearm. Pain brushed some of the cobwebs
away.
Explosion.
Arm burning and ears ringing, he
looked for the source of the blast. It came from what had been his car—from
what was now only a blackened shell. The sense of loss hit him in his gut. He
might never be able to replace that car. He brushed away a few more cobwebs.
The clearing of his mind brought a bigger worry. Better a bombed car than a
bombed body. But the bombing attempt had failed, so…
The air emptied from his lungs and
he drew a deep breath. His pulse quickened. The realization hit him like a
stinging slap on the face. They were in big trouble, but the incoming flak
wouldn’t be the kind that got one fired. It would be the kind that got fired at
one—bullets from people who killed to keep secrets.
Despite their delicate search on
the infected computer their foray must’ve triggered attention and it wasn’t all
coming from some hacker halfway around the world.
Author Bio:
H. L. Wegley served in the USAF as an Intelligence Analyst and a Weather Officer. He is a Meteorologist who worked as a Research Scientist in Atmospheric Physics. After earning an MS in Computer Science, he worked more than two decades as a Systems Programmer at Boeing before retiring in the Seattle area, where he and his wife of 46 years enjoy small-group ministry, their seven grandchildren, and where he pursues his love of writing. He has a 3-book romantic-thriller series, Pure Genius Series, contracted with Harbourlight Books, Pelican Book Group and has been requested to write a 4th book in that series. Book 1, Hide and Seek, released in February 2013. He also published his childhood adventures in a humorous memoir, Colby and Me: Growing up in the 50’s
Reviews/Notices/Awards:
"Mr. Wegley—let's see more of Jennifer & Lee. Either write faster, or get your publisher to publish faster. I'm waiting!" ~~ Kate Hinke
"...the
story really comes alive and pulls you along for a heart-stopping ride. Hide
and Seek by H.L. Wegley is a definite keeper if you love suspense with a
touch of romance. " ~~ Ginger Solomon
“Wow,
Mr. Wegley definitely keeps you on the run and out of breath through this whole
story.”
~~ author, Donna M.
Basinow
“I started reading this book because it had something to do
with computer security, since I work in this area. However, while that is part
of the very exciting story, there is much more to the book than that with a
number of different plots, including a great romance story and surprises along
the way. The author has done a great job of weaving a very exciting, well-written
story together that I could not put down until I finished it in one reading.”
~~ Thomas Hinke
Harry, why did you write HIDE AND SEEK?
Over the span of my three careers, I saw a lot of
incidents that, woven together, would make a good thriller. But besides telling
a suspenseful story and a story about first love, I had a couple of things in
mind when I wrote Hide and Seek. For those who know our Lord and Savior,
I hope they will see that the barriers to faith in others' lives are most often
the heart-rending existential questions, not the big intellectual issues. We
have the answer to all their questions, the Person of Jesus Christ, and we need
to share that answer with them. For those who don't know our Savior, Hide
and Seek is my heroine's redemption story. I hope readers will see that a
relationship with the one true God is available to them through Jesus, the Way,
the Truth, and the Life.
Purchase Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/XgFo3E
Christianbook: http://bit.ly/Ufqeit
Pelican Book
Group: http://www.pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/hide-and-seek
