Cohen Code, the next book in the Marc Wayne adventure romance series, is coming soon.
Here is a sneak peak at one of the early chapters in the novel.
Chapter ??
As usual, Marc arrived before his office manager.
Violet Seifert’s touch showed in the corner Christmas tree she left up into February to brighten the otherwise dull January. Small bundles tied with bows were situated on the branches of the tree that emanated the homey smell of cinnamon. He parked his bike in the entryway next to the antique barrel that held salt for deicing the porch.
In his office, Marc opened the package sent from the other side of the globe. After Marc and Lei Quong escaped from the lab in China, Marc’s half-baked plan landed them in the hands of illegal weapons dealers in Israel. With powerful nations on both sides of the globe hunting for his invention which promised to redefine weapons and global warfare, Marc served as bait in hopes to turn his predators into prey.
Initially, Marc viewed his Israeli host, Adi, as an enemy. Especially as Adi leveraged Marc for Adi’s benefit. But things are not always as they appear and Adi arranged for American special forces to bring Marc and Lei to the United States. Home for Marc.
Born and raised in China, Lei graduated college in Indiana. With no remaining family members and no love for her recent homeland experience, Lei had anticipated making America her home. Instead, she returned to Israel to be a resource for Adi’s team.
He checked the time on his clock. A gift from his sister, Mallory, the atomic clock displayed the current moon phase, temperature, humidity, wind chill, wind speed, wind direction, UV index, barometric pressure, rainfall, and dew point. It even told time. Doing quick math, he added six hours to the current 7:00 a.m. in Dixon Indiana and estimated Lei Quong would be in her office hours at the university.
He dropped into his desk chair and pressed a button on his phone.
She answered on the second ring. “Marc, how are you?”
“Curious.” He picked up the box. “Why send me a genetic testing kit?”
“The university is doing a project to find the Cohen gene.”
“Looking for the Levitical line?” Marc knew the Jewish people originated from Abraham, his son Isaac, Isaac’s son Jacob, and then descended from Jacob’s twelve sons. When God led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, he set aside the family of Levi to serve as priests.
“The original tribes have particular value to the foundations of the Jewish faith, and the many variations of Christianity.” She spoke by rote and Marc recognized the official public statement.
“Prophetic books including Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah describe a future temple in Jerusalem.” He took a leap into what could be the deeper incentive for such a quest.
“And the necessity of the Levitical priests.”
She dropped her voice. “We’re in a race to find and protect an ancient line before others use DNA markers to seek and destroy them.”
Marc thought about Lei’s background in electro-physics. “How does this project fit with your field of expertise?”
“You, of all geeks, know that engineering is more than electrical and electronic systems and components.”
“I concede the point.” A shrill barking sounded from next door. Apparently Samson, the mouthy chihuahua was staying with the vet while his owner traveled. “Tracing the Cohen gene is important to Israel. So why send a test to me?”
“Well,” she hesitated as if choosing her words carefully. “Sometimes it feels important personally to know where we came from.”
“And?” The barking continued and Marc reached for his earbuds.
“And, I thought you may have questions.”
“About?” He knew he was not making this easy on her. But the occasional verbal dance around anything personal was characteristic of geeks and engineers.
“Well,” she hesitated. “About your roots. Your story.”
His unanswered question. Life with the family who adopted him as a newborn had been full. His parents encouraged his explorations of how things worked. His upbringing had been in this small Midwest town surrounded by devoted parents and a fun big sister. They participated in 4-H, raised animals, gardened, and shared community with people like Dr. Thurmond Yoder.
“The Jewish people have been so dispersed throughout history,” Lei continued, “the knowledge of who came from who is long gone.”
“Plenty of folks have little knowledge of their ancestors.” Occasionally, he wondered about the story of his beginnings. But rather than dwell on the question, he pushed the thoughts aside.
“Speaking from experience?”
“Hey.” First, the threat of a kitten, now a poke at his heritage. “This is about you and your project, remember?”
“As Israel takes shape, the nation is preparing for the time they will once again have access to the mount where King Solomon built their great temple.”
From the sound of her voice, Marc could hear that she considered Israel her home. “Prophecy does say the Jewish Temple will be rebuilt.” In addition to a rewarding position at the university, Marc suspected part of her decision had to do with her feelings for the young Israeli, Adi.
“When the time comes,” she said, “it’s important that the right people are in the right places.”
Marc whistled. “Sifting through genetic codes from vast populations seems similar to locating a particular grain of sand on Hilton Head Island’s 12 mile beach.”
“College spring break. Sweet tea and riding bikes along the shore,” she reminisced. “And to your excellent point, the scope is why the project has not already been done. And why I’m excited to be part of this prototype.”
“Lei, this could take a lifetime.” Marc quickly scribbled numbers on a legal pad. “The lyrics from an old film come to mind, ‘we’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there.”
“Burt Reynolds and Sally Field.” She laughed. “The next line of the song is we’re gonna do what they say can’t be done.”
Marc unfolded the instructions from the box. “Sounds like you are confident in your procedure.”
“We have a unique software designed for this exact search.” He heard her close the door of her office. “An algorithmic software receives fresh data from our test kits while simultaneously searching for related information already in existence.”
“Connecting matches.” Marc sat back in his chair and stared out the window. “That could significantly condense time and effort.”
“Speaking of time, I have a lab to conduct. So, Marc?”
“Yeah?”
“Send me your test.”
Want More?
Cohen Code is available for preorder. Order today and receive the first three novels in the series as a thank you bonus.
