Spotlight & Giveaway: Shot in the Dark by Tracy Solheim

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Tracy Solheim to HJ!

Hi Tracy and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Shot in the Dark!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

SHOT IN THE DARK is a fun and flirty romantic suspense pairing up two very unlikely people. Zoologist Josslyn Benoit is the younger half-sister of the First Lady. She’s spent much of her life trying to find her niche in a very public, very dynamic political family. Josslyn is passionate about animals and sometimes that passion does a number on her reputation, not to mention putting her in danger. Enter Secret Service Agent Adam Lockett, commander of the Hawkeye team of snipers protecting the president. After suffering a concussion, he’s forced to trade in his rifle for an earpiece working on a detail protecting Josslyn who doesn’t want a bodyguard. They say opposites attract and these two have immediate chemistry. But there’s a reason Adam is assigned to watch over Josslyn and when danger arrives at the White House fence, they both must overcome their fears to not only survive but reach their happily ever after.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

A single gunshot rang out, shattering the quiet tranquility of the remote African watering hole. The ground beneath the vehicle where Josslyn Benoit was standing began to shake violently when the small herd of Savanna elephants she and her team were observing stampeded back into the bush. Hundreds of birds rose up into the air forming a dark cloud, the frenzy of their wings nearly deafening.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Researching the White House has been my favorite part of this series. I stumbled on to the Children’s Garden when I was studying a map of the grounds looking for the basketball court. The garden was established during President Lyndon Johnson’s administration. It’s a wooded area, secluded from the tourists and the press, where children in residence can play. There’s a goldfish pond for them to enjoy and a Stayman Winesap apple tree for them to climb. The pavers leading into the garden feature hand and footprints from presidential children and grandchildren. I liked the garden so much, I sent my characters there for an important scene in SHOT IN THE DARK.
• To get the lowdown on elephants at the National Zoo, I visited the elephant trails exhibit there. Thanks to a lovely volunteer docent. I got a brief behind the scenes look at the facility, including a close encounter with their poop! My husband still regrets not having the video rolling.

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

Adam, aka The Tower of Testosterone, is a bad-ass alpha sniper who’s covering up a troubled past. I loved writing the banter between Adam and his two roommates who are more like brothers to him. Despite being so Alpha, Adam carries around a few phobias. Some of them obvious and others not so obvious. I had fun peeling back the layers to this super stud and exposing his weaknesses to the reader and to Josslyn.

Josslyn, aka The She-Devil, surprised me the most. I first pictured her as a spoiled, entitled woman who believes animals have more rights than people. But once she appeared on the page, she turned into more of a warrior princess with a bit of a dare-devil streak. Sure, saving elephants is important to her, but the relationships with her family are just as important. She had a bit of a self-worth issue at the beginning of the book. A few hot kisses and a very important act to save a life help to boost her ego, however. She’s fierce and fun loving.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

I love to add animals into my books to help diffuse some of the tension between my protagonists. In SHOT IN THE DARK, the elephants become very large (pardon the pun) secondary characters. One of the older females develops a bit of a crush on Adam which ends hilariously. But my favorite scene at the zoo is when Adam challenges Josslyn’s theory about the elephants feeling actual affection, if not love, for one another. It leads to a very illuminating discussion about the L-word.

Josslyn sighed happily, resting her forearms on the metal fence to observe. “I told you. Those two are meant to be.”
Beside her, Adam mumbled something under his breath.
“What was that?” she asked. “Please, Special Agent Lockett, if you have something to say, share it with the rest of the class.”
He peered over his ever-present aviator sunglasses at her. “I said, it’s just like a woman to turn a basic natural act into something that’s all—” he waved a hand in the air “—rainbows and glitter.”
“Rainbows and glitter?” She didn’t know whether to laugh with him or at him.
“Yeah, all that crap that makes women happy.”
“Trust me, it takes more than rainbows and glitter to make a woman happy. Unless she’s twelve.” It was her turn to eye the Secret Service agent from head to toe. “I would have thought a man like you would know better,” she challenged, totally ignoring her resolve to be amicable.
She was playing with fire and judging by the way his jaw tensed up, they both knew it. He was saved from responding when Dax trumpeted loudly to the rest of the herd that he’d made his choice. Zara hummed again, intertwining her trunk with the big bull’s.
“I told you.” Josslyn grinned. “An elephant never forgets.”

