LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE

For a change of pace and to bring some excitement into my blog I'm posting below the first page and half of my romantic suspense novel, TOO YOUNG TO DIE. If you want to read more, leave a comment and I'll add a few more pages hoping you will be hooked and will order my book. It has had excellent reviews. Check my web site, www.anitabirt.com for an excerpt and excerpts of my five books e-published by Cerridwen Press.

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TOO YOUNG TO DIE.

Chapter One (partial)


"Keep singing, lady."
The armed man sitting across from Ellie in the nursery casually pointed his assault rifle at her. She cuddled the whimpering baby and tried, unsuccessfully, to stay cool and remember the words of the old nursery rhyme.
"Rock-a-Bye baby, on the..."
Her voice cracked on the first line.
"Sing."
"Can't sing. Can't breathe. Throat's too dry. Can I get a drink of water from the bathroom?"
He shambled to his feet. "Don't move. I don't hurt ladies and babies."
"Then what the hell are you doing here?" Ellie shifted Nicki from one arm to the other and gulped air into her oxygen-deprived lungs.
"Don't give me that crap. You're up to your neck in this same as the rest." He slung the weapon under his arm. "Sing to the kid while I get you a drink."
"I can't."
"Do it and keep the kid quiet." He lowered his brows. His eyes sank into folds of scar tissue. "Sing about the mocking bird. You sang it before."
Ellie cleared her tense throat. "Hush little baby, don't say a word...that one?"
He nodded and propped his beefy shoulder against the door. "My old lady used to sing it to my little sister."
The gorilla had a human mother. Hard to believe he hadn't come fully formed from the lab of a mad scientist.
"Please get me some water. I'll sing it and a couple more."
If she escaped from the house alive, she'd never answer another advertisement for a nanny. Magda and Stefan Blesnicoff had seemed such a nice couple. They'd sent their chauffeur to drive her from Seattle to their estate in the Cascades. She'd been with them a week and tonight she might die, blown away in a hail of bullets.
She choked back a sob. She was too young to die. So was Nicki. He squirmed and screwed up his face. "It's all right, Sweetie." She fought back her panic. Stay calm. Stick to a routine. She held him against her shoulder and patted his back. "You're hungry aren't you?"

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