Atlas
The
Atlas Series, Book
1
by Becca
C. Smith
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Red Frog Publishing
Date of Publication: 11/14/13
ISBN: 978-0985027667 (Ebook)
ISBN: 978-1493648375 (Print)
ASIN: B00GPBF8X2
Number of pages: 293
Word Count: 73,000
Cover Artist: Stephan Fleet
*********************
Book Description:
Kala Hicks is part of a covert
elite military team that answers directly to the President of the United
States. But during an emergency mission aboard Air Force One, Kala is shocked
to discover that the real threat is none other than the President himself.
Defying her commanding officer, Jack Norbin, Kala takes the shot, and her life
changes forever.
The moment the President is
killed, a supernatural force speaks to Kala, telling her that she has to commit
one act of atrocity every four days… or the world will end. Thrown into a
reality she never could have imagined, Kala faces off with creatures of legend;
from demons determined to make her fail and plunge the Earth into chaos, to
angels who don’t trust her to do the job and are willing to kill her to claim
it for themselves.
Pitted against the forces of good
and evil, Kala must choose whether to save the world by doing the unthinkable,
or sit back and let it burn. And four days later, she’ll have to do it again.
*********************
Excerpt:
Very carefully,
Jack opened the door that led to the President’s office.
What awaited
them was terrifying.
President Jareth
Wilton stood behind his desk. He was wearing a vest that held five grey bars of
C-4 wired into a bomb. Wilton was a tall man, well over six feet with stark
black hair and a long face. He was a young President, only fifty years old, but
he looked like he’d aged twenty years since the last time Kala had seen him at
a press conference, with dark rings under his eyes and worry lines on his
forehead.
But his smile
was what made the scene surreal and horrific. His thin lips were grinning as if
he’d just climbed Mt. Everest.
President Wilton
stared directly at Jack as the door swung open the rest of the way. “I figured
it out! I figured out how to break it! No one will ever have to do what I’ve
had to do again! Do you realize what this means?”
Kala knew then
and there that the man was cracked. Figured what out? Break what? He was
rambling like a mad man.
But the more
frightening moment came when Jack responded back to Wilton. “Killing yourself
is impossible. People have tried that in the past.”
Not only was
President Wilton talking crazy, but apparently Jack knew his language and was
responding accordingly.
Kala noticed
that Wilton’s eyes lit up when Jack spoke. “You’re the one they sent to replace
me.”
Jack nodded.
What?
Kala was seriously confused.
Kala spoke up,
“What’s going on Jack?”
Replace him for
what?
Jack didn’t
acknowledge Kala or the rest of the team, which was shifting uncomfortably
behind him.
Wilton shook his
head, serious. “You can’t do it. You have to let me detonate this bomb. We have
to crash the plane! It’s the only way to stop it!”
“You can’t stop
it!” Jack yelled back.
“I can and I
will!” Wilton talked into an earpiece. “NOW!”
The plane
nose-dived.
Everyone jolted
forward and stumbled from the force of it.
Jack barked
orders, “Lali get up to the Flight Deck and by any means necessary take over
this plane!”
Lali paused for
a second, she looked more confused than Kala felt, but after a moment to gain
her bearings as the plane was falling fast, she managed to high-tail it out of
the room and up to the Flight Deck.
Kala was sure
they’d hit ground at any moment.
Jack aimed his
gun at the President’s head.
Wilton was
frantic. He ducked behind his large oak desk that was bolted to the ground.
“You can’t kill
me! You’ll ruin everything!” Wilton yelled.
Jack turned to
Kala and Derek. “No one shoots him but me!”
Kala kind of
nodded, but she was in shock at the fact that they were about to flatten a part
of the capital with Air Force One. She really didn’t care what Jack was saying.
She couldn’t let President Wilton set off that bomb and kill thousands.
Jack shot at the
desk, trying to hit the president, but he didn’t come close.
Only Kala could
make a shot like that and not get them all killed from shooting a hole through
the plane.
Kala and Derek
made eye contact. Kala could tell Derek was thinking the same thing. He
whispered so only Kala could hear, “Do it.”
Kala’s nod was
barely perceptible.
Jack saw her and
his eyes went wide. “Kala STOP!”
Kala shrugged.
“I can’t let him do this, Jack. I’m sorry.”
Only the top of
Wilton’s head was showing.
It was enough.
Kala took her shot.
*********************
About
the Author:
Becca C. Smith received her Film
degree from Full Sail University and has worked in the Film and Television
industry for most of her adult life. In 2010 Becca published her first novel,
Riser followed by the sequel, Reaper, in 2011, and the finale, Ripper in 2013.
In 2012 Becca wrote the children’s novel Alexis Tappendorf and the Search for
Beale’s Treasure. She is also the co-author of the teen graphic novel Ghost
Whisperer: The Haunted.
Becca currently lives in Los
Angeles, CA with her husband, Stephan and their two cats Jack and Duke.
Website: http://www.beccacsmith.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/therisersaga
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