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

As with all my books, I hope readers will finish the final page with a satisfied sigh that love always wins out. Also, I hope they will have a better sense regarding the magnitude of animal trafficking and elephant poaching in this world. Finally, I hope they’ll be left with wanderlust to visit Washington, DC and the Smithsonian.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

Right now, I’m working on Ben’s story. He’s the third member of this trio of Secret Service agents and he’s the brain of the group. But he’s also nursing a broken heart and bruised ego delivered to him by his first love who abruptly disappeared a decade earlier. Or did she? It’s a bit of a cat and mouse game as Ben tries to figure out if she’s a white hat or a black hat, all the while keeping his heart out of play. Look for that one late summer.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

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Excerpt from Shot in the Dark:

Chapter One
A single gunshot rang out, shattering the quiet tranquility of the remote African watering hole. The ground beneath the vehicle where Josslyn Benoit was standing began to shake violently when the small herd of elephants she and her team were observing stampeded back into the bush. Hundreds of birds rose up from the savanna, forming a dark cloud overhead, the frenzy of their wings nearly deafening.
Their sound wasn’t loud enough to drown out the second gunshot, however.
From her perch in an open-air Land Rover, concealed behind a grove of elephant grass and two towering river bush willow trees, Josslyn peered through her binoculars as a cow stumbled. Blood trickled down the female elephant’s chest. A third shot cracked through the air, hitting the wounded animal in the hind end. Josslyn grabbed hold of the seatback as the earth shook again when the elephant stumbled before finally falling to the sand. A young calf circled wildly behind the fatally wounded elephant, its anguished wails resonating throughout the bush.
“I thought you said there wasn’t any hunting permitted here?” Josslyn hissed at their guide.
“Them be poachers, miss.” He shrugged, clearly unfazed by the illegal actions of his countrymen.
“Poachers?” Trevor Kearn, the representative from Global Wildlife Conservation who was traveling with them, sounded almost giddy. “Hugh, keep that camera rolling. If we can get this on film, it will go a long way to strengthen our argument that legalized hunting has done absolutely nothing to stem the poaching trade here in Zimbabwe.”
The big Scottish cameraman grunted in exasperation. Still, he combat-crawled to the edge of the tall grass to get a better shot.
The pitiful cries of the baby elephant cut through the thick afternoon air like a machete, the sound making Josslyn’s stomach roll. As a scientist, she understood the circle of life. But that didn’t mean she had to like it. Or the role her fellow humans played in it.
A band of ragtag tribesmen emerged from the bush on the opposite side of the watering hole. Josslyn was relieved to see that only one of them was armed. He was carrying a high-powered military-grade rifle with a telescopic sight, perfect for shooting accurately over long distances. She abhorred poachers and hunters, but she despised guns and everything related to them more. Still, she reasoned with herself, in this situation, a single gun was preferable to the men poisoning the entire herd in order to steal the elephants’ tusks.
“They don’t look very friendly,” Alyssa whispered.
Josslyn was instantly regretting putting the biology grad student in harm’s way.
“They’re poor and they’re desperate to feed their families,” Josslyn explained quietly, not bothering to hide her disgust at the situation. “Their government is charging hunters exorbitant fees to come here to track big game, but none of that money ever reaches the hands of these tribesmen. That leaves poaching as their only option for survival.”
“I need a shot of them hacking out the ivory tusks with the machete,” Trevor whispered to Hugh. “The more gruesome it is, the better we can make our case that this has to be stopped.”
An Australian surfer turned animal rights’ activist, Trevor lived for these types of confrontations. At one point in her life, so had Josslyn. But as the shine wore off her relationship with Trevor, so too had her desire to constantly embarrass her family by doing something radical and dangerous.
