Stone Lion: Modern Western Suspense

Publisher Marketing: TERROR COMES TO REMOTE WEST TEXAS. . . Terrorists are hell-bent on crossing the border into Texas to infiltrate and become established in major cities across the U. S. Their objective is eradication of millions of the U. S. population with a biological weapon of mass destruction. The Border Patrol, FBI, and local authorities search for the terrorists who are reported traveling north from Columbia, through Mexico, and into remote West Texas. Initially only a portion of the vials of virus are found. The biologic material is discovered to be a greatly enhanced super virus that has been engineered for weaponization. With the combined efforts of the Border Patrol, FBI, a local rancher, and two FBI Special Paranormal Crime Investigators, the dangerous plot is unraveled. This story with its honorable and evil characters, murder and madness, plots and sub-plots has a good dose of humor, community unity, and family love threaded throughout it telling. It reveals a life path will sometimes lead a person to unknown and mysterious places with events along the way changing the direction of one's life in the most unexpected ways. Alanna Maire O'Quinn has helped the FBI for years by using one of her inherit paranormal skills . . . she can communicate with the ethereal remaining essences of the dead . . . 'source remains'. With this skill she gathers information from dead criminals or victims at crime scenes, morgues, funeral homes, and cemeteries, enabling the FBI to solve crimes faster. After several back to back multiple murder investigations, Alanna and her two humorous and adventurous earth spirit companions leave her home in South Carolina to go on a rambling trip across the U. S. to rest and recuperate. Letting spiritual signs guide the way, Alanna wanders along the highways. Along the way she gathers a collection of words and phrases . . . a 'word puzzle' to solve. All signs move her toward West Texas to the Davis Mountains and the town of Ft. Davis. The raw beauty of the mountains gives no hint to the challenges and changes it would bring to her life. Joseph Chandler York owns and operates the York Three J Ranch, a sixty-thousand acre thoroughbred horse and cattle ranch in the Ft. Davis, Texas area. No one on the ranch is blood related, but they come together as a very close family. Joseph has always taken his family and crew's wellbeing to heart. He is horrified with the realization that he, his family, and land are being used by a psychopathic killer who organized the effort to bring the terrorists across the border into Texas. The responsibility of the ranch and being the guardian of Nathan, a friend's son, weighs heavily on Joseph's shoulders. This doesn't stop him from volunteering when a longtime friend, Les Connor, of the U. S. Border Patrol called asking for his help on a special mission. Les knew Joseph had the necessary skills from their time together in the U. S. Marines. Joseph has faced many trials in his life starting from a very young age; one self-imposed misery has plagued him for fourteen years. With the turmoil on the border, clash of wills when meeting Alanna O'Quinn, the arrival of more FBI, and rushing to undercover the answers to the mysteries surrounding the border crossing, Joseph finally comes to terms with the fact his life's path has gotten him to where he needs to be.