Manuscript Status: Finished
Mentor Name: Stacey Trombley
Mentee Name: Anissa Malek
Title: SARIN
Category: Young Adult
Genre: Techno Thriller
Word Count: 89,000
Pitch:
Seventeen-year-old Sarin’s fight to uncover the truth about her altered memories turns her from assassin to target. Now she’ll risk being reprogrammed into a mindless killing machine to save her mentor from the black ops agency that’s desperate to get Sarin back. BOURNE IDENTITY meets MIND GAMES.
Excerpt:
Dread pursues me down the empty hall. It’s an itch I can’t scratch, an enemy I can’t see. I want to stop, solidify my composure before entering the briefing room, but I won’t. I refuse to let the cameras catch me rattled. Especially now.
It’s over, I remind myself. I won’t have to kill today.
The new rankings posted this morning. I’m back on top, my presence at the briefing a formality. Still, I hate it—the hostile looks, the whispered threats, the stink of eager bodies yearning for their next fix. This room brings out the worst in us. And considering we’re a group of teenage assassins, the worst can be pretty damn ugly.
My tablet blinks to life the instant I cross the threshold. Welcome, Sarin, flashes white on black, lingering like a ghost as the screen brightens and the countdown clock appears in the lower right-hand corner. Fifty-three seconds until the doors lock and the briefing begins. I’ve never cut it this close before.
I ignore the glares of my fellow System Trained Assassins and head for the front. My boots creak, tweaking my nerves, but I plaster a bored look on my face and soldier on.
It only happens in this room—the boot squeaking. I’ve always assumed it’s because the concrete has been worn smooth from years of use. Now as each step punctuates my late arrival, I’m convinced they put something on the floor intentionally. One more way to mess with our heads.