From Miscue, Netblue and Snafu
by Glen C. Allison
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
It's been a dozen years since my life crashed. Before that, people who heard the name “Al Forte” would associate me with being a Navy SEAL: tough, resourceful, in control. I had them fooled; more important, I had myself fooled. Then my wife was killed in front of my eyes and I couldn't do a thing about it. With the help of some friends, I managed to avoid destroying myself with drugs and alcohol. When I got out of treatment, I was asked to rescue a child from some kidnappers. Which I did. I felt unworthy of the task, but I did it. From that point, some people wanted to establish a safe house in the French Quarter called “The Refuge.” I helped with that and Forte Security was born. We rescue and protect kids. It's all we do. To be honest, some days I feel like I'm only a step away from darkness. But I do what I can, a day at a time.
So what have you been doing since the last big case?
The first big case of MISCUE, involved a guy who murdered an abortion doctor then kidnapped the doctor's daughter. I had to track down the guy and it took me all over the country and down to Belize to find him. (Sounds glamorous but when bullets start flying, you tend to forget the sunshine and sparkling blue ocean.) In the second case, NETBLUE, I had to track down a serial killer who was murdering pedophiles. Don't ask me how I get put in these situations. I try not to question circumstances much any more. It's life. In my current case SNAFU, I'm forced to confront my grief by tracking down the kidnapped son of the man who killed my wife.
How did you become involved in this case?
Actually, I was involved in another case: The daughter of the governor of Louisiana was missing. I was asked to track her down. Then, the young man who had killed my wife years earlier in a gang prank gone wrong confronted me. His little son was stolen. Would I help find him? And behind it all there was a bigger plot to kill many more people.
Tell us about this case.
I'm not sure how much I can tell without giving away the surprises. I will say this: SNAFU is the perfect word for what happened.
Was there ever a time during this case that you doubted those that you normally trust?
I have a hard time trusting anyone, most of all myself. But what I've learned is that, no matter how much of a loner I consider myself, life is a team sport. You have to count on someone else sometime, especially when things fall apart. Because of what I was asked to do, I mistrusted everyone around me on this case. And I was wrong more than once.
What can I say? I'm worthless sometime.
How dangerous was it to solve this case?
Very dangerous. Yes, there was danger for me, of course. But I don't see it like I should. Don't get me wrong – I'm not asking for the pain of a gunshot or knife wound or being blown up by a car bomb. I just don't think about it, once I'm rolling. Maybe I'm more afraid of being a coward than I am of the danger in a situation. In a bigger sense, literally
millions of people could have died from the bigger threat of this case.
Did working on this case affect you emotionally?
Yes. The adrenalin of almost dying can leave you deflated both physically and emotionally. And when you lose someone close to you, the grief is numbing, to me at least. I'm still sorting through it, a day at a time.
How did this case affect your personal life?
I lost some people close to me. One of them was expected; the other was not. I wish I could say that I could absorb those losses and keep a brave face. I just don't know. Part of me knows I'll come through it with a resolve to help protect the innocent even more. Part of me wonders if I can. We shall see. In the grand scheme of things, all of us suffers loss and none of us can handle it perfectly. Only God can. I'm not Him and I don't see His face clearly a lot of the time. But I'm thankful I believe that He is there.
Glen C. Allison writes the New Orleans suspense series about Forte, a broken SEAL who saves stolen children. The first two books in the series, MISCUE and NETBLUE, are being released this month in ebook format. The third in the series, SNAFU, is tentatively scheduled for release in February 2013. Get news of Forte at http://torturedhero.com. Join the Forte fan page at http://fb.com/fortebooks.
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