EXCERPT: THE LOST POWER, COPYRIGHT 2019
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION
CHAPTER 1

Napa Valley, California, June 25, 8:56 a.m., Present Day

Through the crosshairs of his long-barreled sweetheart, Ivan scanned the wood-casement window of the vineyard's stone-walled residence, and waited for his intended target to walk into view. His movements were slow and meticulous.
Lying in the loft of an old barn, he calculated range, altitude, temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, and humidity. His skin was irritated by the coarse hay that surrounded him, but he ignored the sensation and focused on his calculations. Click. He made a minor adjustment on his rifle to account for the drop of the round due to air density. And another for windage.
Although misty rivers of fog swirled into gray whirlpools around the winery, the computer-enhanced scope of his Springfield EBR allowed him to visually lock onto the home's large bank of windows. Human movement flickered behind the glass.
He didn't want to pull the trigger. Nevertheless, Ivan waited for the perfect moment, the perfect shot.

CHAPTER 2

8:57 a.m.

As she headed toward her father's vineyard, Maddy drove as fast as she dared down a familiar tree-lined Napa country lane. Today, she didn't recognize the road. It looked eerie and unnatural. The area was draped in sheets of fog from yesterday's unseasonable rain, and the silver half-light gave the trees an ethereal patina.
"Sensei, would you kill someone if you had to?" AJ asked.
Surprised, Maddy frowned. "I'm not a sensei yet, remember?" She paused for a moment before she replied to his query. "Where did that question come from?"
"We were talking about it in the locker room at the dojo after class. We know aikido is about non-violence, but what if you don't have a choice?" His voice dropped to a dramatic whisper. "What if it was kill or be killed?"
Maddy shook her head. The things children thought about. "I would always look for another way."
She glanced over at AJ, glad she'd brought him along today. His ears stuck out and his face was dotted with freckles. She found him adorable.
"Okay. Can martial arts masters light paper on fire with just their hands?"
Maddy halted the car at a stop sign and peered through the swirling, patchy fog, trying to get her bearings while she figured out how to answer this question. The mist distorted everything. She turned right.
Without warning, a smothering mass of black, rustling feathers flew toward the car. She flinched in her seat and slammed on the car brakes. Her heart pounded. She stopped breathing and scanned the road ahead of her. After a long moment, she realized with chagrin that she had just scared a bunch of ugly, red-faced black turkey vultures into flight by turning onto a new road after a stop sign.
She took a deep breath. It wasn't like her to be so jumpy. She was, after all, shodan, a first-dan black belt. But the sudden movement of wings, obscured through the morning's foggy haze, had pulled her off balance. Maddy gave the car some gas and it inched forward down the road.
Maddy looked over at AJ. "Are you okay?"
AJ laughed. "I'm okay. But that scared you!"
"Did not!" Maddy replied, twisting her ponytail.
"Did too—I saw you jump! And you smashed on the brakes."
Maddy grinned for a moment at the childish banter and AJ's creative language. It could be a happy day, in spite of everything. She loved AJ, she and Vincent had even talked about adopting him. Vincent, her former fiancé. Of course, that was before the breakup. Since then, she'd been feeling brittle, and the nightmare last night didn't help. The dream was gut-wrenching. Although the sensation had faded in the dim light of morning, much of it lingered like a bad relationship. That dream was probably why she was on edge and had jumped at the thrashing wings.
She looked at the dash clock—only a few minutes late. Heart still beating faster than normal, she turned down the long shadowy driveway of the once proud vineyard.