A Radical Sacrifice

By J. L. Bircher

"A Radical Sacrifice" brings back into the readers' lives Josh and Mindy Taylor- Nicholson from "Strategy Murders". Events unfold that lead to Mindy and her intended maid of honor, Kendi Karson who was her sorority sister in college, are shot. DNA found at recent crime scenes in Fredericksburg, Virginia involving three young blacks belongs to Kendi's twin brother, a man who was murdered six months ago. Mindy is shot in the shoulder and cannot remember anything, not even Kendi. Kendi was shot in the head and is being cared for in a secluded facility as she lies in a coma. Josh suspects the Ku Klux Klan may be involved, but until Mindy can remember or Kendi wakes up from her coma, Josh is in the dark on how to proceed or how to keep his finance' and Kendi alive!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503584662

J. L. Bircher

"A Radical Sacrifice" is being published on the heels of "Strategy Murders" simply because Jean enjoys writing and being creative. Since her husband retired, he has become an avid golfer which gives Jean private time to concentrate on making her characters come alive for her readers. The time she spends with her husband when at home involves watching movies while sharing a "large" bowl of popcorn. They also enjoy camping, but leave their two dogs and two cats at home in the care of a "sitter". Evenings spent in front of a wood fire provides the time for Jean and her husband to share and communicate as they believe this is what keeps their marriage healthy and loving. Currently they are planning an eighteen-day cruise in October that will include spending time enjoying the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands. Much of the time will be spent on the ocean and Jean hopes to begin her next book in the series she has created.

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Copyright © 2015 by J. L. Bircher.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2015911060

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5035-8468-6

      Softcover      978-1-5035-8467-9

      eBook      978-1-5035-8466-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 07/13/2015

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Contents

Author’s Note:

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Epilogue

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AUTHOR’S NOTE:

This book deals with a very delicate theme. It is requested that the reader be conscious of the fact that this book is fiction and does not in any way reflect the actual beliefs or actions of the parties involved. All references made to certain events are strictly from the author’s imagination while historical documentation was relied upon for accuracy.

A Radical Sacrifice is the second book in what is hoped to be a series that follows Josh Nicholson, FBI Agent, and Mindy Taylor Nicholson, Forensics Analyst, as they work together solving homicides wherever their assistance is requested. Josh insists on his team joining the investigations. The team consists of Brice Canfield, Bernie Duncan and Hunter McKay, all of whom you met in the first book of the series, Strategy Murders.

A Radical Sacrifice opens with Kendra Karson who experiences an eerie occurrence that leads her to remembering an incident twenty years earlier. Her twin brother, Keith, had come to her rescue. Now, with Keith murdered and the eerie occurrence along with the call from Mindy asking Kendra to be her Maid of Honor, a series of events is set into motion that will hopefully prevent you, the reader, from putting down A Radical Sacrifice.

Strategy Murders ends with Kendi’s arrival at the town house of Josh Nicholson and immediate gunfire ensues. Mindy and Kendi are both shot. The marriage of Josh and Mindy is delayed. Find out how it all unfolds and, as the characters become a part of your lives, feel their happiness, sorrow, pain, fear, and intelligence as they bring you into their world. Thank you for reading my manuscripts and I will do my best to keep them coming!

Best Regards,

JL Bircher

PREFACE

A tingling in the back of her neck awakened her from a sound sleep and the recurring dream she could not remember. She slowly got out of bed and put on her robe as she slipped cold feet into warm slippers. After her brother’s untimely death, she had purchased several weapons and placed them strategically around the house without the knowledge of her parents. She still did not know why she felt this was a necessary act. A hazy dream had made its way into her subconscious that had left a fear in the pit of her stomach upon awakening.

Her thoughts ran to her favorite weapon which was hidden underneath her pillow. She retrieved it now and readied it for use. Soft footsteps carried her 5' 4" height and 130 pounds of weight quietly into the hallway. There were three alarm panels in the house, one of which was outside her bedroom door. The green light blinking from the panel told her the alarm system was still activated. She relaxed her tense body and exhaled the breath she was unaware she had been holding.

Her fingers punched in the deactivation code. The legs she had believed to be steady now began to quiver as she began walking slowly towards the kitchen. The house was still dark but she could walk it blindfolded. The weapon, however, was securely held in her hand as she turned the corner at the end of the hallway.

Kendi? She froze as she heard her name echo throughout the house. It was the voice of her twin brother. But, how? He had died six months ago! Had her parents heard what she had heard?

CHAPTER 1

The alarm was ringing. Kendi Karson was already awake and had forgotten to turn it off. She silenced the annoying roar of the clock quickly. Others seem to wake up to soft music or just the voice of a radio DJ. Such was not the case for Kendi. All of her alarm-needing life she had had to have nothing short of a conductor on a train pulling the rope to activate the annoying whistle of a train passing on railroad tracks to awaken her from her deep sleeping pattern.

The alarm sound was just that; the whistle of a train passing on railroad tracks. Keith had given it to her as a just because you are my cute sister gift. They were thirteen years old at the time so this clock had withstood the test of time and had aided Kendi in being on time for many events during the past twenty-five-and-a-half years. It did not seem like she was already thirty-eight-and-a-half years old, unmarried, and still living with her parents.

Keith! At the thought of her brother, Kendi’s eyes welled up with tears and she allowed them to fall freely down her face. He had been her world for just over thirty-eight years. The first to be born when the two of them had entered the world, Keith believed it was his responsibility to take care of her and she wondered if that was the reason for his bachelor state. He chose not to marry, or so he had told her.