One of the tribesmen withdrew a lethal-looking blade from his side. Alyssa sucked in a sharp breath next to Josslyn. The baby calf kept its distance from the poachers but continued its frantic pacing and wailing. Another of the tribesmen gestured at the calf. Josslyn’s heart began to beat faster. The locals poached the elephants as a last resort to feed their families. They wouldn’t kill for no reason. Especially a calf that had the potential to grow tusks in the future.
“Just take the damn tusks and leave the baby alone,” Josslyn muttered through her clenched jaw.
These particular men had other intentions, however. The one with the rifle aimed it at the despondent calf.
Alyssa gasped.
Trevor swore.
“No!” Josslyn shouted just as the gun discharged.
Five pairs of eyes turned their way, including those belonging to the man holding the gun.
“Now you’ve done it, lass,” Hugh exclaimed as he jumped back into the Land Rover.
Their guide was furiously trying to get the engine to turn over. Hugh pushed Alyssa down to the floor of the vehicle. Trevor was bouncing up and down still swearing at the men.
“You bastards,” he yelled. “We’ve got all that on film. We’re going to find out who’s behind this ring and when we do you’ll be hit with so many sanctions, you won’t be able to wipe your asses much less buy bullets to hunt a defenseless animal!”
“Get down, you two,” Hugh ordered, yanking Josslyn behind one of the padded seats.
The Land Rover jerked to life just as another shot from the rifle echoed over the water. Trevor continued to rail at the poachers before suddenly clutching his chest and sinking to his knees. A dark stain was already spreading across his T-shirt by the time Josslyn reached him.
“Trevor!” she shouted over the crunch of the tires and the rush of the wind.
The Australian grimaced at her touch. “The asshole shot me!”
“Well no surprise there,” Hugh muttered as he pulled the first aid kit from under the passenger seat. “You practically dared him to do it.”
“He killed that baby elephant for no reason!” Trevor let out a low moan when the Land Rover practically went airborne over a ridge in the unpaved road. “Listen, Hugh. Don’t let my death be in vain. Tell me you got images of what those brutes did?”
Hugh exchanged a look with Josslyn before rolling up a sweatshirt to put beneath Trevor’s head.
“You’re not going to die,” the Scotsman gruffly reassured him.
Josslyn tried to summon up the same amount of confidence as their cameraman. The fact was there were fifty miles of rough, unpaved road between them and competent medical help. A wave of guilt had her rocking back on her heels. If only she hadn’t yelled out like that, the poachers would have never known she and her team were watching, much less filming. Trevor would still be smiling the cocky smile that made smart women stupid.
Growing up, her father frequently warned her about keeping her emotions in check. Easy for him to say. He’d been a stoic surgeon. She, on the other hand, had a natural talent of not thinking before speaking. Making matters worse, lately there always seemed to be a hot microphone nearby when her tongue went rogue. Still, she never let her emotions get in the way of her staunch defense of the little guy. Even if in this case the little guy was a three-thousand-pound wild animal.
Alyssa tore at Trevor’s T-shirt, frantically applying pressure with gauze she’d pulled from the first aid kit. “The bullet hit his shoulder,” she said with remarkable calm considering their circumstances. “We just need to keep him from going into shock. Or losing too much blood.” Her face was determined when her eyes glanced up to meet Josslyn’s. “I spent two summers shadowing interns in an ER. He’s not going to die.”
Trevor moaned when they hit another bump in the road. His face was pale and drawn. “Thank God they were on foot and couldn’t follow us,” he choked out.
Hugh exchanged a look with Josslyn. He indicated the replay monitor on the camera. She watched the video as one of the tribesmen seemed to be speaking into a walkie-talkie just before the gunman fired at Trevor.
Damn it. Josslyn looked over her shoulder, but the road was blessedly empty.
For now.
After gathering her long hair into a ponytail, she crouched down beside Alyssa, mostly to distract the young woman from the fact that Hugh was pulling a long gun from beneath the bench seat and moving to the back of the Land Rover, but also to help Trevor however she could. As a doctor of zoology, she didn’t quite have the extensive medical training the rest of her family possessed, but at least she wasn’t squeamish around blood.
“What can I do?”
