That’s right, the first entry in my trilogy with Falstaff Books is out today! Make sure you grab yourself a copy and save it to Goodreads or LibraryThing!
The Starlight Contingency is Titan AE meets Nikita!
Orphaned siblings Scarlett and Duke Nam have had it rough. Cast aside by society, they’ve managed to stay afloat by being thieves on the streets of Alexandria, Virginia. Things plunge straight to Hell when a heist goes wrong and they’re on the run from the cops, but after they stumble into a nearby home to escape, something seemingly impossible happens – the house transforms into a spaceship and leaves the Earth’s orbit.
Scarlett and Duke awaken to find that they are now prisoners about the Titan International Spaceship. The Earth has been destroyed by the Bergleute des Todes, aka The Miners of Death. Scarlett and Duke are given the chance to become soldiers to fight the aliens who destroyed their world.
The only thing left for them is the hardest thing of all: Survival.
Are you excited for my upcoming science fiction space travel novel with Falstaff Books? Get ready for the final excerpt below!
Orphaned siblings Scarlett and Duke Nam have had it rough. Cast aside by society, they’ve managed to stay afloat by being thieves on the streets of Alexandria, Virginia. Things plunge straight to Hell when a heist goes wrong and they’re on the run from the cops, but after they stumble into a nearby home to escape, something seemingly impossible happens – the house transforms into a spaceship and leaves the Earth’s orbit.
Scarlett and Duke awaken to find that they are now prisoners about the Titan International Spaceship. The Earth has been destroyed by the Bergleute des Todes, aka The Miners of Death. Scarlett and Duke are given the chance to become soldiers to fight the aliens who destroyed their world.
The only thing left for them is the hardest thing of all: Survival.
I awoke when I heard echoed footsteps. I rolled over on my cot to look at the door. The guard opened it and waved two fingers at me.
“Get up.”
I stood, frowning. “What’s going on?”
“You’re going to be debriefed on the situation. Hands against the wall.”
I obeyed, remaining still as he cuffed me and pushed me out the door. No blindfold this time. I logged that knowledge away for later.
At the other end of the hall, another guard hauled Scarlett out of her cell and a small part of me relaxed upon seeing her. She looked small and cold, but her brown eyes lit up when she spotted me. The guards stayed two steps behind us with their guns drawn, ordering us to walk.
“Where do you think they’re taking us?” she asked me in Korean, her voice low and filled with trepidation.
“Not sure. It might be more questioning about the Rosewoods or whatever went down last night.”
“Stop talking,” the guard snapped, jabbing me in the back with his gun. I quelled my anger and continued walking. We turned right at the corner of the jail cell and into a stairwell. I could see an elevator nearby, but they didn’t want to risk being in an isolated space with us, so we continued past it. The stairwell’s walls were concrete as well, but the floor was metal. Odd.
We went up two flights and entered another hallway. Instead of jail cells, there were what appeared to be interrogation rooms. It may have been the ones they questioned us in right after the abduction. There were large glass windows next to the door, and inside were the same white walls as our prison with metal chairs and a table across from a one-way mirror. My suspicions of being abducted by government agents seemed more and more likely.
They stopped at a room at the end of the hall, and there were two men waiting for us: Captain Hallstead and an older man I had never seen before. He wore an expensive navy suit, and his gray hair was immaculately groomed. They stood in front of a table and two chairs, which the guards instructed us to take.
Scarlett bristled at the order. “I’d rather stand.”
“Lettie,” I muttered in warning. She glanced at me and sighed, taking her seat. The guards closed the door and stood against the wall behind us. The older man watched the two of us for a handful of seconds before speaking.
“My name is General Bridgewater. I’m the commanding officer of this establishment. I’m told that you are Scarlett and Duke. Is that correct?”
We exchanged glances and then nodded. He continued. “Normally, our organization is under the kill-first-ask-questions-later policy, but recent events have caused us to reconsider this course of action.”
He slid his hands out of his pockets and pressed them against the table, lowering his voice. “However, it would be unwise to take this as a sign of weakness. We are reluctant to kill you, but if necessary, we will. Do you understand me?”
“Sir, yes, sir,” Scarlett said with the utmost sarcasm in her voice. I closed my eyes for a second, resisting the urge to kick her in the shin.
Bridgewater glanced at her. “You’re the one who’s been giving Captain Hallstead trouble, am I right?”
Scarlett’s eyes flicked to the captain. “Aw, you told him about me?”
He ignored her. “I wouldn’t quite call it trouble, sir.”
“Call it what you will. I like your spirit. I’ve seen many girls like you succeed with that kind of fire, but it won’t work here. Here, you either get with the program or you live a hard life. I can wipe your early transgressions clean if you agree to cooperate for the duration of your stay at this facility. That’s an offer for the both of you.”
“That’s very generous of you,” I said in a measured voice. “But we’d both be much happier if you showed us the door. “
Bridgewater exhaled through his nose, straightening to full height. “There is no door. That’s why we’ve brought you here. You don’t seem to have any more information for us, so it’s time to open Pandora’s box.”
He snapped his fingers. Captain Hallstead stepped forward and placed a manila folder on the table. He opened it, revealing a large photograph.
“Do you know what this is?”
“A satellite. What about it?” I answered.
“It’s not just any satellite. This is a deep space satellite constructed to explore galaxies that are too far away for us to reach as of yet. It was put into orbit over twenty years ago. It captured photos of an unidentified planet with qualities similar to Earth. We launched a campaign that year to find out if it had breathable air and other natural resources.”
“Yeah, I remember reading about this,” Scarlett said. “They were calling it Earth II. The program was canceled for vague reasons. I’m guessing you know why.”
He slid the picture aside. This time, it wasn’t a satellite. It was something that looked like a giant meteor with spikes coming out of it and an eerie blue glow at the center.
“Earth II was destroyed that same year.”
“By what? This meteor?”
“It’s not a meteor. It’s a ship.”
Both of us went completely still.
Scarlett spoke first. “Wait, wait, wait. You’re telling us that this thing is an alien spaceship?”
“Yes.”
She chuckled, shaking her head. “That’s great. Fantastic. It’s like we’re in Independence Day. Where are Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum when you need them?”
Captain Hallstead didn’t crack a smile. He kept going. “The ship has a cannon on board that harbors an energy source our scientists call Sorbatium. We believe it’s akin to solar energy, as if they are harnessing small suns. They’ve channeled it into a destructive beam. They fired at Earth II and destroyed it in less than five minutes. The ship then deployed hundreds of smaller vessels to collect the fragments of the planet’s core, which we believe they use for profit.”
