Hostage Down

Troy Barclay/Amber Neilson #3

by Daniel A. Adams

When Troy Barclay and fifty students and teachers are taken hostage in a high school theater by terrorists led by a psycho killer named Mayhew who announces they are ransoming a student for $500,000 and when they get the money, they will disappear. But it is only a cover story and the hostages quickly learn the terrorists are after a secretive and lethal hitman who is one of the 32 adults being held hostage. Problem is, the terrorists don't know what he looks like and so they must somehow figure out who he is before the police raid the building. But things quickly go awry when several teachers, one of them an armed deputy, try to overcome the terrorists who barely kill the teachers. By questioning the teachers, Mayhew establishes that the Mime, the hitman they are looking for, is one of seven men, one of whom is Troy who is pretending to be a teacher. After several firefights with the SWAT team surrounding the school, the terrorists wire all of the walls with explosives just in case the SWAT team tries to breach the theater. Mayhew kills several teachers--one on a whim--and it appears he will kill all of them even if he gets the ransom. When a group of teachers attack the terrorists, so half of the students can escape, most of the teachers are killed. Things get very dicey when Mayhew discovers that the daughter of the policewoman in charge of the SWAT team is one of his hostages. He gives her 2 minutes to get into the theater or he will kill her daughter. Funny thing is, when the policewoman comes through the door, she looks a lot like Amber. And in fact, it is Amber, masquerading at the policewoman. After the Mime covertly kills two of the terrorists with poison darts, Mayhew figures out the Mime isn't one of the hostages but is loose in the building. When Amber and Troy get an opportunity to get the drop of the terrorists, they join forces with the Mime and pursue Mayhew and his surviving men to the National Guard Armory where he commanders a tank, and raises havoc, until in a final showdown, Amber, Troy and the Mime battle the terrorists to an explosive finish.

331 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 23, 2013

About the author

After graduating from Arizona State University with degrees in Zoology and Accounting, Mr. Adams joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation where, as a Special Agent, he investigated general crimes such as bank robberies, kidnappings and extortions as well as specializing in complex financial crimes as a forensic accountant. Mr. Adams went on to work for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as an investigator where he worked bank fraud and embezzlement cases. He has been a licensed commercial and residential contractor and built and developed many housing units. As a lark, he signed on with a small Hollywood literary agency where he worked as a literary agent for many years. While working as an agent, he wrote several scripts and the third one was made into a movie called SECOND CHANCES. Since then he has written, directed and produced a number of award-winning shorts and several feature films. Mr. Adams decided to turn several of his scripts into novels and has six of them on Amazon, including the best-seller, FIRST LADY DOWN.

Reviews

[Kenn Goslin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who's your Mama?

This story is very exciting! I am always surprised when I don't catch on to the clues. This time the emotions were challenged to extremes and the action was great!!! This time it' s not for certain faint of heart.