“Move the sweatshirt from beneath his head to his feet,” Alyssa commanded. “I think there’s a Mylar blanket in the first aid kit. We’ll need it to cover him to keep the shock at bay.” The younger woman’s hands were now soaked with blood from where she was applying pressure to Trevor’s wound. “And I’m going to need your T-shirt.”
Doing as she was told, Josslyn stripped off her shirt, exposing her skin to the harsh African sun. Hugh tossed his T-shirt to Alyssa as well. Between the two of them, they did their best to keep Trevor comfortable while the Land Rover barreled ahead, seeming to find every rut in the road as they sped toward help.
“We’ve got company,” Hugh announced forty minutes into their mad dash.
A small dust cloud rose up along the horizon behind them. It was difficult to judge their distance, but whoever they were sharing the road with was coming at a fast clip. Josslyn glanced down at Trevor. A sheen of sweat covered his face despite the fact he was shivering beneath the blanket. Except to change out the T-shirts, Alyssa’s hands never let up their compression on the wound. Her expression was fierce.
Josslyn checked the GPS screen on the dashboard. They were still some twenty miles from the capital. But twenty miles could take another hour on these roads. It was a crapshoot whether their guide could outrun whoever was chasing them. Hugh hefted the long gun into his lap.
Pulling her cell phone from her shorts, Josslyn fingered the app her brother-in-law insisted she install on her phone. There would be hell to pay, but she couldn’t justify putting the others at risk. The one time in her twenty-eight years Josslyn was actually doing something worthwhile with her career, yet she still managed to potentially touch off an international incident. Her older sister’s lecture was already playing out in Josslyn’s head when she tapped the button.
Fifteen minutes later, the dust cloud was closing the distance on them. Josslyn could make out two Jeeps filled with military-looking personnel likely belonging to the tribal militia. Hugh turned to say something when the sound of a propeller roared overhead. She let out a sigh of relief at the sight of two Blackhawk helicopters coming their way.
“Slow down,” she called to the guide as one of the choppers went on to circle the group following them.
The other helicopter landed on the roadway a half mile ahead of the Land Rover. Four United States Marines, dressed in full-battle dress uniforms leaped from the cabin before it hit the ground. Guns at the ready, they surrounded the Jeep.
Hugh and the driver quickly lifted their hands into the air. Alyssa’s mouth dropped open in what was either awe or hysteria, Josslyn wasn’t exactly sure.
“We need a stretcher,” Josslyn shouted over the noise of the helicopter rotor. “We have an injured man here.”
In a matter of minutes, the marines expertly loaded Trevor and the rest of her team onto the helicopter. The militia following them was reduced to specs on the sand as the chopper took to the air.
“Dr. Doolittle has been retrieved,” the mission commander relayed to whoever was listening. “ETA five minutes.”
Josslyn flinched slightly at the ridiculous code name she was assigned. Alyssa shot her a bewildered glance before leaning down to help the medic attending to Trevor.
“We were set up,” Hugh muttered from where he sat on the bench beside her. “Ngoni had no intention of bringing the supplier to meet us.”
“Or someone got to him,” she whispered back, hoping they were both wrong.
Ngoni was eleven, a young African tribesman doing whatever he could to survive in a hierarchal economy stacked against him. Even if it meant selling exotic, endangered animals, dead or alive. Josslyn hoped he hadn’t become a tragedy in her quest to get justice for the animals by exposing the international ring.
“All the same,” Hugh replied. “We need to lay low for the time being.”
“Nonsense. We have the perfect cover studying the African elephants’ diminishing habitat,” Josslyn reassured the cameraman. “Anyone could have stumbled over poachers. As far as anyone knows, today was a horrible accident. We can’t stop now that we are so close.”
“Don’t be daft, lass,” he whispered. “These thugs are nasty individuals. Animal trafficking is big business right behind trafficking illegal drugs and guns. They don’t want anyone poking their noses in their lucrative operation. Especially someone with your family’s connections.”
Your family’s connections. Those “connections” loomed over every aspect of Josslyn’s life. It didn’t matter that she was a top-notch zoologist. She was forever defined by the people who shared her DNA. And she didn’t like it. Not one bit.
