I have another amazing Cerridwen Press author with me this week, Eilis Flynn. Eilis Flynn is a longtime member of the Greater Seattle chapter of the Romance Writers of America, a veteran of the Wall Street wars, has been a professional journalist, a scholar, and even wrote comic books. She lives in a quiet neighborhood with her all-suffering husband and cranky cats.
Eilis is here to share her latest release, Introducing Sonika.
Blurb:
If you had the power to save the world, what would make you give it up?
Trained by her parents to use her unique abilities to fight crime, Sonya Penn gave it all up when her parents were killed by their archenemy, Gentleman Geoffrey. She turned away from what would have been her life, trying instead to be a “normal” person, unable to admit her powers to manipulate speed and sound preclude her from ever being normal.
Her “ordinary” life as a physical therapist comes to an abrupt end, however, when she finds herself falling in love with John Arlen, her newest client, but disturbed by his plans to avenge his father, who was murdered by the son of Gentleman Geoffrey. Drawn to his passion and determination, she agrees to help him in his quest. Sonya finds herself at the crossroads of her destiny: Will she don the uniform she was meant to? Complicating matters is a small thing – someone is trying to kill John. Is it Geoffrey’s son – or someone else?
by
Eilis Flynn
Excerpt:
“Wait,” he heard himself saying.
She stopped and turned. “What?”
He didn’t know what he was doing, but he did it anyway. He reached over and kissed her on the lips. “Good luck.”
She smiled, as sweet as the kiss itself. “Thanks.” She spun and started off across the rooftop, her footsteps noiseless. In the dusk, she looked like a panther stalking her prey as she disappeared into the darkness.
Right now, he wouldn’t want to cross her.
He made his way along to the corner of the rooftop and looked down at the ground, where a man was approaching the entrance. He was stopped by the goon at the door, where there appeared to be a conversation, and then he entered.
Arlen heard a scurry and saw Sonya shinny down the side of the building, hanging by her rope. He watched her pause at a window.
Ordinarily, that wouldn’t have made him nervous. What did put him on edge was the fact she was hanging upside down as she did it.
More practice, my ass, he mused again. He could barely walk and she didn’t find it unusual to be walking upside down the side of a building.
More and more men approached the entrance as he watched, and more and more were allowed in. Only twice were those who approached turned away. From the gestures he saw, he concluded they didn’t have the ID the goon at the gate was looking for–was it an invitation? But they went away without a word.
Thieves had better manners than football fans.
Something moved at the edge of his vision and he looked in that direction. Sonya had apparently gotten tired of hanging upside down. She was now walking on the side of the building, looking like a Native American traversing a path in the woods. Welcome to the Leatherstocking Tales, modern version.
The trickle of visitors to the warehouse eventually slowed as the hum of activity rose to a dull roar inside. He lost sight of his partner in trespass, first with the deepening darkness and then when she turned the corner. She still had the rope, though it was unfurling, little by little, as she went farther from the spot where it was anchored.
What lesson was that from her parents? Rule One Thousand Five Hundred Thirty-Four, How to Perform Reconnaissance? Had she ever learned whatever it was that little girls learned from their mothers–knitting or sewing or cooking or whatever? He couldn’t imagine it. That would have been too surreal. Superhero by night, happy homemaker by day.
The roar got louder. As he watched, the doors down below burst open and the attendees poured out, weapons drawn, shouting.
“Who was that?” he made out. “The guards up on the roof! Where are the guards up on the roof?”
John withdrew hastily, looking around. This was not good. “Sonya! Sonya?”
No answer. He heard the clang of the ladder, the shriek of rusted metal grinding against itself. That had to be the attendees, and it wasn’t that far up to the top. “Sone!” he finally called out. Where was she?
He heard “What the hell?” Then a shout. Then many shouts.
“We’re getting out of here!” rang out a familiar voice.
Her silhouette appeared at the top of the ladder. She was kicking down, one by one, whoever came up the ladder, almost daintily. But she couldn’t keep it up forever.
He looked around. The ladder was the only way down, except for the locked exit leading down to the warehouse itself. There wasn’t anything on the rooftop to jam the door closed–
Yes! It was a cylinder of what looked like tarpaper, probably left there by roofers to ready the surface for the coming winter, along with a pile of roofing equipment. He hurried over and tried to pull it. It didn’t budge. Finally, he began to push it toward the door, trying to block the entrance.
He heard the rattle of keys on the other side of the locked door. He had to hurry. He gritted his teeth as he pushed, ignoring the pain shooting up his leg and then the twinge when he stumbled. Finally, the cylinder of tarpaper rolled and hit just as the door was cracking open, and he guessed by the shouts their would-be pursuers were knocked off their feet.
That wouldn’t hold them for long. Sonya was going to tire. She wasn’t used to holding off scores of thugs, no matter how much she could do. Once he was satisfied the cylinder wasn’t going to move and the door was wedged closed, he ran to Sonya and looked down.
Even thugs knew when to go around. She was fending them off, but he guessed by the way they were running they had figured out another way.
He heard the clang of metal again, but this one was new. What was it? He limped to the blind side of the building, the side he had assumed was safe because it was smooth, without a ladder.
No, not safe. It was too close to the building next door, which had an emergency ladder. They were scrambling up that ladder, and would, sooner or later, try to jump across.
Some of them wouldn’t make it. But some of them would.
“Got any ideas?” he shouted to Sonya. They were surrounded and sooner or later they would have guests. He had his own rope and he had grappling hooks–they could be used as weapons if need be–but that was all, since Sonya had persuaded him not to carry his grandfather’s Enfield.
Five minutes, tops, that was about all they had. That was his estimate for himself but Sonya could beat them off longer, though she too would tire eventually.
But she didn’t seem concerned. She kicked off one last attacker and then turned to him. “Get ready to do what I tell you.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“I’m waiting for one of the idiots across the way to start shooting,” she answered calmly.
The banging had stopped on the exit door. He didn’t like that. “What are you talking about?”
“I just need–”
A shot rang out.
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