Authorpreneur Dashboard – Ken Cressman
The Flight of the Sparrow
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
The Sparrow is a top secret surveillance aircraft, and it's been stolen. Former government agent David Larkin and his partner Samantha Colt have been hired to get it back. They track the Sparrow to the secret underground base of a ruthless mercenary and his band of highly-trained soldiers, where getting the Sparrow back could get them both killed.
Book Bubbles from The Flight of the Sparrow
Forming a Plan
As Larkin and Colt search for the Sparrow, they continue to find the situation is far different than they had been led to believe. They encounter a technician who can't seem to decide which side he's on, and as the situation becomes even more bizarre, it seems the more they learn the less they know. As they try to make sense of what little they know, they begin forming a plan of action to save themselves and they people they've come to rescue...
Samantha Colt
There is a long tradition of a "good" hero having a somewhat darker, more serious, or more dangerous partner, from Star Trek's Kirk and Spock to Robert Parker's Spenser and Hawk. My hero, David Larkin is so confident and calm as to seem almost laid back, and he has a wry sense of humor. In contrast, his partner Samantha Colt is serious, dangerous, and can sometimes be deadly. I used to know a young woman very like her many years ago. She came from an unhappy home, and at work she wanted only to do her job and be left alone. But some of the guys refused to leave her alone and would make rude or suggestive comments when she walked by. She ignored them. One day one of them stepped in front of her, blocking her path. Without breaking stride she pulled back her arm and punched him in the stomach, hard. He dropped to his knees and she walked around him and continued on her way. Colt is based partly on her.
The Tank
Larkin has been captured by the bad guys, who need to put him out of commission but want to make it look like an accident. I've been told that the way Larkin come up with to get himself out of the tank might be borderline implausible, but to test it I actually did what he did myself (minus the water) and it really does work. It's actually easier than you might think!
It was supposed to be easy…
I was looking for a way to introduce the main character, the hero, before the theft that begins the story and sets the action in motion. He has experience in recovering stolen property and uses these skills to do favors for friends. I decided the object of this recovery should be a rare coin. In researching coins I came across the 1933 double eagle, a $20 gold piece, only one of which is legally owned by a private individual. Others have turned up over the years, but these have always been seized by the government and destroyed. Anyone who had lost one of these coins would be unable to report it to the police and have no recourse but to hire a specialist (like Larkin) to steal it back.