“No,” Hugh continued, his tone adamant. “It’s getting too dangerous to have you helping us any longer. You best go home and attack this from the other direction. Chase the clues leading to those people funding this organization.”
Josslyn squared her shoulders. Saving animals was her passion, her cause, her reason for getting up in the morning. This syndicate only cared about making money. And lots of it. Whether or not an animal suffered or a species became extinct had no bearing on their illegal enterprise. The animals needed someone to stand up for them. And Josslyn never backed down from a fight—no matter her family connections.
“Our first priority is to make sure Trevor gets medical attention,” she answered. “That will give us time to regroup and ‘lay low’ as you suggest. But I’m not going anywhere. I answer to no one but my own conscience. And my conscience won’t rest until these criminals are revealed. My family thinks I’m here with the Smithsonian filming a documentary.” She patted Hugh’s thigh. “Everything will be fine.”
Hugh gave her a look that clearly said he didn’t believe her. Not that she blamed him. This wasn’t the first time Josslyn found herself at the mercy of the US military and, based on past experience, there would be a long mea culpa period before her family let her forget it.
But at least this time, she was in no danger of getting her heart broken by her rescuer.
She glanced around at the men and women aboard the helicopter. Despite feeling decidedly vulnerable dressed only in khaki shorts and a black lace bra, she was relieved the crew remained stoic and professional. There would be no earth-shattering kisses this time around. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or dismayed. Josslyn stifled the urge to wave at the commander’s body camera which was likely broadcasting her scantily clad image back to the States. But only because she meant what she said to Hugh about staying to see this thing through. Aggravating her family further wouldn’t get her a longer hall pass.
The helicopter touched down on the rooftop of the US Embassy in Harare where a medical team was waiting to transport Trevor to a local hospital.
“I’m going with him,” Alyssa announced to no one in particular.
The grad student was Josslyn’s responsibility and she should order Alyssa to stay within the safe confines of the embassy until things were sorted out. But having succumbed to Trevor’s charm herself once upon a time, she was fully aware of the potent effect his blue eyes and wicked dimple likely had on the younger woman. After all Alyssa had done to save him, Josslyn didn’t have the heart to tell her to stay put.
“Let me find something to cover up with,” she said instead. “And I’ll come with you.”
“Not so fast.”
Josslyn froze in place, her ponytail swirling behind her as the helicopter lifted off again turning the rooftop into a wind tunnel. Spinning slowly on one heel, she turned to meet the exasperated glare of Christian Sumner, an old family friend of her brother-in-law’s and a colossal pain in Josslyn’s ass.
“Tell me again where they park those things,” she quipped. “It must be one hell of a garage.”
Christian shook his head in disgust. “Is there nothing you take seriously, Josslyn?”
She crossed her arms in front of her. Not so much as a defensive move but more to keep her nemesis from getting an eyeful of the cleavage he once so desperately wished to possess. Of course, he never really wanted Josslyn herself. Just the alliance with her powerful family that a marriage to her would bring.
“And here I thought nothing I could say or do surprised you, Christian. What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you’d gotten married and given up following me around.”
He snorted before closing the distance between them. “In case you forgot, I’m now the Undersecretary of State for Africa. I don’t need an excuse to be here. And I never followed you around.”
It was Josslyn’s turn to snort because both knew he was lying about the last part. “The word under in your title makes you sound so small and powerless.”
Definitely a cheap shot given Christian’s sensitivity about his five-foot-seven height, but the medics were long gone with Trevor and Josslyn needed an exit strategy from the embassy and the clutches of the American government. Christian’s sudden appearance meant Hugh had been correct to worry that her time in Zimbabwe might be cut short. But she wasn’t ready to leave yet. Not until she knew the names of the suppliers.