“And who is they?” Scarlett asked, still heavy on skepticism.
“The astrologist who made the discovery was German. He called them the Bergleute des Todes. Miners of death. They travel from planet to planet, destroying them and gathering their core material. We knew it would only be a certain amount of time before they mined all the usable planets in that galaxy and started coming for ours. That’s when the Starlight Contingency was put into motion. We selected one hundred million citizens of Earth to be the continuation of mankind if our military force failed against the Bergleute. In secret, their homes were converted into our most advanced space shuttles and outfitted with equipment for an immediate exit of the solar system. The Rosewoods were part of that one hundred million, but your intervention brings that number up to one hundred million and two.”
“So what now?” Scarlett interrupted. “We become soldiers in the war against the Bergs? For great justice? Give me a fucking break here. How stupid do you think we are?”
Hallstead’s eyes narrowed a bit. “You really don’t want me to answer that.”
She glared. “Bite me, pretty boy.”
“Is there a point to this conversation?” I interjected, trying to stop their squabbling.
Hallstead cleared his throat, taking a deep breath. “Last night, the Bergleute made their way into our solar system. We launched a full assault on them. Every single shuttle was destroyed, and not just ours. France, Germany, Russia, Japan, China, Korea…everyone’s. We had no other choice. We launched the Starlight Contingency after the last infantry fell.”
“Then what? You need us so you can launch another attack before they blow up the Earth?”
“You don’t understand. The Earth was destroyed six hours ago.”
My sister couldn’t hold it in anymore. She burst out laughing, loud and unbridled. It took her a moment to get it under control, talking through giggles. “This is amazing. I mean, I’ve never heard such a load of shit in my life. If you want us to work for you, just say so. You didn’t have to come up with such an elaborate ruse.”
General Bridgewater snapped his fingers again, this time at the guards. “Take them topside. Now.”
“Yes, sir.”
The guards hauled us to our feet and shoved us out the door. Captain Hallstead and the general trailed us. This time, we used the elevator instead of the stairs. Both men were relatively certain we wouldn’t try anything in their presence, it seemed. I could attest to this but Scarlett…not so much. She retained a look of bemusement at the serious expressions on everyone’s face. I couldn’t blame her. Their story was laughable and had little evidence to support it. I suspected it was part of a larger scheme of brainwashing. I was vulnerable to many things, but manipulation was seldom one of them.
We rose for several minutes. My eyebrow started to lift when I noticed we were now in the twenties. The elevator was all metal, no windows, so I couldn’t see the outside. However, the fact that it was about fifteen feet across in both directions certainly roused my suspicion.
Finally, we hit the thirtieth floor and the doors opened. For a second, I didn’t move.
It looked like the docking bay of a ship, but not a seafaring ship—a spaceship.
There were at least thirty different consoles where men and women in dark blue jumpsuits sat wearing headsets and monitoring digital screens.
Captain Hallstead and General Bridgewater walked in, and the guards nudged my sister and I forward. By now, the skeptical expression on Scarlett’s face had subsided and she began to look unnerved.
The two men walked to the front of the deck, and we followed, staring at the sight before us. General Bridgewater brandished a hand at everything before us.
“Welcome to the Titan.”
There were windows at least twenty feet high in front of us, and beyond them was a sky so black that it felt like night itself stretched across my vision. There was only one thing breaking up the blanket of darkness. To the right, I could see the atmosphere of a moon of some sort—its surface a pale orange. I had never seen anything like it. Stars sparkled out in the distance, but none of it looked familiar. These were not our stars. I had seen them as a child, studying charts in my science classes and naming their patterns while my mother hovered over me, smiling.
“Hey, Duke,” Scarlett said next to me in an alarmingly detached sort of voice.
“Yeah?” I whispered.
“This looks kind of…real.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I thought it was just me.”
Then Scarlett went limp and started to fall. The guards reached for her, but Captain Hallstead caught her with an expression on his face between surprise and pity. She had actually fainted. Not that I blamed her. The blood had retreated from my face, and I could feel dread filling my stomach like cold poison.
“Take her to the infirmary,” General Bridgewater said impassively. “Let me know when she revives.” He might have been used to seeing reactions like this, especially if this wasn’t an illusion.
Captain Hallstead handed my sister over to one of the guards, his eyes lingering as the man carried her out. I tried to read his expression, but it was like taking impression from stone: flat, lifeless, cold. But there was something there. I just didn’t know what.
“Do you have any questions, son?”
I glanced up at General Bridgewater and had to swallow before I could answer. Even then, my voice wavered. “Do you have…footage of Earth’s destruction? I’ll admit that I am starting to believe you, but this could still be some sort of elaborate ruse.”
The general turned and motioned to a wide circular console different from the ones the crewmembers were using. He touched his fingertip to the surface, and an enormous 3D digital map appeared. Briefly, I saw the coordinates for where we were in space and then he switched to a feed from a satellite.
“This is the last footage we received before it happened. It’s from one of our satellites. I’m sure other countries have their own versions of it as well. By the time the Bergleute entered the solar system, the ships including the Starlight Contingency had already evacuated the Earth.”
The satellite showed the surface of the Earth as I always remembered it—seeming to hang in the darkness of space like a sapphire. The upper corner of the globe began to darken, confusing me until I realized it was a shadow from the alien cruiser. The satellite wasn’t facing it so I couldn’t catch a glimpse, but I knew it was there. I saw a bright flash and then a red beam burrowed into one side of the planet. My stomach jerked inside me at the sight of the land crumbling and the seas boiling in its wake. It had disintegrated part of Asia already, and there were burning waves climbing outward from the entry point. After a few minutes, the beam burst out the other side of the planet and the tectonic plates of the Earth’s surface began to crack apart. Bright yellow and orange spurted from the cracks, evidence of the planet’s core peeking through as the weapon ripped it apart from the inside. At last, it exploded, and the satellite feed went to static.
General Bridgewater closed the feed. He showed no emotion at seeing it. I got the feeling he had watched it a hundred times, his pale eyes filling the world just before it turned into nothing more than rocks and dust.
“General Bridgewater,” I said. “If this is some sort of trick, understand that I will do everything in my power to end your life.”
He nodded. I wiped my eyes and straightened my posture. “Then consider this my agreement to cooperate with your operation. I can’t say the same thing for my sister, but I will do what is needed as long as I am on this vessel.”
