The Choices: A Treasure Hunt Thriller
Alan L. Moss
Publication date: October 15th 2021
Genres: Adult, Thriller
Sixty-six million years ago, the Chicxulub asteroid crashed into the Yucatan peninsula. Its heat and dust killed the dinosaurs and most other species on the planet.
Based on newly generated NASA measurements and a unique theory, a Ph.D. geology student concludes the Chicxulub asteroid created a fortune in hidden diamonds. When she discovers her business partner and financier is of questionable character, she escapes to Canada to plan an expedition to mine the stones.
Gary Levin arrives in the same Canadian village to mourn the loss of his wife, senselessly murdered during a white supremacist shooting. He soon finds a wounded golden retriever and a flash drive of unknown origin.
Puzzled by information on the flash drive, Levin learns the data could guide mining the fortune in diamonds from Mexico’s Yucatan cenotes (underground water channels). Although there is danger diving/mining the waters and evidence of opposition plotting their demise, the lure of the diamonds and the opulence they represent are too much to resist.
Levin and his companions crisscross the globe in a race to obtain the diamonds before the spurned financier and an approaching hurricane can disrupt their efforts.
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EXCERPT:
Without warning, the cabin door burst open, and three men entered. One, with a full beard, wearing a black flight jacket, slammed the door shut. It popped back open and remained that way.
Mia dove for her pistol. Another man slapped it out of her hand. He held her against the wall, his hand around her neck.
“Hello, Mia, it’s very nice to see you at last. We met with Cornell, and we know the data we’ve financed is on a single flash drive. Azeer will forget your transgressions if you give it up. If you don’t, I promise, the suffering you will endure will make you wish you had.”
A tall man with a gray ponytail delivered the words in a calm and calculated manner. The look in his eye screamed enforcer.
Gracie bared her teeth, growling menacingly. Knowing the men wouldn’t think twice about doing away with the dog, Mia said a few soft words, and Gracie calmed, although she still looked concerned. Mia looked at the men, fighting to appear confident. The drive, worth billions of dollars, was in the right-hand pocket of her jeans. She bluffed.
“You think I’m stupid enough to have the drive with me? It’s hundreds of miles from here in a safe deposit box. If you do away with me, no one, including Azeer, will ever see it.”
Although she was no athlete, Mia, thanks to Adrienne, had a jogger’s trim, fit appearance. The man with the full beard wasn’t impressed. He grabbed Mia and slammed her against the wall. She bounced off, falling into Gracie’s water bowl next to the dish of fresh dog food. Recognizing this would not end well, Mia slipped one of the dog’s treats she carried in her pocket along with the flash drive into the dish of food.
Despite concern for her master, the treat was too much to resist. While the bearded bully dragged Mia away by her hair, the dog gulped down the contents of the dish, including the data storage device.
From her knees, Mia spotted her pistol. She picked it up from behind a chair and got off a shot, barely missing the man with the ponytail. Then she delivered a desperate punch to the bearded man’s crotch. He doubled over in pain. The ponytailed man panicked, ignoring the combatants.
Author Bio:
Alan L. Moss is a unique and emerging voice in the thriller genre. His novels spin sophisticated tales of conspiracy, love, sex, and subterfuge.
In his latest work, The Samoa Seduction, two strong willed individuals are haunted by their love for one another while manipulated by a deadly conspiracy.
Alan's writing draws upon Ph. D. research capabilities and many years in Washington, D.C. as a federal Chief Economist, Congressional Fellow, and Adjunct Instructor at the University of Virginia's Northern Virginia Center. In 2002 he put his government career aside and moved to the Jersey Shore to pursue his writing.
He has penned six published books, four novels and two nonfiction works. After years of politics and bureaucracy, Alan has found the freedom of writing fiction an intoxicating and satisfying calling.
Distinguishing features of Alan's novels are involvement with significant national and international issues and spectacular locations. His new novel, The Samoa Seduction (October 2015 by A-Argus Books/W & B Publishers) is an eye opening thriller that combines the action of a drug company conspiracy, industry efforts to suppress wages, and government corruption with murder and a steamy affair. Settings include Samoa's lush scenery, the Central Canterbury Plains of New Zealand's south island, a resort on Hawaii's Molokai Island, the TranzAlpine Railroad, and tuna fishing vessels on the Tasman Sea.
Alan’s previous work on The Insidious Deception Saga chronicles how a pre-med student and brilliant college professor become entangled in conspiracies hatched by al Qaeda and a ruthless CEO. The two resulting novels include:Insidious Deception (Whiskey Creek Press 2013), and the sequel, Surviving the Endgame (Whiskey Creek Press 2014), in which a presidential election becomes a deadly contest between the international conspirators and those seeking their destruction. Rob Taylor, the series' protagonist, finds the love of his life and struggles to protect her from the conspiracy's violent tentacles.
Turning to Alan's nonfiction work, in May 2008 Praeger Publishing released Selling-Out America’s Democracy. The book shows how special interests, through their lobbyists and the U.S. system of campaign financing, have denied a majority of the American population the policies they seek and have led the nation into a period of decline. The book includes telling interviews of Washington insiders and a four-part plan to restore the U.S. democracy. Copies are available at www.amazon.com and other web book sites.
Alan is a member of the Authors Guild, International Thriller Writers, and the American Political Science Association.
For more information about Alan and his writing, see www.alanlmoss.com.
See Alan's BLOG columns at www.alanlmossmyview.com.
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