Securing you Character when Danger is Lurking with Wall Street Journal Bestseller, Judith Lucci (with a little poison, thrown in for good measure)

We welcome Judith Lucci back to ThrillWriting. Judith can you take a moment and remind everyone about your background?

Judith -

Hi, Fiona, many thanks for

inviting me. I have a PhD in

nursing and have written a few

scholarly papers on the 

subject of infectious diseases.

I am a nurse and have many years of clinical practice in addition to teaching. For a long time I taught Infection and Immunity and that piqued my interest in these subjects. I can remember when we got our first case of HIV to a small hospital in Richmond where I worked at the ICU. It was so scary and hush, hush and nobody knew what in the world we were dealing with. 

BUY IT LINK

Here's a link to her article on biological weapons 

Fiona - 

Judith, you are working on a project to help Pets for Vets saving shelter pets, giving medical help and service dog training and pairing them with a veteran in need. What book did you write support this amazing charity?

Judith- 

Hey Fiona, great to be back here on Thrillwriting! I'm excited about Love Under Fire and I have written my sixth medical thriller for this set. 

Love Under Fire is a collection of 21 Romantic Thrillers by 21 USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon best selling authors.  The book will be released in November on Veterans Day, just three short months from now. The book is a winner at only .99.  Buyers will receive 21 amazing, never before published novels and a chance to help our Veterans, the men and woman that keep us safe every day. Their contribution will also save a pet!

Fiona - 

Tell me about your medical thrillers.

Judith - 

BUY IT LINK

The Alexandra Destephano Novels, my medical thrillers series, is set in New Orleans and in Virginia. 

The main character is a nurse attorney, Alexandra Lee Destephano who comes from a very well-connected political family in Virginia. Her grandfather, Adam Patrick Lee is the most powerful man in Congress. Alex gets her law degree from UVa and moves to New Orleans to work as Chief Counsel as a large medical center.

Digger Stildove, Alex’s godfather and a NSA analyst and operative, learns of a threat against Jacob Stark, Congressman Lee and a young woman Alia, whom Jacob rescued from Yemen.  A terrorist attack at a nearby county Courthouse credited to Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula, heightens fears and Secret Service concerns at Wyndley. Digger and Jacob decide to hunt their enemies and return to the Middle East leaving Alex, her Grandmother and Digger’s wife, Mary, under the protection of the Secret Service. In the meantime, Syrian-born extremist, metallurgical engineer and Al Queda leader Salmud Hafiz is plotting with several home-grown Virginia terrorists of the best way to destroy Wyndley Farms and ever member of the Congressman’s family.

Fiona -  

Great. In this book you had to research a couple of things that are very interesting to me. The first is how the Secret Service secures a private home. Would you tell us a bit about what you discovered?

Judith - 

Yes, Congressman Lee, whose family is descended from Robert E. Lee, offended Al Qaeda leadership several years ago with an off-the-cuff comment that went viral. The sound bite made the news cycle for days. The terrorist group retaliated and threatened his life and the lives of his family.  Congress appropriated a generous amount of money to keep the Congressman and his family safe. The estate is 1200 acres in rural Virginia. Ninety percent of the land is dense forest. Wyndley Farm borders the North Ann River on the North which makes it quite  vulnerable on the water side.

The Secret Service command center monitors a state-of-the-art perimeter security system with internal and external video and audio surveillance. The main residence has electronic keypad locks, sensors and infrared technology. The interior of the house had a safe room. A six-foot hurricane fence topped with razor wire surrounds the property and highly trained canines monitor the perimeter. The fence also had motion and vibration sensors to detect any movement in outlying areas.  Wyndley also has the latest monitors for geological surveillance and the instrumentation to monitor topography scanning and seismic activity.

Nevertheless, the vast estate is as difficult, if not more problematic to protect than the White House. The major weakness is on the river side of the Wyndley Farm where there is no fence. The estate includes three residences, a bunkhouse, a state-of-the-art horse-breeding facility and multiple barns and outbuildings. Wyndley is a famous horse breeding farm and multiple people came and go from the farm each day. Security is tight and even in the best of worlds, the Secret Service know the farm could easily come under attack.

Fiona -  

Can you tell me a little more about the importance for writers to think about topography?

Judith - 

Sure. The land is hilly and mostly wooded. One entire side of the estate is riverfront. The open land comprises a horse breeding and training facility and is fenced and cross-fenced. The depth of the woods makes detection difficult and protecting the riverfront it almost impossible.

Fiona -  

Interesting.

I'm wondering how long that could be sustained. It seems expensive.

