Gut Instinct by Brad Taylor, a Mysterious Review.

Review: When the shipping company owned by a known — but now dead — terrorist makes deliveries to Manila, suspicious packages that had somehow bypassed customs officials, undercover government operatives Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill head to the Philippines to investigate in Gut Instinct, a short story by Brad Taylor.

Pike is still recovering from wounds received during a previous mission, but his presence isn't really required anyway. The operation's leader believes the way to gather information is through the wives of the men they suspect to be terrorists, a task that Jennifer is ideally suited for. She follows them but quickly realizes that they know nothing about any potential terrorist activity, yet her observations — and conclusions therefrom — are disregarded. Disobeying orders, Jennifer and Pike go about proving the two women aren't directly involved, only to uncover a much more dangerous situation that threatens the lives of hundreds of people.

Short stories such as these are clearly marketing efforts on the part of publishers to entice readers to sample authors' other books. Sometimes they work as stand-alone stories, sometimes they don't. Gut Instinct is one of the former. Taylor has wisely chosen to craft a story around a secondary character, relegating series lead Pike Logan to a minor role. The narrative is crisply written, moves along rapidly, and includes the kind of conflict, action, and resolution scenes that would be included in a full-length novel, illustrating not only the author's technique but also providing a quick introduction to the characters and their interpersonal relationships. This is an exciting, twist-filled story, one that will likely achieve its intended purpose of having readers seeking out Taylor's previous thrillers in the series. (This short story also includes an excerpt from the next book in the series, The Widow's Strike.)

The Callsign
Dutton (Ebook), November 2012
ISBN-13: 9781101605639; ISBN-10: 1101605634

Gut Instinct

A Pike Logan, Taskforce Short Story by Brad Taylor