Patricia E. Peterson
THE CHATELAINE CONNECTION is a fresh contemporary fiction filled with daring suspense about international high-stakes medical research around illegal stem-cell experimentation. Barrister Emma Llewelyn is drawn into a dangerous situation when she accepts a case for a new client, Lucinda Rudolphi. With her investigator, Dillon O’Rourke, this case takes them to Italy, where Emma is targeted for kidnapping. Unaware her grandfather, Cyrus MacKenna, is an agent in Interpol investigating this notorious Rudolphi organization, Emma gets caught up in Interpol’s intrigue while pursuing information for Lucinda about the death of her children. Cyrus blames this danger on Emma’s relationship to Lucinda Rudolphi, wife of the most powerful Rudolphi! His "MacKenna trait" tells him there is another darker reason for her danger…a secret from Emma’s past. In a gripping climax, each character’s schema holds a key to unlock the secret of THE CHATELAINE CONNECTION.
Patricia E. Peterson graduated from Nazareth College in Rochester, New York, with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She retired from nursing after thirty-five years of clinical and managerial practice to return to academia to pursue a second career in law. She currently practices as a nurse paralegal in a Boston law firm specializing in medical malpractice law. She is married to Paul Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Physics, and they raised three children. From her combined years of medical and legal experience, she has launched a new career and penned her first novel, The Chatelaine Connection. Currently she is writing a sequel, THE METHUSELAH CONSPIRACY.
Ever so slowly Emma started crawling on the ground to blend in with the blackness of the night, still not knowing exactly where her assailant was inside the gardens! Muffled voices were getting louder and closer to her! Instantly flattening herself on the ground, the muffled sounds were only a few feet away directly in front of her face - two sets of boots - one pair…heavy lug-soled boots! Whispering, "Oh my God, there’s two of them searching for me!"
"She’s this way!" One of them cried out, as the noise of the crashing bushes in front of her echoed with thunderous footsteps coming in her direction. Instinct told Emma to move - run! Seeing an opening in the thick shrubbery just ahead, she got up and ran as fast as she could. The thick thorny shrubs tore at her clothes and face as she forced herself through the heavy undergrowth losing her cap in the shrubbery while crouching low. The spiny thicket caught her hair in a tangled grip holding her back…making it harder for her to move swiftly. Again, dropping flat on the ground to blend in with the deepest darkness, she listened for the sounds of running footsteps Emma knew she was too vulnerable staying in any one spot too long! All the while she kept scanning the darkness…listening for sounds of street noises - honking horns to try for the nearest exit!
"Li e laggui!" One of the assailants yelled
"Ll Cristo, non lascia la sua portala l’uscital!" The other yelled back
"Lei va giustamente dirigerla via da raggiungere la strada! L’afferrero se viene guesta maniera! L’automobile e all’uscita di Manin!" Emma heard their commands to each other and knew they were splitting up to find her and take her to a car.
"Oh, God! No! Please no!" Emma softly cried out.
