Troy Dance, a police detective, receives notice from his informant that the location of a big drug transaction has been suddenly changed. It is now supposed to take place in an old, abandoned cotton mill.Troy does not have time to set up equipment beforehand and has to rely on a camcorder he had at his house. In the midst of his filming he witnesses a murder and captures it on film. It is unexpected and, while backing up to quietly slip out of the place, he trips over debris scattered over the floor and is discovered.Troy is attacked and pursued up to a second floor storeroom. He is shot several times. Before the darkness engulfs him he sees a face looking down at him.Troy wakes up from a deep coma seven weeks later to discover that he is a paraplegic. He does not take it well. He becomes angry and bitter, a reaction that most would have. But there is something else that begins to eat at him. He is troubled by haunting dreams of a close friend's suicide when Troy was only twelve. The dreams keep changing, not always matching what he remembers about the death.Troy finally goes home confined to a wheelchair. He doesn't handle his handicap very well, but suddenly he finds a power in himself that extends beyond the physical realm. In the beginning this power is unstable, but gradually he learns how to use it. A big part of this power, this psychic energy, is telekenesis. He learns to use this with devastating results. Troy becomes paranoid that Trina, his wife of only a year and a half, is going to cheat on him while she is at work. When convincing her to quit her job doesn't work he uses his power against her, going as far as locking her up in the basement at night.Tommy Waters, a good friend of Troy's and fellow officer, had been talking to Trina about Troy's inability to handle his handicap, and how badly he had been treating Trina. At the time Tommy only had a hint of the power that Troy possesed. What concerned him at the time was that, like Trina, he felt that something else was bothering him, besides the loss of the use of his legs. Tommy decides that he needs to investigate Troy's past to see what transpired at the time of Troy's friend's suicide.Tommy comes to Troy's house with a bunch of questions to ask him. What he has discovered by going through old newpapers has shocked him. He can hardly believe what he has read. But at the house Troy refuses to answer all of his questions and demands that he leave. Tommy states that he will not leave until he has spoken to Trina. When he finds that Trina has been beaten and locked in the basement, he becomes livid. Tommy plans to free her, but doesn't realize that he has started a battle that he and Trina seem destined to lose.
About the Author: Gary M. Martin was born in Phenix City, Alabama. He served five and a half years in the Air Force. For two and a half years he served at Misawa AFB in Japan. For most of his working life he has worked in the electrical industry. He is now trying to make writing a full time job. His first book, NEXUS, was published last year. This is his second. Another novel is planned for the near future.