GUEST
POST and EXCERPT
Terror Never Sleeps
(Jack Gunn Book 2)
(Jack Gunn Book 2)
by Richard
Blomberg
.jpg "Terror Never Sleeps (Jack Gunn Book 2) by Richard Blomberg")
Terror Never Sleeps is the second book in Richard Blomberg's Jack Gunn series. Also available: Warpath
(find out how to get your FREE copy below).
Terror Never Sleeps is currently on tour with Pump Up Your Book. The tour
stops here today for a guest post by the author and an excerpt. Please be sure
to visit the other tour stops as well.
Description
Navy SEAL Jack Gunn’s life is turned upside down when terrorists kidnap
his family and disappear without a trace. While Jack and his team search
frantically for clues in Virginia, half-way around the world, his wife, Nina
struggles to survive the terrorist’s daily persecutions as his hostage.
Terror
Never Sleeps is an action-packed tale of Nina’s transformation into a warrior who is
fighting for her life, and Jack’s relentless pursuit of the terrorists from
Mali to Diego Garcia to Pakistan. A military coup, propaganda, dirty bombs, and
the launch of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal with one target - Israel - is all part
of the terrorist’s master plan, who are hellbent on blowing the world back to
the eighth century. The non-stop action keeps the reader constantly off balance
with the bizarre and unexpected.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Dawley
Corners, VA
“I’m scared,
Mommy.” Barett sat back up in bed, clutching his dinosaur pillow under one arm
and his frayed security blanket under the other.
“Don’t
cry, honey. Daddy will be home tomorrow.” Nina brushed her son’s tears aside
with her fingers, cupped his tender face in her hands, and gave him a kiss on
the forehead. She inhaled the scent of baby shampoo from his tangled wet hair
and snuggled him to her chest. Barett’s Mickey Mouse night-light cast a buttery
glow across the carpet. A constellation of
fluorescent
stars and planets were already glued to the ceiling of his brand-new bedroom
and floating like luminous jellyfish in the dark above.
“But what
if the bad guys kill Daddy?” Barett chewed on the fringe of his blanket.
“Nobody’s
going to kill Daddy,” Nina quickly answered for the umpteenth time as she
stroked his black hair. Barett nodded, locked on Nina’s eyes. She closed the
bedtime storybook and put it back on the nightstand.
Barett’s
lower lip quivered. “What if you die, Mommy? I heard you and Daddy talking.” He
started crying again.
Nina
gasped. “You don’t need to worry anymore, sweetie. Mommy’s cancer is all gone.”
She crossed her hands across her chest and threw them up into the air. “Poof!
And Daddy is a brave Sioux, just like you.” She poked Barett in the chest. “If
the president of the United States trusts Daddy to protect his country, I don’t
think we need to worry.”
Sorrow
instantly overwhelmed Nina, sad that Barett’s last thoughts before falling
asleep were to fear for his mommy’s and daddy’s lives—even though Nina
frequently cried herself to sleep with those same fears. Barett, Nina’s angel
throughout her chemotherapy, reached up and brushed her tears away with his
baby-soft fingers as he had done so many times before.
If Jack
was Nina’s soul mate, Barett was her heart mate. Nina’s first pregnancy ended
horribly with a devastating and unexpected miscarrage. Her second ended the
same way. So after nine months of living on the jittery edge of sanity,
wondering what would go wrong the third time around, Barett was her gift from
God who miraculously joined the world on Nina’s twentysixth
birthday.
She loved her little bear more than anything. She loved Barett more than
Jack.
Trying to
stay strong and keep up a good front for Barett while Jack was away, Nina snatched
the dreamcatcher hanging from a tack in the wall above Barett’s pillow and
fanned his face with its eagle feathers as if she were trying to start a fire.
“Remember,
Uncle Travis had a very special medicine man make this to protect you from bad
dreams.” She tickled his chest until he giggled.
“He’s
funny.”
“Now go
to sleep, honey. Daddy will be home tomorrow.” She leaned over and gave him one
last kiss.
Nina left
his door half open, just how Barett liked, and went downstairs to lock up for
the night. Everything in their condominium smelled fresh and new. The paint on
the walls, the polish on the floors, and the carpet on the stairs. It was their
first home and their first mortgage. Nina smiled, thinking of her husband,
Jack, and how he had gone over the top to buy the most
expensive
door and window locks.
Being a
Navy SEAL and the head of the Counterterrorism Task Force (CTF) made it nearly
impossible for Jack Gunn to trust anyone. The only people he trusted were the
other SEALs on his Ghost Team and Native Americans, like Nina and him.
“I’m not
going to be a prisoner in my own home, Jack. Spend all the money on locks and
guns and whatever else you think we need, but take a look around. We’re not
living in Afghanistan.” Nina had opened the blind so Jack could look out and
see their front yard of new sod, their one-inch elm sapling held vertical by
three posts and gardening wire, and the empty lots across the street staked out
for new construction. No one else had even moved into their
building
yet. They had first pick in the new ocean-view community in Dawley Corners,
south of Virginia Beach.
