Today, the day after Thanksgiving, I am wrapped up like a newborn and planning to brave “Black Friday” with the relatives. This is a day I usually avoid because 1, I hate crowds and 2, I am definitely not a competitive shopper.

But we’re all visiting relatives and that was the chosen entertainment so don’t expect me to cause waves no matter how crazy it gets. So, I’ll wrap up to be comfortable and toasty and follow along peacefully.

Just to get a word or two in today (very hard in my family unless you put it on paper), here’s an excerpt from Flood, Flash, and Pheromones. It’s on sale until Monday. I hope you like it and spread the word.

***

There was no logical reason to be at work in the pounding rain that accompanied Hurricane Amy to the Texas coast. Cassie Nunez defied logic to stay until she safeguarded the research she’d accumulated during the past year.

An evacuation order had been decreed by the mayor. She preferred to weather the storm in her lab, but the police had made it clear that wasn’t going to happen. Just as she turned the door to leave, a noise caught her attention and she hazarded a glance down the hall toward her research partner’s, Dr. Michael Rashad’s, office. Hmmm. The light was still on. She thought he’d left several hours earlier. She slackened her grip on the knob to check on him when the cold steel was yanked from her grasp by a gust of wind.

“He’ll be fine,” she muttered, plunging into the silver sheen of rain toward the dark spot that must be her car. The black fireproof box she tossed in the back seat better be waterproof. Their entire last two years of work was nestled within on flash drives and backup disks. She stored the other copies in the safe at the office, along with all the specimens. Cassie questioned whether the cold packs she’d wrapped the beta skin implants with would be sufficient to keep them cool until the storm passed.

As she sat in her car, waiting for the red taillights in front of her to change color and signify that traffic moved again, regret surged through her shoulders in a shudder. She forgot to turn on the alarm before she rushed out. The grunt she’d heard from Michael’s office had been a surprise—and a sidetrack. Only a research psychiatrist on the brink of something huge would be in that little building while gale-force winds whirred through its cracks and windows. Still, there wasn’t any way to leave behind the work that might end the violence that so many had suffered. She flicked open her cell and punched in a text to the security company. They’d handle it. No way to get back in this mess. With traffic at a crawl and the phone still in her fingers, Cassie dialed her sister’s phone number.

It would be impossible to make it to dinner with Christy and her husband, Lewis, in the pending flood—and she was thankful for the excuse. Lewis had never cared for Cassie so evading another debate over politics was a blessing. When Christy’s voice signaled for her to leave a message, Cassie was further relieved. Good, no need for a long discussion.

“Chris, this is Cassie. I’m stuck in—” She yelped as the water surged around her car and lifted it from the pavement. She should have chosen another route; this was the only section of freeway surrounded by concrete—a virtual funnel for water to rage through. Too late now. Her mustang floated dangerously toward the headlights she’d stared at for the past few minutes. Without control of her vehicle, the two collided like bumper cars at the fair. The crunch jolted the phone from her grasp. Get out of the car! her mind screamed.

Cassie scrambled to find the metal box she’d spent the last few hours filling with data. Her hand flailed in the space behind the seat. Searching. Damn. Another bump as the car turned and rammed the vehicle again. No time.

She lowered the window and immediately was sucked out of the car and into the swell. Visibility was impossible. As she rushed by the minivan she’d hit, she realized it was empty. Her body was pulled uncontrollably past.

“Give me your hand!” A voice shouted from above. The voice of her potential savior.

In the torrential downpour, with swirling water that threatened to pull her down, she didn’t see the voice’s owner. Amy had blessed the entire city with a surprise drenching. All weather reports had predicted it to pass over with sporadic rainfall, but that didn’t happen. The storm settled over Houston as if it had no intention to move on. Cassie flailed in panic as the roof of her car disappeared under the water twenty feet beyond. She prayed once more that the container in it was watertight. And that she’d see her car again. Then she concentrated on living. 

***

If you’d like to read the rest, here’s a link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_18?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=flood+flash+and+pheromones&sprefix=Flood%2C+Flash%2C+and+%2Caps%2C184