“Good man. Escort him to the barracks.”
The guard reached for me, but I held up my hands. “What is going to happen to Scarlett?”
General Bridgewater glanced at Captain Hallstead, and he answered instead. “She needs to be examined for psychological damage, and if she chooses to play ball, she’ll be placed in the women’s division aboard this ship. You’re both going to become soldiers.”
“I need to be able to see her. She won’t recover as quickly without me.”
Captain Hallstead paused, seeming unsure. “We’ll see if we can make arrangements, but as of now she won’t be released until we’re sure she’s stable. A lot of people suffer from PTSD after seeing the world destroyed. We’ll keep her safe.”
I stepped forward, unafraid. “I want your word on that, Captain.”
He met my eyes. “You have my word.”
I let the guard take me back to the elevator and lead me to my new home. The only home I had left.
We’re getting closer to our release date, so here’s an all-new excerpt from my upcoming science fiction space travel novel with Falstaff Books, The Starlight Contingency #1! If you haven’t already read the opening chapter in the first excerpt, go here first, and then catch up.
The Starlight Contingency is Titan AE meets Nikita!
Orphaned siblings Scarlett and Duke Nam have had it rough. Cast aside by society, they’ve managed to stay afloat by being thieves on the streets of Alexandria, Virginia. Things plunge straight to Hell when a heist goes wrong and they’re on the run from the cops, but after they stumble into a nearby home to escape, something seemingly impossible happens – the house transforms into a spaceship and leaves the Earth’s orbit.
Scarlett and Duke awaken to find that they are now prisoners about the Titan International Spaceship. The Earth has been destroyed by the Bergleute des Todes, aka The Miners of Death. Scarlett and Duke are given the chance to become soldiers to fight the aliens who destroyed their world.
The only thing left for them is the hardest thing of all: Survival.
I woke up on the floor. It was colder than ice, colder than the Arctic Circle, colder than a penguin’s ass. Thankfully, my wrists and ankles were no longer in handcuffs, but my head was splitting. Nausea rolled through me in a sickening wave. It took a few minutes for it to pass and that was when I opened my eyes.
The room was white. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, were all blindingly white. I closed my eyes again and pushed up on my hands as slowly as possible. My arms felt like they were gonna fold under me at any second. The room was only about ten feet across, from what I could tell with my blurry vision.
I sat up and my back hit something solid. I glanced behind me to see a plain green cot, a white pillow, and a blue blanket. And when I turned my head to the left, I saw a man in black leaning against the metal bars on the far wall.
I scrambled backward on my hands and knees. The man shook his head and spoke with a smoky voice.
“Don’t get up too fast. You’ll—”
I stood up, walked two steps, and vomited in the corner of the room. My entire body shook, and the headache got worse. It felt like my brain was vibrating inside my skull.
“Told you so.”
I wiped my mouth clean and glared at him. “Who the fuck are you?”
My vision cleared somewhat, and I could see him properly. He was white, late twenties, tall, gray eyes, brown hair, goatee, wearing an expensive black suit, tie, and dress shoes. His hands were in his pockets as he watched me.
“Travis Hallstead,” he said. “Not that I owe you anything.”
“You owe me an explanation,” I sneered, trying once more to stand up. This time, I didn’t puke and my legs held.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “So do you.”
I snorted. “Don’t tell me. You’re gonna ask me about the Star Wars Contingency.”
“It’s the Starlight Contingency,” Travis corrected. “And yeah, I was.”
“I’ll tell you like I told the last guy. I don’t know what the fuck that is and I don’t care. Where is my brother? Where are we?”
He shook his head, smirking. “You’re a hard ass, I’ll give you that. But that’s not gonna get you what you want. If you play ball, maybe you won’t spend the rest of your life rotting in this cell and all the charm and anger in the world won’t get you out.”
I walked closer, my mouth set in a firm line. He pushed off from the wall, staring me down without an ounce of fear.
“I’m gonna ask you one last time, Mr. Travis Hallstead. Where…is…my…brother?” I enunciated each word with a venomous tone.
“That’s the least of your worries right now, trust me.”
“Wrong answer.” I threw a punch at him.
He ducked and grabbed my wrist, throwing me against the wall behind him. “You really don’t wanna do this, little girl.”
“Fuck you!” I threw another punch, two more, but he dodged them, stepping back so that they went right past his nose. I switched to low jabs, trying to hit him in the stomach, but he blocked them each time with liquid-fast reflexes. This man was trained, and well. There was no way I could beat him with my fighting skills. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t gonna try.
I faked a haymaker that made him sidestep, and the back of his legs hit the cot, giving me a couple seconds to move. I shoved him and he fell back onto the cot. I grabbed his tie and yanked him up so that he dangled there awkwardly, raising my right fist.
“Tell me where my brother is or I’ll pound that goatee right off your pretty face,” I growled.
To my surprise, he offered me a slick grin and then punched me in the right kidney, making me let go of the tie. I fell forward onto his lap, and he grabbed my arms, crossing them over my chest so that I couldn’t move.
“You done?” Travis asked in an infuriatingly calm voice.
I struggled, but his grip was like iron. I couldn’t move backward out of his lap or to the side, which made me even angrier. “Not by a long shot.”
“Well, as much as I’ve enjoyed playing with you,” he replied in a sharp, sarcastic tone, “you need more time to cool off and think about your priorities.”
“Oh, I’ve got those straight. Kick your ass, get out of this cell, get my brother, and get the hell out of here.”
He shook his head. “You don’t get it. There is no ‘out of here.’ Like it or not, this place is all you have left now. It’s what we all have left.”
“What are you talking about?”
His dark eyes searched mine for a long moment and then a look of interest spilled through them. He tilted his head a bit, frowning. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“How many times have I said that already? I don’t know what happened before we blacked out. We were in the Rosewoods’ mansion and then everything started shaking and then we passed out. That’s all I know. Nothing else.”
His hands loosened on my wrists. “Why were you in their mansion?”
“We…” I bit my bottom lip, choosing my words carefully. “…were on the run. We needed a place to hide and that’s where we hid. They weren’t our targets—they were just convenient. Nothing more.”
His grip tightened to the bruising point. “You’re lying again.”
“I’m not lying,” I snapped. “What do you want me to say? The Rosewoods aren’t dead, right? If we had been sent to kill them, then we would have known about their freaky steel doors and magic house vibrator and crazy grandma—”
His eyes widened. “You spoke to Evelyn Rosewood?”
“Briefly. She was just babbling. I figured she was senile.”