“This is
what I’ve always wanted, Jack,” Nina had told him. “I know it’s not Montana,
but there’s no place I’d rather be.”
“The
perimeter is secure,” she could almost hear Jack saying.
Her smile
vanished as she pulled back a corner of the curtain and watched a windowless
panel van slowly cruise past their condo. It was the type of
hammer-and-nail-laden van construction crews drove through their neighborhood
on a daily basis, but not after dark at nine thirty on a Saturday night.
There was
something about the van that sent a shiver up her spine as it crawled around
the cul-de-sac and came back. She let the sheer curtain fall back into place
and watched the headlights. They stopped at the end of Nina’s driveway. With a
growl of the engine, smoke puffed from the tail pipe into the chilled air. Now
hiding behind the front door, she began to hyperventilate as she fought off the
suffocating feeling of panic.
Nina felt
guilty for cowering like a scared little girl. She knew if Jack were home, he
would have put one of his patented kill looks on his face, stomped out
the front door, and challenged the guys in the truck. He did stuff like that
all the time. Most of the time, the other guys took off before he got close
enough to do any harm; he looked that intimidating. Far from being politically
correct, Jack was the man who backed down to nobody. Who feared nobody. Who
suspected everybody.
Nina
swallowed hard, checked the lock, and glanced up the stairs to make sure Barett
was still in bed. Fingers trembling, she fumbled to get her cell phone out of
her pocket to call Jack, but dropped it. Pieces of plastic and glass blasted in
every direction, like a grenade exploding in the dark, when it hit the
porcelain tile.
“Oh my
God!” she gasped. That was her only phone. The van still rumbled in the street,
not moving. She made out the silhouette of a stocking-capped, bearded man in
the passenger seat. Her brain swelled like an expanding water balloon between
her ears.
“Think,
dammit. Think.” She heard Jack’s words reverberating in her head. It was late
Saturday night, her phone was trashed, their home Internet was not scheduled to
be activated until Monday, which had not been a big deal because her smartphone
functioned as a mobile hot spot for her laptop. All that had changed the
instant her phone crashed.
Her feet
felt as if they were stuck in cement, nailing her to the floor behind the door.
“The gun.
I’ve got to get the gun.”
She
looked through the curtain at the van one last time, then stumbled up the
stairs, went into their bedroom closet, and turned on the light. The gun safe
still had the manufacturer’s stickers on the anodized steel door.
She
dialed three numbers stuck in her head. Nothing. She tried again. Nothing. The
combination to the safe lay splayed across the entryway floor downstairs in a
worthless cell phone microchip.
A noise
outside spooked her. Her fingers trembled on the dial.
She tried
the lock one last time and prayed. “Hallelujah!” The door opened. She grabbed
the loaded shotgun. Jack always said it was the best gun for home protection.
Point the scattergun in the general direction of your target and pull the
trigger. It would blow a hole in the door the size of a basketball.
Nina had
pulled the trigger on a shotgun once before. She blasted tin cans and beer
bottles with her brothers back at the reservation garbage dump in Montana when
she was a kid. The gun kicked like a mule and knocked her on her butt. It
seemed funny at the time.
She
flipped the safety off, racked a shell into the chamber, turned off the light,
and tiptoed back out of the closet. The gun went first, with Nina’s slippery
finger on the trigger. Her eyes dilated to adjust back to the dark.
The condo
was too new. Nothing looked familiar. Every shadow, every noise made her jump.
The furnace kicked in. The bedroom curtain fluttered over the heat duct. She
heard a noise in the hallway. Nina opened the door with the gun barrel.
“Mommy.”
“Barett.
Oh my God. I almost . . .” She covered her mouth, overcome by a sudden wave of
nausea. Nina swallowed hard to push the bile back down as she propped the gun
up against the wall behind the door, out of Barett’s sight. She grabbed Barett,
hugged him hard, and carried him back to his room. “Stay in bed, honey. Mommy
will be right back.”
Nina
snatched the gun with her shaking, sweaty hands and quickly crept back down the
carpeted stairs, trying her best to keep quiet.
The front
door was still locked. The van was gone. She held the shotgun against her chest
and fixed her eyes on the doorknob, dreading movement of any kind. Her heart
raced as she waited in the dark.
The wind
blew. The furnace kicked off. The doorknob did nothing.
She
turned on the entryway light and scraped together all the pieces of her phone.
I can’t
call the police. The phone lines are down till Monday. I can’t call or text
Jack. He’ll be pissed. It was probably nothing. No need to get all worked up.
Just go to bed. Get a new cell phone in the morning before Jack gets home. And
put that stupid gun away before you shoot someone.
