I may have mentioned here a time or two that I am an insomniac. Most of the time, I lie awake and toss and turn and worry and freak out about stuff I can’t handle. Occasionally, my brain turns to more productive matters. Of course, it’s never provides me with useful information about the work I am supposed to be doing (in this case, a project tentatively entitled Mind Games and set for release in November of 2015), but always something else completely.

Last night, it gave me the outline of Nash Harper’s book. If you’ve read Lost, you’ve met Nash, if only in passing. Over the next couple of books, he’ll become more important as his company, Harp Security Enterprise, begins to take center stage. But I hadn’t really considered Nash as a lead. He’s the man of mystery, the big boss, and even to me he was sort of a shadow figure.

Now, obviously, I’m not going to give you all thousand words I wrote last night…I don’t want to give away the story before I even figure it out. But I’ll pass along two paragraphs for the sake of entertainment. As usual, since it’s the beginning of the book, I’ll probably end up deleting it. But in case you’re curious about HSE, here’s a snippet.

Harp Security was not the kind of place that welcomed casual visitors. In fact, the name appeared nowhere on the outside of the building. Even the occasional lost tourist poking a head inside to ask the uniformed guard for directions could be forgiven for mistaking the 12-story building in Manhattan’s trendy TriBeCa neighborhood for nothing more than another expensive apartment complex. Which was just how Nash Harper liked it.

Only those who knew precisely what to ask for made it past that guard, and they were carefully screened by on-duty operatives before being allowed into the reception area. So when Nash’s assistant Lexie called him from reception to tell him they had a guest who wouldn’t give his name, Nash took a brief moment for a weapons check before stepping out of his office.

Now, back to work on the one that’s due!