OVERCOMING THE DARKNESS

Frightened of the gunman, the customers in the store looked downward. Two friends had stepped inside of a store to purchase a few groceries while their wives waited outside. Tensely, the two men had stood within feet of one another for just a moment in time. Quietness was disturbed when a bottle had accidently been knocked to the floor. The man with a rifle had quick reflexes. Swiftly, he fired a shot. The bullet traveled at more than 1000 feet per second in the direction of the sudden, loud sound. The small lead projectile missed one friend but ended the life of the other. John was not seen by the gunman and he never heard the sound of the bullet fired from the rifle. Upon seeing a man with a rifle, John had hidden inside of a small office. The office for the grocery store's meat department had just been large enough for him to squeeze into a space where he could not be seen. John's friend Wayne had been ordered at gunpoint to stand against the wall outside of the same office.

Not finding his friend John at the car, he told John's wife Patti what had transpired. Patty raced towards the front of the store, but she was not allowed inside. They waited in the car to shield themselves from the gusts of the hot Santa Ana wind. Time dragged by; it was longest wait any of them would ever experience. Disbelieving that it was John they had watched being wheeled out to the waiting ambulance, Patti held back her tears for as long as she could. Shocked by the traumatic experience, it caused a sadness that almost overwhelmed her. It was a sadness whose depth couldn't be measured. Laura put her arm around Patti and held her in a comforting way. Patti whispered, "Heaven is not far off, it's closer than we think, isn't it?"

Elsewhere, Lori and Chip Martin had been having an enjoyable day alone, together. They were unaware of the shooting that had taken place at a market near where they lived. How happy they had been on that windy, late summer's day in August. Hot, autumn winds had come early and like a full moon, the winds would be blamed as the cause of all that happened that day. Sad events were to burn through the lives of the Martin family. Who could have imagined that they would be involved in a fatal encounter, where the same gunmen who had shot John would soon cause Lori's heart to also stop beating?

Peter Gates and Patti Bradford come together to confront the group who were involved in the killings. They were both determined to end the darkness that had come about in their lives. There are descriptions of harrowing escapes abroad, following suspects to isolated places in the Pacific Northwest, mingled with Tea at the Empress Hotel. The killers were concealed well and except for a sword they had stolen, there was no known link to the group.

The novel has descriptions of artists' paintings, high quality gems, gold and platinum mining, and travels through the U.S. and parts of Europe. Peter and Patti pursue clues from Southern California to Amsterdam, to The Hague, to Rome, to London and then back to the Northwestern United States and Canada. "Overcoming Darkness" is a mystery novel with interesting storytelling while describing adventures and overcoming sadness.