“What did she babble about?”
“Something about us being chosen, that there was someone waiting in the darkness.”
Another look went through his eyes—not fear, but maybe a cousin of the feeling mixed with genuine surprise. Before I could ask him about it, he spoke again. “Last thing—what’s your name?”
I eyed him. “Who wants to know?”
His fingers finally went slack around my arms and a ghost of a smile returned to his lips.
“Me.”
I stared at him. I couldn’t really lose anything by answering him. I was already in a prison. Things couldn’t get much worse than that, by my account.
“Scarlett. With two t’s.”
He glanced at the two streaks of bright red hair at my temple. “Changed your name to fit your hairstyle?”
I smiled. “No, but I get that a lot. It’s after my birthmark.”
His eyes immediately started searching for a blemish on my skin. “Birthmark? Where?”
My smile stretched. “Not on a first date, Mr. Hallstead. Though I think we’re about halfway there anyway.”
He then noticed I had been sitting in his lap this entire time and let me up. I flopped against the cot as he stood, letting the humor drain out of me. “I answered your questions, now answer mine.”
Travis dusted off his suit and adjusted his tie, then regarded me with a serious look.
“Your brother is being detained and questioned in this facility as well. It’s unlikely that the two of you will see each other again any time soon.”
His words scared me to my very core. I took a deep breath to calm myself. “Who are you? CIA? FBI? NSA? Division?”
“It doesn’t matter. The point is that if your brother corroborates your story, you might have options, but as of now, you’re to remain a prisoner.”
“For how long?”
He said nothing, only rapping his knuckles against the metal door to his right. A guard dressed in black body armor walked over and unlocked the jail cell, letting him out. He left.
I pulled my legs up to my chest, blanketed in total silence.
ICYMI, my upcoming science fiction space travel novel, The Starlight Contingency #1, has a cover and synopsis, so now it’s time for your first taste of the adventure!
The Starlight Contingency is Titan AE meets Nikita!
Orphaned siblings Scarlett and Duke Nam have had it rough. Cast aside by society, they’ve managed to stay afloat by being thieves on the streets of Alexandria, Virginia. Things plunge straight to Hell when a heist goes wrong and they’re on the run from the cops, but after they stumble into a nearby home to escape, something seemingly impossible happens – the house transforms into a spaceship and leaves the Earth’s orbit.
Scarlett and Duke awaken to find that they are now prisoners about the Titan International Spaceship. The Earth has been destroyed by the Bergleute des Todes, aka The Miners of Death. Scarlett and Duke are given the chance to become soldiers to fight the aliens who destroyed their world.
The only thing left for them is the hardest thing of all: Survival.
Please enjoy the below excerpt!
–
DUKE
The binoculars in my hands were stolen.
Stealing wasn’t hard. The clerk had been swamped on a Saturday night when it was still warm and people populated the street like schools of fish. Besides, Scarlett was perfect for distraction if he hadn’t been anyway. The process is simple, almost childishly simple. Scope out the shop two days ahead of time. Mind the cameras. Browse. Remain casual. Ask the clerk questions about the products, make it look like you’re gonna make a purchase. Clerks think that shoplifters avoid eye contact and immediately head for the corners of the store. Those are the amateurs. The kids looking for cheap thrills. The poor single moms struggling to make ends meet. The pathological liars.
We weren’t like them.
A leather jacket would be too obvious. Cargo pants too. My favorite was a pair of old, ratty jeans that hung low off my ass. The clerk was a straight guy, so he wouldn’t be paying attention to my ass when I carefully slipped the binoculars inside the back pocket after skillfully removing the tag with my pocketknife. 3.2 seconds. I had it down to an art.
I’d met eyes with Scarlett, and she knew the deed was done. We weren’t twins, but people thought we were because we had so many non-verbal cues. Thieving wasn’t like in the movies. We didn’t have elaborate schemes and escape plans. We didn’t wear rubber masks with nuns or presidents on them. Though, we did wear all black at night robberies. That was actually pretty useful.
My mind reeled itself back in to the task at hand. We had been planning this haul for a month. No more petty crooks. Big leagues. But more money also meant more time in jail and so we had to be careful. Cautious. Smart. Direct.
“Traffic?”
“Nothing. It is three a.m., after all.” Scarlett stuck out her hand for the binoculars. I handed them to her and lowered my hands to the belt. The darkness of the alley concealed us. I didn’t need light. I felt the tools one by one with my fingertips to check that they were all there and breathed a sigh of relief. Things would be fine. Just fine.
“Alright, let’s cross. Head low, casual.”
“Yes, boss,” she snorted, tucking the binoculars on her belt. I walked across the street first, scanning for cars or people. It was a cold October night, and no one was around. I liked it that way, even when we weren’t working. The rear entrance to the privately owned jewelry store—embarrassingly cliché, I know—was directly across from a pet store, which provided us with cover. No cameras on this street, but there were some two stoplights down, which was why we were on foot tonight.
Scarlett came over a couple minutes after me. I pried the rear entrance open, having already turned off the alarms. That was why we’d chosen this place. Large chain jewelry stores had intricate security systems that couldn’t be externally shut down even in the event the power went out. We’d cased the place last month, getting to know the owner and the staff, and we’d worked out that it was minimum security and, therefore, worth the risk.
Cold silence and shiny linoleum greeted me. I walked inside, holding the door for my sister. I motioned for her to put her ski mask on and then did so myself. I shut the door and locked it before doing a quick scan of the employee lounge. Everything was laid out just like Scarlett said. Perfect.
There were a lot of ways to crack a safe, but we had found the fastest method was using a handheld welding torch. The modern safe of a place like this one wasn’t spectacular. It sat in the corner of the room. Like most retail stores, there wouldn’t be a sizeable amount of cash inside because most customers paid by card or check and the employees made weekly drops to the bank, but some bills were better than none. But that wasn’t all we were here for anyway.
Scarlett burned through the metal door of the safe and flicked the welding torch off, her gloved fingers tugging at the mostly melted lid to reveal the drawer inside. I unfolded a bag and dumped the drawers from the cash registers inside, calculating that we had maybe two-thousand dollars in cash. Not bad.
The next priority was the loose diamonds, which were kept in a separate container with labels for where they went in the displays. This was the real reason we’d come. The private owner had a handful that amounted to about fifty-to-sixty grand altogether. I’d had a friend in our apartment building who said he could find a fence for the diamonds. All they needed to do was make sure there weren’t serial numbers etched inside them and we’d be home free.
