Full Summary of The Predator Café, book 1 of 2.
In 2004, a secret and ambitious expedition unfolded in the remote reaches of Antarctica. Under the leadership of Charles Weyland, a team of dedicated scientists and archaeologists scours the frozen, desolate wastes of Bouvetøya Island for the source of a mysterious heat bloom. A chance at the discovery of a lifetime ... or so they presumed. Less than twenty-four hours after landfall, the team vanishes. All traces were lost to the inhospitable and unreachable depths of the Southern Ocean.
Years later, after considerable technological leaps, a team of expert engineers and oceanographers, funded by the powerful megacorporation Weyland-Yutani, embark on a second expedition to Bouvetøya, where they launch an HOV and two ROV submersibles into the frigid depths of the ocean. Their mission is clear: dredge up clues and bring them to the surface. However, during this meticulous search of the perilous abyss, their sophisticated equipment unexpectedly unearths an unspeakable horror from the icy bowels of the deep, awakening her...
However, Wey-Yu's specimen is feeble, and she cannot complete her lifecycle. Her genetic material opens new avenues to biological warfare, giving the Company a monopoly over global military contracts, but they want more…
Fast forward, and marine biologists are studying the ecology of the Predator Café, a remote string of islands in the middle of the Pacific. Beneath these islands lies a cave system, and during the mapping process of the labyrinth of tubes, a diver makes a grisly discovery: the island was not always uninhabited. A distress signal goes out. Too bad for the scientists that the only ones listening aren't interested in a rescue … and not all of them are human …
Enter Darynda Kaela Walsh.
Dare is on the hunt. Growing up alongside lions and wolves in her family-run wildlife sanctuary has imparted invaluable skills about family, loyalty, survival, and, most importantly, never ever turn your back on a predator.
So when Weyland-Yutani, a power megacorporation known for its diverse portfolio in technology, bio-warfare, and even healthcare, pin a deep dive accident in the Southern Ocean on Diana Walsh, a dead woman who can not speak for herself, and Darynda's mother, well, they don't call her Dare for nothing. Come hell or high water, Darynda will rip the eyelids off the world and expose whatever dirty secret Wey-Yu hopes to remain dead along with Diana.
Still, taking on a leviathan like Wey-Yu is a tall order, especially when all credible avenues of information about Dare's mother and the mysterious circumstances of her death have been cut off or bought out by Wey-Yu.
She needs information.
She needs allies.
So Dare reaches out into the darknet, and after sifting through every dick pic and every Obama 'birther' conspiracy, she receives a private chat notification from OriginalSin. Never in her life did she imagine clicking Enter would send her halfway across the world, plunged hundreds of feet beneath the ocean's surface, lost in the underwater caves of the Predator Café trying to escape corpo mercenaries, lethal obsidian super-sized bug aliens, and an ancient predatory race of hunter aliens who don't care if she's an unwitting participant in this deadly game. Oh, and did I mention sharks? Yeah, ya heard me, sharks! Because aliens who want Dare's entrails as decorative bunting just isn't fucked up enough!
I know what killed your mother…
Note about genre selection. I've categorized this story as a suspense and a romance. But more than that, it is a suspenseful, rich environment full of dark humor and heart. That said, book 1 revolves around survival. The slow-burn hum/pred romance doesn't ignite until book 2.
The prologue for the Predator Café will be posted next Friday, April 18th. Thank you.