The group is overwhelmingly successful until their progress is noticed by the Raptor, a ruthless enemy with pawns in the US government and ties to the Cocanol manufacturers and international power houses intent on controlling the world. As a first step in a war on the Sisterhood, Vivian is assassinated, triggering a Homeland Security investigation, a Senate inquiry, and a series of increasingly dangerous events.
To survive, the women, led by Chief Security Officer Tonia Rawlings, must fight against unseen forces. Battling across a public stage of media coverage and Wall Street, the women rush against all odds to outwit their foes - even as they execute the final stage of Vivian's secret plan.
As their enemies draw near, the women risk everything, testing the bonds of faith, marriage and friendship. Along the way, they discover awful truths, make strange alliances and learn why they are the most dangerous women the world has ever seen. Together, they put everything on the line - testing themselves and the limitations the world tries to place on them.
The Sisterhood - Book One Addresses:
* Breaking Mental Bonds* The New Black Female Heroes
* Black Women and Technology
* Community Leadership
BEHIND THE SISTERHOOD
The Sisterhood is
also a teaching narrative. Each of the women represents one of nine
leadership traits (discipline, self-knowledge, financial stewardship,
service, sacrifice, education, vision, innovation, and
entrepreneurship). In the Sisterhood, how they address challenges to
their survival illustrates what is possible with collective action and
individual excellence.The Sisterhood is a success workshop written in novel form and in a small category called applied fiction - where the writer begins with a specific curriculum, then creates a strong stand-alone narrative designed to illustrate it.
For me, The Sisterhood started on a late night drive home from a success workshop I gave during college for a group of African-American high-school girls. That night, I had the group stand in a circle and tell each other, one at a time and by name, that they were smart, beautiful, and could have anything that they wanted and worked for. It was a hard session, with most of the girls unable to accept the endorsement without tears. So many of them simply could not see it, much less believe it.
As I drove home, I thought that there had to be a way to illustrate what I was trying to teach - something more penetrating than quotes from self-help books and short workshop sessions. On that drive, I decided to write the Sisterhood. I conceived of an organization of women, who faced a series of challenges. Addressing those challenges would allow me to show versus tell how an individual can be successful. I went home and jotted the basic plot down which today is more or less the same.
EXCERPT: CHAPTER 1
Friday, December 5th 2:00 am
Sisterhood Headquarters - Middleburg, VA, outside Washington D.C.
Tonia
Rawlings strode down the long, empty corridor. Her urgent steps made
sharp echoes on the granite floor. Outside, her security team was
assembled, awaiting her command. It seemed fitting that she was the
last to leave...given what she was about to do. Tonia took one last
look to sear the memory in place before stepping out into the night.
"Do it," Tonia ordered.
Flames
exploded through the windows, shattering glass across the grounds.
They licked the sky in swaths of bright hungry reds, violent oranges and
insatiable yellows. The fire jumped from building to building, laying
waste to years of effort and thousands of sacrifices. "Fuck. Fuck.
Fuck." Tonia whispered.
Pamela
Griffin turned. The mother in her heard a strange break in Tonia's
voice. Pamela shivered, feeling the severe night chill that found its
way under collars and inside gloves. An acrid cutting smell of smoke
filled the air. She stole another glance at Tonia but could read
nothing from the woman at her side. How awful it must be to give tonight's
order, to destroy something loved, even to preserve something valued.
But, following Vivian Delacroix's lead had always meant sacrifice. No
one was exempt.
Pamela touched her lightly on the arm. "Tonia, it was planned."
"Yes,
it was," she nodded without turning. The last thing Tonia needed right
now was direct eye contact with Vivian's first recruit. Architects had
created the exterior of the Sisterhood's headquarters, but Tonia was
the one who massaged the plans to meet their unique need - a fortress,
destructible from within but impregnable from without.
Was
it really so long ago that she and Vivian had found the site? Tonia
remembered how Vivian had jumped out of the car and sprinted, laughing,
across the property. Tonia ran right behind her, eyes trained on the
tree line for enemies, ever Vivian's protector. Vivian stopped, spun
around, her arms held high. Her eyes sparkled with destiny. "Here,
Tonia. Can't you see? This, this, is where we will gather our
strength."
They had laughed
then, in the exact spot where Tonia now stood. Every computer system in
the Sisterhood's vast holdings updated to servers in a manmade cavern
beneath her feet. Their entire history, recorded in bits and bytes, was
a maze of money and covert investments. One explosion would obscure
hundreds of millions of dollars in assets as well as their research, the
research that had likely brought disaster to their door.
"Move
out," Tonia bellowed, her voice returning to its normal boom. The
women, jolted into action, leaped into their Jeeps. They divided into
pairs and raced away. Any law enforcement officer worth his badge would
take one look at their expressions, unblinking eyes, bodies rippling
with strength, and become suspicious. The women were not assassins or
Marines, but they sure as hell looked the part. They were more than
capable of protecting their own; after all, they were their Sister's
Keepers.
( Continued... )
©
Reprint 2015. All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by
permission of the author, Nichol Bradford. Do not reproduce, copy or
use without the author's written permission. This excerpt is used for
promotional purposes only.
Download The Sisterhood: Book One Today!
Afro-futurism; Mystery; Thriller & Suspense
Awards: AABMC Book of the Month, April 2015
Amazon Link: http://amzn.com/
http://www.amazon.com/The-
