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The Band: A Novel By

Kevin Alexander

 FormatISBN Price  
This Book is Available Paperback (5x8)9781425974084 $ 11.00  
About the Book

Twisters are an age old phenomenon.  But these days, it seems they have somehow, like a virus, mutated to another level.  Is it possible that twisters are now striking specific targets deliberately and intelligently?  How can this be?  And who can fight against the elements? 

 

On Gemstone, a tiny island located in the North Pacific, a team of scientists believe they have discovered a way to counteract the effects of this new breed of elemental foe.

 

A financially powerful bureau backing this team of scientists has recruited a pilot for an unprecedented offensive.  He’s a young daring hotshot named Daniel Ironside with amazing aerial skills.  His mission:  To physically fly into the heart of the twisters wielding experimental technology to avert the crises.  Due to the extreme high risk involved and incredible degree of technical know-how required, he has been given a backup navigator positioned at headquarters’ control tower.  She is a beautiful young woman named Sabrina Chen with a degree in physics and tactical navigation.

 

The primary weapon in the crusade for the bureau is an incredible aircraft called the Maximus.  With its current technology, this small jet can travel up to speeds of Mach 5.

 

The president of the bureau is Braddock Steele.  With his C.E.O., Richard Ford and strategist, Don Gardner, they are constantly in conference to come up with new and effective ways to wage their ongoing war against the twisters and solve the mystery of how they function.
About the Author

Kevin Alexander continues to be fascinated by blue skies, airplanes, leather jackets and boots!  All such elements you’ll note in The Band as he somehow finds a way to make them work into an entertaining and heartfelt adventure that will re-inspire “the kid” in all of us. 

 

Kevin lives with his wife in New York City.  This is his first book.
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The pretty young woman looks up into the midday sky. The sky is a brilliant blue nearly identical to the blue found in her large wide eyes. The sun shines a glorious blanket of yellow rays, matching well with the yellow found in her long blonde hair, the light bouncing off the top of her head and giving her a shimmering effect in middle of the field in which she stands.

It’s a wheat field she stands in, the waist-high golden stalks swaying gently in the summer breeze and brushing against her slightly faded blue jeans. As she gazes into the sky, she admires the aerial grace of two aircraft that fly high above the horizon.

From her perspective, the jets appear to be no larger than two dots in the stratosphere as they seem to dance around one another while they execute their aerial maneuvers. She smiles, clearly entertained by the sight.

Suddenly, the two planes shoot across the sky and are quickly gone from view.

The young woman now drops her eyes back to Earth and catches sight of a black pickup truck in the distance. She watches as it approaches, traveling down the dusty road at the edge of the field, bouncing over the bumps and making its way toward her. It pulls up right in front of her and stops abruptly. The driver looks out the window right at her. It’s an older man with wrinkles that define his rugged facial features. Yet the wrinkles, along with a full head of thick gray hair seem to have a complementary look on him. He has a hurried look on his face.

“Daddy?” The young woman says, now with a look of concern on her own face. She senses the anxiety in her father’s demeanor with a slight overlay of fear. “What is it?”

“Get in the truck, honey.” He says calmly but with a clear tone of urgency. “We have to go now.”

Her face changes instantly from inquisitive to positive, for she knows exactly what her father is talking about. “Where is it?” Her next question proceeds, as she looks around and across the vast field.

“It’s coming behind us.”

She looks out toward the end of the dirt road from which her father came. The road seems to stretch all the way back to the horizon. Suddenly, from behind the horizon a large cloud begins to form. It starts out as a light gray, but then rapidly turns to dark gray as it gets bigger and bigger with each passing second.

With no further questions, she dashes toward the truck.

The cloud slowly rotates clockwise, pulling the winds from the far corners of the skies toward itself.

She flings the door open and jumps in, slamming it behind her.

The cloud gains power rapidly, doubling, then tripling in size, its rotation also quickly gaining momentum.

The old man floors the gas pedal and the tires scratch against the dirt as they spin.

The cloud blacks out much of the sky in its immediate vicinity over the horizon and a broad, thick, dark funnel blasts down from its center, all the way down to strike the earth directly below.

The truck takes off down the trail as the cloud and its funnel, now ominous, black and enormous in size, violently spin round and round as they race up the road.

The woman and her father can hear the wind howling behind them like a mad monster as the funnel seems to be intelligently and deliberately chasing them. “Intelligently and deliberately?“ The thought flashes through the young woman’s mind. No, it can’t be, she quickly concludes, fighting off hysteria and focusing on remaining calm and objective as her father had always taught her from when she was just a little girl.

The truck reaches an asphalt road and the father pushes it to go even faster. The woman looks at the speedometer. Her fingernails dig into the cab’s leather upholstery as she sees the needle reach 100 and climbing. The whirling funnel maintains its close proximity, about 500 yards or so back.

The father can see their destination now just up ahead.

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