The Mists of Adriana - Book II

Adriana Barrows returns in this second of three books about this talented young woman and her narrator/lover. First the reader will accompany her on a mission to identify illicit narcotics trafficking routes through southwest Asia and into the hands of US servicemen and woman stationed in the Middle East following the first Gulf War. But Adriana's mission ends badly and she is seriously injured. She returns to the Maine to recover from her injuries and although her physical injuries will heal, the emotional costs for her will be high. At first reluctantly, she agrees to allow the narrator to help her in the healing process. The narrator believes from his own past experience with visible and invisible war wounds that he can find the way to help Adriana step away from the black pit of depression that beckons invitingly to her. He will learn the hard way that even the willing caregiver will encounter many rough trails when helping the seriously wounded recover from physical as well as post traumatic wounds.Unexpectedly while attending a community Christmas charity ball, Adriana encounters illegal drug sales and intercepts the sale. Mastering this new "mission" using knowledge and skills from previous training energizes her and marks a turning point in her recovery.She expects to be recalled by the intelligence agency which has employed her all her life, and soon that recall arrives. But she is not ready to return to field duty, and she returns to Maine, suspecting that she may be retired as mentally and physically unable to perform normal mission requirements. She and the narrator turn their attention to building their lives together. They are surprised when they are attacked by an assassin at a granite quarry while searching for a piece of granite to have moved to the front door of the house they live in by the shore. Only the narrator's military experience and training and Adriana's training along with her insistence on carrying her weapons saves them.Like most Americans and many people throughout the world, Adriana and the Narrator will watch in amazement as the World Trade Centers fall on September 11, 2011. Not long afterward, Adriana is surprised when the identity of the airline hijackers is revealed, and shortly afterward, she is once again recalled to service. She knows then that a decision has been made that she will be used since as she says, "they have decided who is to be punished for the World Trade Center."Once again, the narrator takes Adriana to the airport to fly off to places and dangers unknown. This time she promises to return as soon as possible. After she leaves, a letter arrives with information that a friend thinks she saw Adriana's ex-husband, the Venezuelan drug cartel leader, in Southwest Harbor only a few miles from where she has been living with the narrator. She believes her ex-husband is dead, and she and the narrator believe the resemblance to be accidental. They both agree that the man seen was probably a summer visitor and is unlikely to ever be seen in Maine again. When Adriana last saw her husband he was trying to kill both her and the narrator in a shoot-out following a concert in Portland (Book I). Adriana was able to hit him in the hand with a bullet. The man spied in Southwest Harbor appeared much like Adriana's ex-husband would have appeared and had only part of his left hand. As Book II ends, the reader will wonder as surely will Adriana and the narrator, how many Hispanic-appearing men with only part of their left hand could appear near by? Roger M. Woodbury is a Maine based writer. He describes his writing as "realistic". He tries to draw clear pictures of the settings that actions take place, make the characters come to life and make readers think, 'Yeah, I think I know someone like that!'". But never ever does he want to write fantasy or make believe super characters: his characters are real people working on real problems using their skills, sometimes training, and sometimes sheer lu