Praise for the Book
"After reading Blomberg’s first novel, I was eager to read, Terror Never Sleeps, a Jack Gunn
thriller. The characters were fascinating and I was curious as to how they
would be further developed, especially Nina! I was not disappointed and found
it difficult to put the book down! In fact, I finished it within a couple of
days! If you enjoy a fascinating thriller with interesting and strong
characters, this is a must read!" ~ Karen
D
"I generally wouldn’t select a military
thriller as my first choice, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was
impressed with Richard Blomberg’s writing style; it had a perfect flow. I
concur with other reviews in that it was difficult to put down. As I got closer
to the end of the book, I felt a certain disappointment that the story would
soon come to an end. Please Mr. Blomberg, give us MORE Jack Gunn!" ~ Sheri S
"Just read Terror Never Sleeps (couldn’t put in down!). It is excellent! I
felt like I was watching a movie! 'Good' wins over 'evil. I love the
characters Richard has created and I can’t wait to read what happens next!"
~ Millie K
"This book was even better than Warpath. I couldn’t put it down and read
it cover to cover in one night. I love the character development and can’t wait
to see where Jack and Travis end up next." ~ Dawn K
Guest Post by the
Author
How Real Life
Experiences and Events Contribute to My Writing
I write military thrillers to honor those who serve overseas in the
military and their left-behind families. In Terror
Never Sleeps, I try to unearth why Navy SEAL Jack Gunn, and in effect
anyone who serves in the military, is willing to die fighting terrorism? What
motivates Jack to leave his family for months at a time, knowing he may never
see them again? What does it feel like to lose the trail of the terrorists who
kidnapped his wife? What drives Jack to greatness and reduces him to tears?
In my latest Jack Gunn thriller, Terror
Never Sleeps and my previous Warpath,
I write to honor Native Americans. My protagonist, Jack Gunn, possesses unique
skills that were ingrained in him as a boy by a secret sect of Native American
elders, after his parents died in a car fire. Jack is a one-of-a-kind stalker
of terrorists. Jack is a warrior, the likes of which the world may never see
again. His specialty - hunt, track, and kill terrorists.
Terror Never Sleeps was born on the mistaken assumption of every deployed soldier;
terrorists would never attack their families back home. Right? Wrong! To take
it up another notch, Jack has killed many terrorists and made many enemies in
the past. In Terror Never Sleeps,
revenge-seeking terrorists kidnap Jack’s family and vanish without a trace. Jack
is wracked with fear and guilt for not protecting the ones he loves. Nina Gunn,
Jack’s wife, faces torment and torture as she fights to survive each day at the
hands of the terrorists. But, Jack and Nina have secret weapons. They grew up
on the same Sioux reservation. They draw on the power of their ancestor’s
spirits to face the biggest challenges of their lives.
I realize it may seem odd to most of you after what America has done
to Native Americans, but Native Americans are very patriotic. My wife’s family
is Native American. Her father grew up on the reservation. Her relatives fought
at the Battle of the Greasy Grass - Little Big Horn - with the Indians. We’ve
walked those lands and witnessed their struggle. It’s not a casino-wealthy
reservation, but one infested by alcohol and drugs and poverty. If by creating
a strong Native American protagonist, I can promote their cause or give even
one person the motivation to make a better life for them self, then I will have
succeeded.
I served as a Navy Hospital Corpsman during the Vietnam War. I come
from a long line of family who served in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle
Eastern war on terror. Memorial Day is a big day in my Iowa hometown. Knowing
that the Honor Guard will perform a twenty-one gun salute and present my family
with an American flag at our small country cemetery is a big deal. I know. I
received my father’s flag and spent Honor Guard shell casings at his funeral
last year.
My main message in Terror
Never Sleeps is one of hope. No matter how impossible and desperate a
situation may seem, never give up. As a practicing anesthesiologist who keeps
people alive during surgery, I see miracles happen every day. You may think you
know what’s going to happen, but you don’t. Like Nina in Terror Never Sleeps, no matter how desperate your situation, do
whatever it takes to survive from one day to the next, because one day soon, it
may be your turn for a miracle.
There’s a rule of the road on the backpacking trail that applies to
life; people climbing uphill have the
right-of-way. Going downhill is easy. Starting takes no effort at all. In
fact it takes energy not to move.
That’s how life is for many. Everything is going their way. They have it all.
If you’re cruising down hill, step aside and pull someone up, don’t mow them
down.
Living an uphill life is another matter. Believe me, I’ve been
there. Getting going is hard enough, and if someone gets in your way, you might
just quit. You’re hungry, tired, sick, poor, oppressed and alone. You may be exhausted,
but don’t give up. You’ll never get to the top of the mountain if you don’t
keep pushing on.
That’s my dream - that people would lend a helping hand to one
another.
Like the lyrics of John Lennon’s "Imagine" - You may say I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll
join us. And the world will live as one.
Go to www.RichardBlomberg.com. I’d love to hear
your story. I’d love you to read mine.
About the Author
Dr. Richard Blomberg has practiced anesthesia in the land of 10,000 lakes
for twenty years. He grew up in an Iowa farm town, the oldest of ten, before
serving as a Navy hospital corpsman during the Vietnam War. For generations,
Richard’s family has proudly served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.
He is a graduate of the University of Iowa and currently lives in the Twin
Cities with his wife and family, where he is working on his next Jack Gunn thriller.
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