Release date: July 9, 2019
Subgenre: Science fiction mystery
About Pursuits Unknown:
Amy and her kelpie-shepherd mix, Lars, work with a search team that
specializes in finding lost people. Despite his average-mutt appearance,
Lars is no ordinary dog. He and Amy have a telepathic connection. While
Lars has a lot to learn about human language, their bond allows them to
communicate in unusual ways and is a boon to their success rate.
When Amy and Lars find a missing scientist suffering from the Alzheimer's-like disorder "Disorientation," Amy and her support team realize this is not a typical lost-person case. Instead, this assignment appears to be an attempt to steal this man's highly sensitive research on nanotechnology―which, in the wrong hands, could be used to wipe out undesirables from their overpopulated world. Forced to go undercover to seek out the truth, Amy will have to confront―and surpass―her own limitations.
When Amy and Lars find a missing scientist suffering from the Alzheimer's-like disorder "Disorientation," Amy and her support team realize this is not a typical lost-person case. Instead, this assignment appears to be an attempt to steal this man's highly sensitive research on nanotechnology―which, in the wrong hands, could be used to wipe out undesirables from their overpopulated world. Forced to go undercover to seek out the truth, Amy will have to confront―and surpass―her own limitations.
Excerpt:
Amy was working on one of their Public
Relations articles when her incoming call message light flashed. It was
Detective Beth Hanscom again. Amy answered the call and Beth appeared on the
screen. “Detective Hanscom, how are you?”
“Hello, Agent Callahan, and
please call me Beth,” she said, smiling.
“Only if you call me Amy.
What can I do for you?” she said, relaxing into her chair. “Oh, if this is
sensitive, I can put a headset on.”
Beth was looking at
something just off the screen. She looked like she was reading. “Don’t worry
about it. I just got a report that there’s been a break-in at Nanology, where
Herman and Lincoln worked.”
“Uh-oh.” Amy brushed back
her hair.
“I thought you would find
it interesting that someone got in using Herman’s thumbprint.”
Amy frowned. “I don’t have
a good feeling about this.”
“I didn’t think you would.
They stole a couple of data units using his thumbprint to release them from
their dock.”
“Must be some thumb, and I
assume that Herman wasn’t on another walkabout?”
“Nope. Not one, but two
alibis. The break-in happened around 9:00 p.m. Herman was at home watching a
paid movie from one of the studios with his wife, and he called one of his kids
later.”
Seizing on the random
detail, Amy asked, “Herman was watching a movie?”
Beth laughed. “I think it
was Carolyn doing the actual watching, but she says he was there.”
“But somehow I think that’s
not why you called.”
Amy could tell Beth was
gesticulating with her hands, even though she couldn’t see them. “She gets it
in one try! Before I send a team in, I’d like you and Lars to take a sniff
around to see if you can find any olfactory correlation, if I’m using my terms
correctly. Do you have time?”
Putting on her jacket, Amy
said, “You have just saved me from my treatise on interspecies dog–human
communication.”
“I’m sending you the
address.”
“We’ll be right there.”
Amy and Lars pulled up at Nanology. Like LAI,
it was a two-story structure, but larger, with a more guarded appearance.
Smaller windows looked out of dark red, stone-like walls. Carefully placed
maples stood by the entrance where Beth was waiting.
Inside, they were met by a
young, serious-looking woman who had the distracted appearance of someone whose
day had been completely rearranged.
Beth showed her ID and
shook hands. “You must be Ann. Karen told me you’re the IT person who would be
meeting us.”
Ann smiled and shrugged,
rearranging her black hair with one hand. “Yes, I’ll be taking you back into
the scientists’ work area. We will be walking past the labs, but we won’t be
going in them so we don’t have to change clothes or put on coats, masks, or caps—which
is a relief.”
Beth said, “And while the
opportunity to play dress-up would be fun, that’s not why we’re here.”
“And you probably don’t
have Lars’s size anyway,” Amy said.
Ann looked down as if she
hadn’t seen him before. She smiled and said, “No, I think not.”
Amazon
About Ellen Clary:
Ellen Clary is a dog-owning computer professional who has both
literary and technical college degrees. She has a love of dog
behavior and training, as well as a dog sports habit. Formerly a
humor writer, she now wants to write dog-related novels that she,
and others, would like to read. A California native, she now lives
in a Victorian house in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife
and dogs.
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