Their parents, Kirkland Keith Karson and Katherine Kaitlin Karson had shared the story of how they had named Keith Kirkland Karson immediately. However, they had been unsure of what name to give their daughter. After much deliberation, they had finally decided on Kendra Kathleen Karson. The nickname of Kendi had been given to her within a few days of her birth.

Keith had always been able to tune into Kendi’s thoughts and emotions from the get-go. She would start a sentence and he would finish it just as most fraternal twins sometimes do. Sometimes it seemed as if he could read her mind.

There was this one time when Kendi was a senior in high school and she had agreed to go on a blind date on the pretext of double dating. Her friend, Daisy, wanted to spend the evening with a boy of whom her parents disapproved. She had begged Kendi to go out with this guy’s older brother, Dave, who was just eighteen months older than they were. She had said her parents would allow her to go, but only if Kendi was going. Kendi had proved to them to be a good influence on their daughter so they had trusted her to keep their daughter out of trouble.

Keith had cautioned her about going out on blind dates. When she shared with him the plan, he was angry with her and begged her not to go and that he had a bad feeling about it. She had brushed his comment off with a wave of her hand and said, Keith, you are always so protective of me. Do you really think Daisy would put me in a dangerous situation? Keith had stomped off knowing it was futile to argue with his twin sister. Looking back, Kendi recalled that she had been a bit apprehensive about going, but had disregarded Keith’s warning by going anyway. She wasn’t about to let her brother control her and she would prove him wrong!

It was around 10:00 that night when Dave had turned into exactly what had caused Keith’s fear. He was driving her home when he made a right turn that led out into the country. Kendi had asked him where they were going and he just grinned at her. She had ordered him to go back and take her home, but he laughed and said, Kendi, the night is young and I am not done with you yet. Fear had coiled in the pit of Kendi’s stomach as she realized she was no match for this boy’s strength. He had been working out at the gym and his biceps were visible proof that the workouts were providing the intended results.

Kendi had tried to unlock the car door with the intention of jumping out when he had grabbed her arm in a vise-like grip and sped up. She knew that if she tried to jump out at that rate of speed, her injuries would be substantial. Her mind had briefly wondered which would be worse, the jump or the rape that was sure to come. On the heels of that thought, her mind had screamed for Keith. But of course, Keith would have no way of knowing where she was or about the attack she would soon suffer.

Without her knowledge, Keith had been following her undetected the entire evening. His subconscious had picked up on the fear radiating from his sister, surprising him with the strength of it. He had seen the turn towards the country and instinctively knew where Kendi was being taken. There was an abandoned farm house about five miles out that many lovers had frequented. Keith had taken another road that led to that house, speeding as if the devil were chasing him. He had also been working out at the gym and his 6' 3" body had been transformed into what some likened to the physique of Jaun Claude Van Dam, the famous black belt movie actor.

Keith had reached the intended destination and hid in the woods that nearly overran the house. He had barely turned off his headlights when the glare of the other vehicle’s bright headlights nearly blinded him. He waited until he was confident that Kendi and her date were the only occupants of the vehicle. He watched as Kendi had opened the door and had tried to run into the woods, but to no avail. Dave had caught her, threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and had carried her inside the house.

Kendi beat his back with her fists and had tried to wiggle out from the iron grip Dave had under her buttocks while screaming as loudly as she could. Dave had just laughed and panic seeped into her as they entered the house. Rumors (or so she had thought) had been spread around school about this place and she now realized they were not rumors. Her mind screamed for Keith! Dave had thrown her on to a makeshift bed that had smelled nastily of leftover cum and the stench nearly made her vomit. He had held her down with one arm while securing her wrists above her head with a rope. It was a bit tethered from much use and was attached to a huge hook on the wall at the head of the bed.

She had screamed out loud this time for Keith and had closed her eyes from the violation that was about to be done to her body. She had heard a loud thump and gasped as the weight of Dave fell upon her. Her eyes flew open and there was her beloved brother standing with a three-foot iron pipe in his hand. As she had begun to sob uncontrollably, Keith was untying the rope from her wrists. When freed, she had used every ounce of strength she possessed to push the disgusting form from her body. As Keith was calling the police, Kendi had run to him and nearly knocked him over with the force of it.

That was just one amazing example of many, thought Kendi. She recalled that Dave had been hauled off to jail for attempted rape, Daisy was grounded until graduation, and Keith had told her of his following her to make sure she was safe. He also shared with her that at one point during the ordeal prior to his arrival inside, he believed his mind had actually heard her calling for him.

As they were walking towards Keith’s car, two officers blocked their path. Mr. Karson, would you please show me some identification? an officer asked. After viewing Keith’s driver’s license, the officer had stated, Mr. Karson, you are under arrest for the murder of Lily Morgan. You have the right to remain silent. The rest had not been heard by Kendi as she was ushered into a squad car for an officer to take her home.

The only evidence found at the crime scene of Lily Morgan against Keith was his DNA. It was on the faucet handles and hand towel in the bathroom, the door handle of the refrigerator, and the doorknob of the entryway door. The law enforcement officers were completely baffled because the fingerprints found were not Keith’s. The AFIS was unable to find a match for the prints so they had to authorize Keith’s release. Keith also had the alibi of following Kendi for the last four hours which was the time frame that Lily had been murdered.