Only this time Christian was proving himself to be a formidable opponent. He didn’t so much as flinch at her insult. In fact, his shoulders seemed to rise up an inch. Or two. He was on a power high and confident he had the upper hand in their current standoff. The thought put her even more on edge.
“You’re in my house now, Josslyn. And you’ll show both my staff and me some respect. Rescuing you and your merry band of animal rights do-gooders from angry rebel militia wasn’t on anyone’s agenda today. As usual, your little stunt will cost the American taxpayers a small fortune. Let’s hope it doesn’t cost your boyfriend his life.”
Former boyfriend. Not that the change in their relationship status meant she didn’t care about Trevor’s survival. She did. But she also didn’t want to give the man standing in front of her any more ammunition than he already had. She couldn’t deny his accusations either because, well, she had been guilty of abusing her family’s power a time or two. Today wasn’t one of those times, though. In this operation, it was best for everyone involved if no one knew who she was. Explaining it to Christian was pointless, however. He was just another one of her family’s hired watchdogs.
“As usual, it’s been nice catching up with you,” she lied. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go check on my team now.”
“The only place you’re going is back to Washington. Immediately.”
His pronouncement had Josslyn halting in her steps. “Excuse me?” A trace of unease ran up her spine.
Christian’s expression suddenly turned merciless as if to say “check-mate.” “There’s a C-one thirty taking off in fifty minutes. You’re to be on it if I have to drag you on board in restraints. I’m under orders from the commander in chief. You do remember him, Josslyn, don’t you?”
Damn. After using the nuclear option and calling in the marines, Josslyn knew she eventually had no choice but to go back to the States and play nice. But she’d thought she’d at least have a few days to follow up on leads and locate Ngoni. Clearly, her brother-in-law had other ideas.
Blowing out a frustrated breath, she stared past Christian, allowing the beauty of the African desert to wash over her. They were out there somewhere. Brutal men and women who would kill a baby rhinoceros for its foot, selling it later as a damn pencil holder to some sick individual around the world. She was determined to stop them, one by one if she had to. But apparently not today. Sometimes her goals felt like a mirage she’d never be able to reach. If only she could give in to her impulse to just turn on her heel and march away. She could then live her own life the way she wanted to, righting the wrongs against animals and protesting the injustice in this world.
That was easier said than done, however, when her brother-in-law was the president of the United States.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

If there’s anything zoologist Josslyn Benoit abhors more than guns, its poachers. When an African “fact-finding” mission with a wildlife conservationist group results in one of their members being shot, Josslyn and the team must escape for their lives through the jungle. In order to obtain sanctuary from the local government, Josslyn calls in a favor from her older half-sister, the First Lady of the United States.

After suffering an injury in the line of duty, Adam Lockett, commander of the Secret Service’s elite team of snipers, is forced to work on a boring protective detail. Making matters worse, he’s assigned to guard the First Lady’s wild-child younger sister, a woman hell-bent on ditching her detail every opportunity she gets. Still, Adam is determined to bide his time until he is cleared by the doctors to return to the job he’s best at, even if the tree-hugging pacifist with the smoky eyes makes his job difficult.

Can these two opposites find happiness? Or is it just a shot in the dark?

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Meet the Author:

Tracy Solheim is the international bestselling author of the Out of Bound Series for Penguin. Her books feature members of the fictitious Baltimore Blaze football team and the women who love them. In a previous life, Tracy wrote best sellers for Congress and was a freelance journalist for regional and national magazines. She’s a military brat who now makes her home in Johns Creek, Georgia, with her husband, their two children, a pesky Labrador retriever puppy and a horse named after her first novel.
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