The HBS Author's Spotlight SHOWCASES Helen Hanson's New Book: Spider Games.
Best-Selling Author Helen Hanson writes Mystery & Thrillers and Suspense novels.
SPIDER GAMES
The Cruise FBI Thriller Series Book 2
Author: Helen Hanson
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Three dead in the explosion. A new terrorist group claims victory. Danger wears unexpected faces . . .
When police pull the bloated corpse of a young woman out of the Pajaro River, FBI agent Claudia Seagal becomes a central figure in the investigation. Was the woman murdered by human traffickers? If so, where are they holding the others captive?
Hard work is good therapy for grad student Baxter Cruise, who mourns a friend’s ultimate betrayal. At least Baxter’s drone fleet responds as predicted and might earn him a future. When a major investor asks Baxter to join a hot robotics company, Baxter’s professional prospects glisten. Even his relationship with Claudia borders on happiness, something he hasn’t experienced since losing his parents in an auto accident. But clouds from his dark past threaten to destroy both dreams.
As Claudia tracks a killer, Baxter becomes the prime suspect in another bombing. Was he framed? Or is someone else the real target?
Excerpt from Spider Games
Chapter 1 At 3:10 in the morning, Becca Kader clapped a hand over her sister’s mouth and whispered, “Maryam, I found a way out.”
A muffled scream strained against Becca’s fingers as the girl awoke. When Maryam acknowledged it was her sister standing over her bunk, the terror in her eyes briefly fled.
Becca tapped a finger across her lips before saying, “Be quiet and get moving. We have to leave now.”
Over the past three weeks, they’d discussed their escape in hushed conversation when the attention of the guards was less glaring.
Becca was older by a slim margin but held key advantages over her sister. She was physically stronger, emotionally less fragile, and quicker to realize that their situation was hopeless. It was Maryam’s complete faith in Becca that might get her out alive.
Seemed only fair. It was due to Becca’s stupidity that they were both prisoners.
Maryam’s legs dropped over the side of the bunk. Long brown hair bounced off her shoulders as a foot wiggled into a shoe.
Her gaze cut from the shoe to Becca’s face. “Are you sure about this?” Maryam scanned the bunkhouse. “If you’re wrong, we’re dead.”
Becca knew it didn't matter what action they took, stay or leave, either way they might die.
“It’ll be fine.” She squeezed Maryam’s shoulder. “Let’s move.”
Their beds were on opposite ends of the long bunkhouse, where they shared about three hundred square feet with four other girls. Even with their shared dilemma and living as they had in such close quarters, any one of them would happily alarm their captors. Becca didn’t entirely blame them because it meant better food and privileges. In here, life or death was a marginal affair.
She made for the closest door, a full fifteen feet from Maryam’s bunk, requiring them to pass at least half the other bunks. Becca prayed that all the girls were asleep. As they crept along the aisle, Maryam stayed at Becca’s back, her hot breath blasting the bare skin on Becca’s neck.
Opening the door was a hazard, any light from the compound might rouse someone in lighter sleep, sending all the girls into a panic. But it was a risk they had to take.
Becca refused to let her sister wither in this hellhole.
The door handle moved easily, without a squeak or a creak to give them away. Neither sister was particularly athletic or in shape. A steady diet of fast food and social media had added unwanted pounds to their physiques. It was only the last six weeks—since they’d been in the compound—that they’d finally been able to shed a few pounds. But it wasn’t the kind of regimen that would sell well on QVC.
They slipped through the door, down the wobbly stair set, and onto fragmented concrete, where grass and plants stretched between the cracks to make their way to the sun.
The moon was a waxing crescent that gave them enough light to navigate but added to the risk of getting caught. Becca glanced quickly around the compound to see if they were being watched.
At this time of night the guards routinely met behind the storeroom to smoke a quick joint before returning to duty. The graveyard shift was usually still stoned when she saw them in the morning, ravenous for breakfast. She’d scratched paint off the window in the bathroom, so she could find out where they stationed themselves during the night. The guards were usually gone for about half an hour.
A scent filled the air that she couldn’t identify. It reminded her of the stores at the mall that sold incense or home furnishings. Something like pine but not quite. Maybe spruce. Or redwoods. She was already sick of redwoods.
After verifying that the guard stations were clear, Becca clasped her sister’s clammy hand and broke into a run.
When scouting the area during the daytime, Becca noticed a break in the main section of the electric fence where it met a sizable redwood. While a live wire joined the fencing on both sides of the tree, there was a gap between metal and tree big enough for her to slip through without getting zapped. Risky, but until they were past the fence, outside the compound, they had no chance of survival.
As they crept toward the fence, she looked back to see if anyone was in pursuit. But it was just them, their jeans and flannel shirts filled with sweat.
Fear rippled through Becca’s chest like a seismic wave. She knew she was too young for a heart attack, but then she’d aged many years since their arrival.
Adventure. Travel. The chance to live—finally live. It was the promise that brought them here.
The adventure was Becca’s dream, not Maryam’s. But she followed Becca regardless of her own yearnings—if she had any. Just eighteen, Maryam hadn’t yet discovered her own mind. Every step she took was on Becca’s heels, and this time it might get her killed.
Becca scrambled to the nearest bush in the tree line, but behind her, she felt Maryam stumble. Maryam lay on the ground holding her head with both hands. A groan fluttered from her bleeding lips.
“Shh. I know you’re hurt, but we have to get out of here.”
