Sandman - A Val Bosanquet Mystery

Hi, Wattpaders.

I'm posting the first third of my new book Sandman, the fourth title in the Val Bosanquet mysteries. If you read anything that sounds out of place, I would appreciate hearing about it. Thank you.

AJ 

A former Guantanamo guard is targeting Louisiana fracking gas pads using hijacked government drones.

When Deputy Sheriff Val Bosanquet is seconded to the Department of Homeland Security he discovers that the usual rules do not apply. Tasked with the investigation of his friend Dave McElligott, suspected of conspiring with a domestic terrorist known as Sandman, Val battles to prevent a bloodbath.

Chapter 1

The shooter turned the Ford sedan off the highway onto a gravel track that crossed the open pasture, straight as a bullet’s trajectory, for a thousand yards before it disappeared into woodland on the horizon. Spring had come early to Louisiana and the grass was knee-high, the strong sun already bleaching the green sward. A strengthening wind riffled the grass as storm clouds cast threatening shadows. A hundred yards back from the two-lane, concert promoters had erected an advertising billboard. The Four Corners Christian Cajun and Rock festival was coming to Jackson. The Owen family, five blonde and blue-eyed Montana siblings, was to be the star attraction.

Potholes along the track gave the sedan’s shocks a thorough workout as the vehicle bumped towards the tree line. The shooter checked the time on the dash digital clock; first to arrive on site, just as planned. There were no buildings, commercial or residential, within a half-mile radius of the makeshift road. Apart from the occupants of the vehicles passing by on the highway, too distant to see anything of value, it was almost certain there would be no worthwhile witnesses.

The shooter had killed before, on more than one occasion, but today would be a sterner test. Challenging enough for the shooter to wonder who would survive to drive back along the track to the highway and who would be making the journey in a coroner’s truck. The uncertainty ensured that plenty of adrenaline would be finding its way into the shooter’s blood stream. Any edge could prove valuable.

Weapon du jour would be a SIG P226, with a fully loaded magazine. A Ruger revolver was the back-up choice, but drawing it could only mean that there had been a miscalculation and the odds were too great to overcome. A cell phone lay on the passenger seat, switched off for the drive to Jackson. No tower triangulation record would ever exist to betray the shooter’s presence.

The shooter drove a short distance into the woods before turning the vehicle around and backtracking to just inside the tree line. The sound of the engine died.

All was ready.

Chapter 2

The wind picked up during the home blessing held by Nicki and Pete Blemings for their young son. It was blowing hard by the time the assembled guests started to leave the Blemings’s house for the short trip to a local restaurant. Leaves and debris swirled around in dust devils across the front yard. A lengthy gust ballooned the minister’s black robe and the sixty-six-year-old struggled to keep his feet. Nicki held tight to baby Rick as she and her husband made a dash for their vehicle. The church baptismal service had taken place the previous Sunday and the proud parents thought it would be neat to invite their many friends and family members to celebrate the event with a blessing at their home followed by a meal.

The photographer shrugged, replaced the lens cap on his Nikon and released the catch on the tripod. The picture taking would have to wait until they were inside.