Judith - 

Well, it's hard to say but so far, funding hasn’t been an issue.  There is more surveillance equipment than boots on the ground although there is a staff of highly trained Secret Service agents assigned to Wyndley Farm. Adam Lee, ‘the people’s politician,’ is one of the most popular Congressmen in power. Congressman Lee is a law and order politician who works closely with the military and the National Security Agency. Additionally, the Lee family is quite wealthy. In Run for your Life, they have found a need to increase security, even to the point of boots on the roof with snipers.

Fiona - 

I guess it's six of one half dozen of the other - country life has a set of vulnerabilities and if they were in the town or city where there was less acreage, there would be another set of vulnerabilities. In the country they could process through the people who were driving within say a ten mile radius. In the city, at the White House they had a smaller footprint to canvas.

Judith -

Yes, White House is in many ways, easier to protect. The SAC in charge at Wyndley Farm used to be in charge of the White House Security Unit. As you’ve mentioned, Fiona, each locale has it’s specific vulnerabilities.  The Secret Service works closely with local law enforcement and the Virginia State Police.

Fiona - 

Isn’t it possible to move the family to a smaller area?

Judith - 

The Lee family will not move. They will not relocate. Wyndley is one of Lee family original land grants. It’s an ancestral home. For Congressman Adam Patrick Lee and his wife Kathryn, leaving Wyndley is not an option.

Fiona - 

But isn’t there was an issue of poison? Let's talk about that.

Judith - 

Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula has declared Holy War against the Congressmen and his family. They’ve swore to kill CIA operative Jacob Stark, the father of Alex’s child and Alex’s entire family. The terrorists know they must be smart and selective on how they plan the murders as the house and land are heavily guarded.

Fiona -

So, poison is an option?

Judith - 

Perhaps. I love to kill with poison. It’s so clean and there’s no bullet trajectory or blood splatter to calculate.

Fiona 

Could you share your research on the poison?

Judith - 

I can't tell everything, or it will give away the book. What I can say is that it's very hard to find a poison that cannot somehow be traced. About 99.9% of them can be. Poisons, like other lethal instruments, have their limitations so I had to work carefully with this one and project mathematically how much poison would be enough.

Fiona - 

Did you consider various poisons in your research?

Judith -

Yes, I did. When you plan to kill with poison, you must decide on whether that poison is to be ingested (eaten) inhaled (breathed in) injected or placed on the skin. You also must consider your timeline to death. In Run for Your Life, I had a discern a specific method for distributing this poison so it was important to select a poison that was odorless and tasteless. In additional, I want to kill multiple individuals at once. I also wanted a poison that would kill slowly, without a lot of high drama.

Fiona - 

So in a high-drama poisoning what might happen?

Judith - 

A high drama poison kills quickly. We’ve all seen it on TV. The victim clutches his throat or abdomen.  Often there are seizures and the victim gasps for breath before they fall and quickly die a very dramatic death.

I wanted a poison that would kill slowly and quietly. Something similar to carbon monoxide. I needed a poison that could be released as a gas or liquid. I rejected the plant poisons because many of them needed to be ingested. But, nevertheless, plant poisons are great killing instruments. 

Oh, by the way Fiona, a high-drama poison is my term.  I don’t think you’ll find that in the research terms.

I considered setting the house or fire and making it impossible for the family to leave the house but I couldn't guarantee they would die from smoke inhalation plus snipers on the roof could create a problem.  I wanted stealth killer poison and I found one.

Fiona -

I'm thinking about the nerve poisons that killed/attempted to kill the people in London. The helpers going in were then exposed. from the medical perspective (since you have a PhD in nursing) what are some signs a rescuer should be aware of so they don't accidentally walk into a poison scene and get themselves in trouble?

Judith - 

Yes, the nerve poisons, bio chemical weapons and even simple household poisons (hydrogen sulfides that are used in chemical suicides) are quite deadly. If there is any chance that poison is suspected, first responders follow local response guidelines, take precautions and wear proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCUBA).  The local haz mat team should be call immediately and a safe distance should be maintained until the threat it fully assessed – usually between .1 and .3 miles. I think this equipment is standard now for first responders because of the terrorists poisons we've seen in recent years i.e. the subways poisons in Europe.

Fiona - 

If you thought you had poison contact, what's the first thing someone should do besides call 911?

Judith - 

Remove themselves and others from the area. Call for help and seek medical attention asap.

Fiona -  

Very interesting - I'm really looking forward to learning what poison you used and what happened to the Lee family along with all the other wonderful suspense novels in Love Under Fire - where 21 authors put their talent to work to save shelter pets and at the same time helpour veteran community - such a win-win. 

Won't you readers take a moment and preorder your 99cent boxed set right now?

Judith -  

Thanks Fiona!  It’s been great to be back on Thrillwriting! Please have folks buy Love Under Fire. There are 21 amazing novels in this collection. The link is https://books2read.com/LoveUnderFire

  and it’s available everywhere books are sold. I’m also interested in connecting with readers at judithlucci.com.  Thanks for today!