If everything went according to pattern, they had at least twenty minutes before anyone would be back in the common area. With luck, no one would know they were gone until morning, giving them a couple of hours before sunrise to find help…
Author Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Suspense, Technology
Website: Helen Hanson
Author's Blog:
Helen's Original Spotlight Post with Q & A Session
Twitter: @HelenHanson
E-Mail: WriteMe [at] HelenHanson [dot] com
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Author Description: Bestselling author Helen Hanson writes page-blistering thrillers about desperate people with a techno bent. For source material, she ran a software company, built video games, and opened many a door for her dogs. For fun, Helen flew a Mooney over the Golden Gate Bridge, traveled 100+ mph over Highway 17 to the coast, and annihilated an entire Cub Scout pack in laser tag. There were no prisoners to take. She admits that your ink pens are not safe near her and that she can mimic the sound of most farm animals.
Author's Book List
DEAD STORM
- The Masters CIA Thriller Series Book 3Hackers can steal your money, control your car, access your secret files. What if one had a grip on your beating heart?
Whatever. Clint’s got his own problems. With his company in chaos, only a bottle of scotch tempers his misery. But his apathy will cost others their lives. A plea from the President of the United States doesn’t shake his despondence. Not even an ultimatum from Beth. But the Washington elite won’t let Clint rest until they get answers.
Will Clint rise above his mounting despair and help the CIA catch a cyber killer?
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THE MASTERS' KEY
- The Masters CIA Thriller Series Book 2With Boston under fire, only Clint Masters can stop the madness. But the city blames him for every disaster.
With his allies at the CIA, Clint battles a mysterious new threat targeting his company and the citizens of Boston, who now live in fear. Under a gag order from his last confrontation, Clint can’t reveal the truth about the tragedies. In spite of city-wide panic, he sees the terror attacks as personal. And he learns that not everyone at the CIA wants to catch the killer. With public suspicion at redline, Clint must go on the run to survive.
Can he capture the elusive and ruthless maniac before his city burns? Or will Clint become the next victim?
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Ocean of Fear
Meet Baxter Cruise. Gifted robotics student. Spammer for hire. His cozy world of lattes and free wi-fi explodes when a hippie professor disappears, and Baxter discovers a lady professor’s warm corpse on campus.
With his secretive lifestyle, he hasn’t cultivated any real friends. When a student asks for help with a class assignment, Baxter figures it’ll throttle his funk. But the guy blackmails Baxter into programming narcotics delivery vehicles for a notorious cartel. Working for drug lords rattles the needle on Baxter’s errant moral compass, but it’s better than a bullet in the head.
Beautiful FBI agent Claudia Seagal tracks the professor’s brutal assassin, but every angle of her investigation leads to Baxter. He’s hiding something and in far too deep to cooperate with the law.
Baxter ignores the cartel’s depravity until he watches an innocent woman die. When he wakes up on a plane, it’s too late for remorse. In bed with dangerous allies, the cartel requires Baxter’s talent until the robots are complete. Then, he and thousands of others face certain death unless Baxter can find a way to escape.
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Dark Pool
Maggie Fender’s law degree remains a daydream as she supports her ex-felon half-brother and their incoherent father. Suffering from Alzheimer’s, Dad’s rarely lucid, but when he’s accused of murder, only the gorgeous Russian neighbor flickers Maggie’s hope. In the news, disgraced hedge fund manager Patty O’Mara awaits trial for bilking investors out of forty billion dollars. The legendary dark pool wizard offered phenomenal profits. But the SEC discovered O’Mara never made a single legitimate investment. His fund was a total scam. Maggie’s Dad barely functions, but her hacker brother swears Dad is sending them vital messages about O’Mara’s pot of gold.
A private investigator hunts for the money and aims to find it before a notorious Russian mobster. When their efforts focus on Maggie’s father, her remaining hope turns to rampant fear. She’s the only adult left in her family, and her weary camel won’t carry a single extra straw. Her teenage brother’s hacking skills landed his ass in prison, but he swears he was framed.
No fans of the Fender family, the local police assume Dad ran away when he goes missing. Maggie will never find her father without help. She’s got to trust someone. But who can Maggie trust when everyone’s betrayed her?
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3 Lies
At CIA headquarters, a young officer discovers that terrorists may have commandeered their computer systems to launch an unauthorized mission. Elsewhere, conspirators abduct nine people to manipulate the rules of their game. Two disparate ambitions — Clint Masters becomes the reluctant link in the chain of danger.
Ever since Clint’s almost ex-wife dumped him, he bobs along the Massachusetts coast in a sailboat with his black lab for company. He avoids all forms of technology, a counterintuitive effort for the burned-out founder of CatSat Laboratories. Tired of clutching the brass ring, he needed to untether, step off the corporate treadmill, and smell a flower. Fortunately, he met one, a beautiful, unspoiled woman who doesn’t treat him like a commodity. His relationship with Beth offers more promise than his marriage ever did, even if she is on dialysis for her recovering kidneys, until she disappears.
In spite of the evidence, Beth's family refuses to admit she’s in danger. Without routine dialysis, she won’t survive. As Clint realizes that he loves Beth, damn-near ex-wife Paige sashays back into his life with disturbing news.
While the CIA young gun tracks his quarry, Clint enlists the help of two men to find Beth, a blithe Brit named Merlin, and Todd, his playboy partner-in-tech. But Clint must find Beth before her kidneys fail. And before someone unloads a bullet in his head.
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Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
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eBook Author’s Corner
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