We walked out of the back room to the front display and split up. She went to the far side of the shop near the window, staying low, and I worked on the alarms set up on each display case. Once they were open, I stuffed the important pieces in individual sacks: necklaces first, bracelets second, and rings last. Anything else wouldn’t be worth the trouble because we only had another two minutes to get the hell out of dodge. Scarlett always called me a Five-Minute Man. I found that both disturbing and irritating, but it was still better than my usual nickname.
I lifted my eyes toward her to let her know I had finished my half, but then I saw it: sleek and shiny like a Great White cruising through the surf, aching for prey. My mouth felt as if it had been filled with sand, but I pushed the words out anyway.
“Lettie, drop!” I hissed as the cop car glided past the window. She hit the floor with a loud thunk,and I did as well, panting for air as panic gripped my chest. I froze, listening for the sound of the tires scraping against the road but heard nothing. Slowly, I tilted my head upward to see the cop car had stopped in front of the building. I caught a glimpse of two patrol officers climbing out and one of them touching his walkie talkie. As soon as both of them shut the doors to their car, I hollered at my sister.
“Go!”
Scarlett leapt to her feet and raced toward me. The officers spotted us and broke into a run. I slung the loot across my shoulder and led the way out of the shop, kicking the door open once I’d slid the lock back. Our feet punished the ground, but it wasn’t enough. I could hear the unintelligible jabber of their radio as they called in the robbery and ran even faster, turning down alleys left and right until we reached our escape route. Three streets and then straight into the woods. Five minutes and we’d be out of here.
Car horns blared as we pounced into the street. Scarlett had to do a front-hand flip over the hood of one that didn’t stop in time. Sirens cut through the air, meaning that the cops had a second unit nearby, further mucking up our plans. The ski mask stifled my heaving breaths. I wanted desperately to take it off as we crossed the second street, climbing over stone dividers across the freeway.
We reached the last and most dangerous road and had to stop as an eighteen-wheeler thundered past. My foot hit the concrete and then everything flashed white for a second. At first, I thought I’d been hit by a car and died, but then I heard the unmistakable roar of helicopter blades and squinted up into the sky to see a police copter.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” my sister spat, reading my mind.
I jerked my head in the direction of the forest. “Keep going!”
We crossed the last street and dove into the woods, eluding the spotlight for a few precious moments by hiding beneath a rotting log. Dirt and loam clung to my ski mask, making it even harder to breathe, and mud clumped on the front of my pants. We flattened ourselves as much as possible as the copter continued searching for us in the dark, but I knew we couldn’t stay there. I could see the pair of cops who had spotted us crossing the second street. They would find us in mere minutes.
“This wasn’t part of the plan,” Scarlett hissed, her brown eyes slicing into mine.
“I know,” I snapped. “Will you just give me a second to think?”
“Sure. You take your second and the cops crawl up our asses. Where did they even get a chopper? How are we this unlucky?”
“No one gets away with everything.” I craned my neck to peer at the forest behind us, trying to remember where it led. Then it hit me.
“The Rosewood mansion.”
Scarlett stared at me. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“They haven’t spotted us yet. If we make a break for it, we should be able to get on the grounds before they see where we went.”
“Duke, we don’t know what’s in there. We don’t know how their security system works. For all we know, they have attack dogs with lasers on their heads!”
“We move on the count of three.”
She swore at me, pointing a long finger in my face. “Duke, this is a stupid idea.”
“One…”
“We’re gonna get caught!”
“Two…”
“If you say three, I’ll punch you in the nuts.”
“Three!”
I jumped to my feet and bolted. Scarlett let out an unearthly growl and came tearing after me. Branches smacked my chest, leaves scattered beneath my feet, and the cold air made my eyes tear up, but I kept going until the sound of sticks crunching and my ragged breath were all I could hear. A soundtrack of desperation and the need for freedom. A snide little voice in the back of my head told me it was pointless, that we’d get caught and locked up, but I didn’t listen. Maybe God had one trick left up His sleeve and He’d slide it to me under the table.
The Rosewood mansion was surrounded by a four-foot brick wall with black fencing atop it. Lanterns adorned the front gate, giving me a point to focus on as we ran. Not that we were going to use it. One does not simply walk into Mordor, nor does one simply waltz into one of the most expensive homes in the state of Virginia.
My lungs ached and my hands shook as I hoisted my sister up over the fence in the back yard, straining to hear where the helicopter had gone. I saw dashes of light in the forest and followed the skyline until I spotted the flying mammoth thirsty for our capture. Briefly, I wondered if there were families at home eating buckets of popcorn and watching us like we were the circus, their entertainment for the night. They were programmed to hate us, the bad guys, the criminals, the scumbags. Bastards.
Thankfully, no attacks dogs with lasers on their heads greeted us as we hurried uphill toward the mansion. We might have tripped a silent alarm triggered by cameras, but I hadn’t seen any wiring in the fences to indicate otherwise. It was possible that the mansion itself was wired instead of the premises.
The spotlight hit the grass four feet away from us, and I shoved my sister forward, pointing to the wooden porch connected to the third floor. We scurried over to it and flattened ourselves against the wall, praying that they hadn’t seen us yet. The light veered back and forth on the ground like a drunk driver, drifting closer, making my heartbeat drown out the sound of the helicopter blades beating in the air. It passed over the porch, and the slats let in some of the blinding light, shocking my dilated pupils to tiny stars. Then, mercifully, it vanished.
Scarlett’s shoulder bumped mine as she slumped down, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath enough to make a smartass comment.
“Well, wasn’t that fun?”
“Exceptionally,” I replied, yanking the horrid ski mask off my face and mopping up the sweat dripping down my skin. Once clean, I pulled it back on and crooked a finger at her.
“The cops will be searching the premises in no time. Let’s get inside and get supplies so we can move on.”
Nodding, she pressed her face to the plate-glass window of the first floor. I watched as she scanned what she could see of their kitchen.
“What kind of system?”
“A damn good one,” she admitted, flipping her black hair over one shoulder. The ponytail had come loose during our escape. She’d have to tuck it under the mask, which she hated to do.
“From what I can see, there’s a security pad on all the doors. Cutting the power might give us enough time for a hit-it-and-quit it, but not much else. The alarm system might be on a separate power source.”
“We’ll have to risk it. We’ve got to get out of here before the cops come. Let’s just hope none of the Rosewoods are night owls.”
