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Synopsis
Business is war.
And Luke Tanner is about to be its latest casualty. He's overheard
men conspiring to gain control of a $1 billion piece of business
by using a unique strategy - the murder of the two CEO's who control
it.
The conspirators discover that Luke has overheard
them and try to kill him. But he gets away. To silence him, they
kidnap his girlfriend, pediatrician Dr. Jenna Johannson.
When the kidnappers try to kill them,
Luke and Jenna manage to escape, only to discover that the $1
billion business - a massive worldwide automotive advertising
account - is his. Luke also discovers that it's too late to save
the lives of his CEO and client - because at that very moment,
the two men are in the Yucatan Peninsula, unreachable by phone
and about to walk into the assassins' trap.
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An excerpt from Business
to Kill For:
Luke Tanner
sat in a hushed alcove of Detroit's cavernous Renaissance Center,
staring at shimmering silver coins in a nearby fountain, unable
to look away, even though he should have been writing a television
commercial with a cool forty million dollars riding
on it.
Sipping lukewarm coffee, he forced
his attention up to the multi-floored atrium. It reminded him
of a concrete canyon. Balconies hunched over balconies, people
leaning over them, peering down, watching people. He liked watching
people watch people.
Tanner had slipped away from his
office upstairs, where he was creative director of Connor Dow
Advertising. He often tried to escape in the afternoon to work
in his creative cranny, a quiet refuge that, he noticed, was quickly
becoming less quiet.
Men, unseen and mumbling, scraped
chairs up to a table on the other side of the alcove abutment
that blocked his view of them.
He considered leaving, but decided
to stay and finish the commercial for a prospective client with
an amazing new glue. He wanted to create a commercial as exciting
as the product, but so far his ideas packed all the excitement
of a wet sock. And he didn't have much time. His producer wanted
a concept for the commercial in thirty minutes.
The men were whispering now. Terrific,
he thought, knowing he was hooked. He leaned closer to hear.
"Let's get this over with,"
said a deep, impatient voice. "Is everything arranged?"
"Yes, everythin'," said
a man with a thick Spanish accent. "What about these Siamese
Twins guys? They still hunt in same place?"
"Yes," the first man said.
An American accent.
"Excelente."
"Their accident is arranged?"
"Sí.Yes."
"It must look like an accident."
"It will."
"Tell me about it," the
American said.
"Cuatro Narices."
"What?"
"'Four
Noses' we call them. Six-foot black serpientes. Snakes. Killers.
Jungle full of them. The Twins will walk into a nest. We help
a little."
"And if the snakes don't kill
them?"
"Amigo," the man said,
chuckling, "when this many cuatro narices bite you, you die."
"This Sunday," the American
said.
"Sí."
Luke
Tanner grinned. This had to be Berger and the bozos from the office,
faking accents. They almost had him. He started to shout, "What
time Sunday?" then something told him not to.
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