EYE OF THE EAGLE by Sharon Buchbinder – Release Blitz

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Prologue

Hotel LaBelle, Billings, Montana

Crouched behind a stand of bushes across the river from the Victorian mansion, the stranger surveyed his surroundings to ensure he wasn’t observed by a late- night visitor. He did his best work under the cover of night when people slept, secure in their dreams. By day, the place buzzed with people coming and going. By night, the pace slowed, as if the hotel took deep breaths and drifted into slumber, resting and recovering for the next sunrise. The shadows served as his allies, hiding his peculiarity from the locals. Night embraced him like a lover, keeping his secrets. Tonight, in the preternatural pause before the incoming storm, all was quiet, except for the call of an owl and the squeaks of nocturnal creatures. Predator and prey.

He’d waited a long time for this special child. With the specific family background he wanted, she was exactly what he needed. It would take time, but he could wait. Patience was one of the things he excelled at. That and taking children away from their homes. He had honed his skills, perfected his technique. But the timing was off and he needed to lay low. No need to arouse suspicion. As he always did, he’d blend in. Beneath the surface, in the shadows, keeping his ear to the ground. Listening, listening, and listening for that one sound that told him the instant had come. When the sign appeared to him, he would be prepared, and no one would be the wiser until it was too late, and the little girl with the wild red hair and large blue eyes was in his possession. Soon, very soon, she would be his.

****

Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, as her husband would say, Tallulah Stewart slipped into the kitchen, flipped the switch for the coffee pot, and began to prep breakfast for her guests. As she sliced the homemade cinnamon bread, she smiled at the thought of the still sleeping Lucius, blissfully unaware of her activities. Ever since her darling daughter came into the world, Tallulah had become a morning lark and Lucius a night owl. With a twenty-four hour a day business like Hotel LaBelle, it was good they alternated shifts. No need for both of them to be exhausted. A huge bolt of lightning flashed, bathing the kitchen in bright light. Moments after, thunder shook the hotel. That was close.

Thank God Miriam takes after her father and sleeps through everything.

A frisson shimmied down her back.

Miriam. Something was wrong with Miriam.

Dread bloomed in her chest, and she struggled to breathe. Knife falling out of her numb hand, Tallulah ran to her child’s room.

Shadows draped the space over her daughter’s nest. Pillows and stuffed animals tilted at all angles and a small lump burrowed deep in the blankets. Tallulah let out a long sigh of relief. Hot or cold, that girl loved her blankets, the more the merrier. Active, even in her sleep, Miriam had been an early walker and climber. Despite parental efforts at containment, from eleven months of age on, each morning the little gymnast had been found on the other side of the bars of the crib. They had surrendered and converted the crib to a toddler bed. Tallulah tip-toed next to her precious bundle, gently slid a quilt back—and screamed.