I took out my flashlight and crept around the long brick wall, searching for the power line. It was about three feet behind the porch, nestled just out of range of the garden and the tree line. I reached into the last pocket on the left side of my belt, lamenting that I’d have to use a miniature charge. These things weren’t cheap, and I’d only gotten three of them over the course of the past year. Emergencies only. But I’d be damned if this wasn’t an emergency.
“Spot me,” I said, sticking the flashlight back into my pocket and climbing up the pole. This was private property, so the pole had thin metal sticking out to serve as steps for maintenance purposes. I ascended as quickly as possible, occasionally checking for the helicopter’s current position, and then withdrew the flashlight and charge.
I stuck the small explosive on the transformer between the lines leading toward the mansion. It would shut the power off, then the backup generator would kick in and reset the security system, but we’d already be inside. I set the charge and climbed down, motioning for Scarlett to follow me beneath the porch for safety. We both plugged our ears just before a muted pop crackled through the back yard, punctuated by sparks and a bright flash. Power out.
Scarlett went to the sliding glass door and flashed a nervous look in my direction. I nodded once. She picked the lock and gingerly slid the door back as I held my breath. Silence. Thank God.
She crept inside and I followed, closing the door and pulling the curtains shut. We both stood still, breathing lightly in unison, ears straining to hear any commotion in the house. I estimated that there were probably six rooms on this floor, maybe more in the basement. The main goal was to get a set of wheels, meaning that we were heading for the garage on the other side of the compound. The cops would be looking for people on foot, not in a vehicle, until they found out that we’d broken into the mansion, and by then, it would be too late.
I found a knife rack on the counter and took two of them. Scarlett took three of the smaller ones. Neither of us intended to kill or maim anyone, but they were good for intimidation.
I held the long knife in my left hand as I started past the den and down the hallway, mindful of every creak of the hardwood floor. There were four closed doors on either side. I stared at them, keeping my steps as light as possible. They looked like gigantic mouths waiting to swallow us whole.
We were past three of them when I heard an unmistakable click of a light switch. I whirled to see the light at the end of the hall was on and heard a doorknob turn. Two choices: run or hide.
Cursing, I opened the door to my right and waved Scarlett in. We darted inside and closed it, praying no one heard us. I pressed my ear to the door, listening. No footsteps. I couldn’t tell if that was good or bad.
“Duke,” Scarlett whispered, but I shushed her. She grabbed my arm and squeezed, saying my name again.
I glared at her. “I can’t hear. What are you—?”
She was looking at the bed. I shut my mouth, my throat going dry as I realized there was an elderly black woman sitting there, staring at us.
She was short and plump with long white dreadlocks tucked in a messy bun at her nape. She wore a plain, light blue nightgown, her feet bare, the bed unmade from where she’d been lying in it. There was a cane leaning against the nightstand and a pair of slippers nearby.
Immediately, I lowered the knife to my side and held out my other hand toward her. “Ma’am, I need you to stay calm. We’re not going to hurt you. We just need a car and we’ll be out of here, I swear.”
“They’re waiting to take us,” the old woman said.
I glanced at Scarlett. She shrugged. I kept my voice low as I addressed the woman. “What?”
“Waiting and waiting. Long time. Cold, where they are. Dark too. It’s all they know.”
Her voice was soft and trembling, but the Jamaican accent made it sound cryptic. The darkness made it hard to tell, but she looked to be nearly eighty years old. No wonder her mind had gone. She didn’t seem upset by our presence. It almost felt like she had been expecting us.
Scarlett spoke up this time. “Ma’am, where is the garage on this property? Is it connected to the house?”
The old woman put her bare feet on the floor and walked toward my sister. Scarlett tensed, not sure of her intentions, but the old woman lifted her frail hands and touched her hair—ran her fingers down the black satin and the steaks of red at my sister’s forehead.
“Chosen, you two. Never thought I’d see the day.”
Scarlett glanced at me. “What the hell is she talking about?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but then a screeching sound tore through the silence like a knife through a veil. I clapped my hands over my ears, nearly keeling over at the volume of the alarm. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard—louder than ambulance sirens, louder than police sirens, damn near louder than God Himself.
“What is that?” Scarlett shouted, panicking.
I shook my head. “I don’t know! Just hide! Now!”
I ran to the closet and pulled the double doors back, stuffing myself inside next to the fur coats and silk pajamas. Through the slats, I could see Scarlett flattening herself on the carpet and crawling beneath the bed. The old woman didn’t move from her spot as if she were deaf, staring at the door as if expecting something.
Seconds later, a bald black man in his fifties opened the door and spotted her, wrapping his large hands around her forearms.
“C’mon, Mama, we’ve got to get ready.”
He pulled her into the hallway and disappeared. What the hell was going on? Why were they leaving? Had the police notified them of our presence?
I could hear some sort of commotion from the hallway—panicked voices, footsteps, the clamor of dishes hitting the floor—the urge to run increased tenfold. I closed my eyes and counted to ten, trying to slow my heartbeat, but my pulse wouldn’t cooperate. It beat hard and fast in my throat, along my tongue like the salty flavor of sweat, clinging. I couldn’t think with this damn alarm slamming against my eardrums, plowing the sanity from my skull.
The carpet beneath my muddy boots started to vibrate. At first, I thought it was because of the alarms, but when I knelt and pressed my gloved hand to the ground, I knew it wasn’t them. It rumbled like thunder had been trapped underneath the house. What the hell was going on?
The rumbling abruptly changed to shaking, unlike anything I had ever experienced. I pressed my hand to the wall on my left, trying to stay on my feet as the quaking worsened and shoes began falling off the shelf over my head. An earthquake in Alexandria, Virginia? Impossible.
The alarms and the falling shoes almost blocked out the sound of something outside of the house clicking and whirring like the innards of a clock. I stumbled back over to the closet doors to see the window on the far wall, ignoring the painful bumps on the head from boxes sliding off the shelf as I saw something amazing.
Huge metal panels shot up from below and clicked into place over the window, swallowing me in complete darkness.
The house was…transforming.
It didn’t matter if we got caught any more. We had to get out of here. I shoved the closet doors open and turned on my flashlight. Scarlett crawled out from beneath the bed, her eyes red and wet with fearful tears. I pulled her to her feet, my voice nearly giving out because I had to shout so loud.
“We have to get out of here. Come on!”
I went for the door, which had slammed shut after the man and old woman left, but it wouldn’t open. I pushed my sister back and kicked the doorjamb once, twice, a third time, but it didn’t budge. Scarlett joined me, kicking in unison at the white oak until it splintered. I stuck my hand in the hole we’d made over the doorknob and ripped a chunk of the wood out. The flashlight shook in my hands as metal glinted out from beneath the wood.
Solid steel. Escape was impossible.
We stared at each other, the light allowing me only a glimpse of her face, but I knew our expressions were the same. End of the line.
I wrapped my arms around her and knelt, kissing the top of her head.
“I’m sorry, Lettie. I’m so sorry,” I whispered hoarsely, hot tears tracing the lines of my cheeks as the quaking and clicking and screaming alarms worsened.
An explosion rocked beneath the house, and before I blacked out, I felt one sensation.
Flying.
–
TO BE CONTINUED IN THE STARLIGHT CONTINGENCY #1!
Release date: October 29th, 2024
Pre-order now for only $4 on the Falstaff website or from Amazon and you can also get it with free shipping directly from Falstaff Books! There is also now a second excerpt and a third one to read too! Stay tuned for more excerpts and other goodies!
Orphaned siblings Scarlett and Duke Nam have had it rough. Cast aside by society, they’ve managed to stay afloat by being thieves on the streets of Alexandria, Virginia. Things plunge straight to Hell when a heist goes wrong and they’re on the run from the cops, but after they stumble into a nearby home to escape, something seemingly impossible happens – the house transforms into a spaceship and leaves the Earth’s orbit.
Scarlett and Duke awaken to find that they are now prisoners about the Titan International Spaceship. the Earth has been destroyed by the Bergleute des Todes, aka The Miners of Death. Scarlett and Duke are given the chance to become soldiers to fight the aliens who destroyed their world.
The only thing left for them is the hardest thing of all: Survival.
I am happy to announce that I will be appearing on this week’s Authors’ Corner hosted by ConCarolinas TV! Please join us at 7:30pm EST on August 24th, 2023 where we will be discussing science fiction. Details are in the poster above. I look forward to seeing you all there!
Edit: ICYMI, here is the link to watch the recording on YouTube:
Of Wings and Shadows (Of Cinder and Bone #5.5) is now available on ebook and in paperback! Get it today-only for .99 cents. The price will increase tomorrow. Read excerpt one here if you haven’t already.
In a modern-day world teeming with marauding dragons, there is only one solution: The Wild Hunt.
The United States government has decided to hold a tournament called The Wild Hunt to determine who will be responsible for the capture of wild dragons by the Knight Division. The four challengers Noah Wilson, Charlie Howard, Su Jin Han, and Beowulf have to catch five deadly dragons alive if they want to win the tournament and become the new Knight Division dragon hunters. Their journey will take them through the mountains of South Carolina, the seas of Key West, the caverns of Ruby Falls, the Redwood forest, and finally, the murky bayous of Louisiana. Will they succeed against their competition, or will the dragons of the Wild Hunt be too wild to tame?
Here is an all-new excerpt for your reading enjoyment!
–
“Well, at least we picked a nice day.”
Charlie chuckled as he held his hand out for the camerawoman to steady her as she stepped onto the bay boat. She was a stocky Brazilian woman decked out in a fisherman’s rain slicker, the camera rig on her shoulder already outfitted with waterproof plastic as well. Rain pounded down from the heavens, thick droplets splashing all over the marina, but that was normal for this time of year in Key West. After all, they were currently in hurricane season, which might have been why the storm dragon had been so active in the area.
“I’m Elena,” she said, shaking his hand once before letting it go. “The fella with your eye in the sky is Kevin. We’ll be coordinating to make sure we get a good capture, but I’ll stay out of your way as much as possible.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m assuming you’re well-versed in boat safety?”
“Absolutely. They tapped me for this specifically since I’ve shot a few documentaries about fishermen in the area, so we’re good to go.”
“Great.” He pointed to one of the larger boats to their right. “The Florida Department of Natural Resources is on standby to help us transport the storm dragon once caught. They can back us up if things get really ugly and we have to reassess how to catch it. The plan is for Penelope to spot it, then we’ll chum the water to draw it closer and employ the netting.”
Elena saluted him. “Got it. Yo-ho, a pirate’s life for me and all that.”
“Ha! In this kind of weather, it does feel like we’re in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, doesn’t it?” Charlie took his spot by the helm and fired up the engine to pull out of the marina. Elena took a seat at the stern and began to film.
“Agent Okamura, do you read me?” Charlie said into the comm-link.
“I’ve got you, Charlie,” Yusuke replied. “Though it is a bit spotty on account of the bad weather.”
“Tell me about it. I wish I had windshield wipers on this helmet. We’re leaving the marina now. How’s Noah?”
“He’s seen a medic for the bruised ribs. Should be headed for New Orleans shortly.”
“Good. That midnight dragon was one tough customer. I’m glad he’s alright.” He glanced at the panel on his armored suit. “We should reach open water in a bit, but it’s likely going to be a long hunt. There is a lot of ground to cover, metaphorically speaking.”
“Understood. Just be careful. We’ve already seen these creatures can throw quite the left curve at you when you least expect it.”
“Amen to that. I’m gonna check in with Penelope; back in a few.”
Charlie switched channels. “Penelope, this is Charlie, over.”
“Got ya, Charlie,” the pilot replied. “Having fun so far, over?”
“Oh, I’m having a ball. Lead the way; we’re ready to rock and roll, over.”
“Great. The dragon’s last sighting was a little after six o’clock this morning.” She read out the coordinates of where they were headed and Charlie adjusted the boat accordingly to follow. Once they left the marina, he went to full throttle. The DNR boat followed at a safe distance. Most of the path had been cleared by the Coast Guard. Key West saw less visitors during this part of the year, so unlike Libby’s hunt of the aquatic dart-backed wyrm, civilian interference was far less likely.
“Charlie, I’ve got a visual. Can you confirm, over?” She read the updated coordinates to him and he adjusted his course, then slowed the boat. He then adjusted the HUD scope to zoom in as he spotted the shifting waves.
The storm dragon had been circling a school of fish, borrowing some technique from the local sharks—it would stalk them at a distance, then close in and attack from below, pushing the fish up to the surface where they would be easier to catch. Its dark blue scales blended in with the deeper sea water and made it harder to detect. It also shared traits with seabirds, being covered in plumage that allowed for buoyancy and protection against the salty waters and harsh winds during hurricane season. It had a long, narrow body that was fifteen feet from snout to tail and webbed feet with sharp talons on each, its wings doubling as fins when it was fully submerged.
Charlie whistled. “Thar she blows. Sighting confirmed, Penelope. I’m going to start chumming the water and I need you to keep an eye out for other predators in the area, since it’s bound to attract some that want a free meal, over.”
“Roger that, Charlie. Be careful, over.”
“Thanks. You too, over.” Charlie headed towards the stern where he’d had a cooler waiting, the bucket of frozen chum inside already prepped. “Elena, we’ve got the dragon in view.”
“Fantastic.” She headed for the bow and took a look. “Wow. Que linda. You all ready to go, Plankton?”
Charlie paused. “Plankton…cute. And yeah, let’s see if we can get Moby Dick over here.”
He shut off the engine once they were several meters out and then dropped the anchor. He picked the side of the boat facing the marine reptile and lowered the metal mesh chum bucket into the ocean. Though visibility was harder thanks to the storm, he could see bubbles and blood beginning to blossom out from the bucket and spread into the ocean water.
They waited. The storm dragon had submerged but hadn’t left the area. Charlie knew from experience that it wasn’t always an instantaneous reaction. He resisted the urge to pace, as the vibrations it would cause in the hull might deter the dragon.
“Uh-oh,” Penelope said over the channel. “We’ve got incoming. I’m spotting something on radar headed your way, to your starboard about fifty meters out, over.”
Charlie went over to the right side of the boat and peered through the rainfall, muttering under his breath, “Please be a hammerhead. Please be a hammerhead.”
As it reached twenty meters away, Charlie could see a fin and a wake, giving him an idea of the species. “Shit. Looks like a Mako, at least ten feet long. Things are about to get messy.”
“Why?” Elena asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Not all sharks are aggressive,” he told her as he pulled up the anchor and then turned the engine over. “In fact, Key West has never had a fatal shark attack in its entire history, but Mako sharks are among the aggressive ones, which means we might have a confrontation here in a second. We need to be ready to boogie if that happens; a fight could capsize us.”
Sure enough, the storm dragon changed directions to head for the chum just as the Mako made contact and began eating the bits of barracuda that had floated loose from the bucket. Charlie gave the boat a bit of gas to help it float along at a steady pace, then began working on laying the net while keeping a wary eye on the two approaching predators.
The storm dragon circled behind the Mako and then dashed towards it, aiming a bite at its caudal fin. The Mako had anticipated as much and darted out of the way, then swung around to face its rival. Its powerful jaws snapped as it attempted to bite the right wing of the dragon when it swam past, missing by mere inches.
The storm dragon dove out of sight beneath the boat, the water swirling behind its long, powerful tail.
“That can’t be good,” Elena remarked, practically reading Charlie’s mind. He gave the boat more gas as he started to try and strategically lay the nets in a wide semi-circle around the area. The storm dragon proved them both right when it surged up from below and rammed the shark, causing it to flip upside down. The shark wriggled for less than a minute, but then went completely still on its back along the water’s choppy surface.
Charlie’s eyes widened beneath his helmet. “Holy hell. It’s figured out tonic immobility.”
“Who-whatta-huh?” Elena asked.
“If you flip a shark upside down, it enters a kind of trance and can be motionless for up to fifteen minutes or so. It’s how orcas sometimes catch and eat sharks. This dragon’s not only smart, but definitely experienced.”
Both of them jumped as the storm dragon grabbed the motionless shark and bit a hole into its side. The water churned red with blood as it began tearing chunks of its soft sides and belly off.
Elena swallowed hard as she watched. “Yeesh.”
“You said it,” Charlie agreed. “Nature don’t play.”
He switched back to the comm-link. “Agent Okamura, we may have a bit of a problem. Our storm dragon decided it wanted some Mako shark instead of sushi for lunch. I’m working on laying the nets now, but I’m not sure how long it’ll stay stationary.”
“If it gets airborne, we might have trouble following it with this weather. The best bet might be to dart it and slow it down while it’s distracted with the meal.”
Charlie winced. That was risky, but he knew he was running low on time. The tournament timer had already clocked him past the hour mark, so he had to finish this hunt now or it would hurt the team’s average. “Copy that.”
He grabbed the tranquilizer rifle leaning up against the helm and checked that it was properly loaded. Then he stepped over to the starboard side of the ship and took careful aim at the wriggling mass of dragon beneath the Mako shark carcass, which it had already eaten a great deal of in only several seconds.
“Charlie, we’ve got more incoming,” Penelope said. “One to your one o’clock, the other at your three o’clock, over.”
No sooner than she said it, the storm dragon released the Mako shark’s corpse and swam deeper beneath the surface.
“Dammit,” Charlie swore as he readjusted the sights on the rifle to look at the surface of the water. “We’ve got a feeding frenzy on our hands. Visibility is next to none. I think I’m gonna have to go down there.”
“What?” Yusuke demanded. “Charlie, that’s too dangerous. You can’t possibly out-swim it and there are other predators being drawn to that spot.”
“With all due respect, sir, we’re already lagging behind. If I can get in range, I can attach a syringe to a harpoon gun and dart it from a distance. The sharks will be more concerned with the chum and the Mako carcass than me.” He pulled open a waterproof suit bag that contained scuba gear as well as a diving oxygen tank. “I’ve spent my entire adult life around these animals. I need you to trust me, Okamura.”
There was a long pause, then he heard him sigh. “Alright. I trust your judgment.”
“Thank you.” Charlie removed his helmet and replaced it with the breathing apparatus, sliding his arms into the straps for the tank. He removed one of the syringes from the tranquilizer rifle and attached it to the end of the harpoon gun he’d brought with him. He fitted the flippers onto his feet and took the mouthpiece out long enough to address Elena. “I’ll be back as fast as I can. Keep an eye on the activity at the surface. If it gets too rough, move the boat.”
She nodded. “I will. Be careful, huh?”
“I will.” He smiled before putting the mouthpiece back in and grabbing the harpoon gun. The boat rocked slightly as he walked to the port side away from the bloody mess and jumped into the water.
Charlie let his weight allow him to sink several feet below the surface and switched on his head lamp. The two sharks that closed in on the Mako shark’s body were a bull shark and a tiger shark. The two predators didn’t want to be bothered with one another, so in the time it took him to prep, they’d torn the corpse in half and were devouring the remains. He swam below them, keeping a wide berth, and spotted a dark shape moving towards the chum bucket that was up near the surface.
Though a formidable opponent, the storm dragon must have reasoned it couldn’t fight two fully grown sharks for the rest of its meal, so it returned to sate itself with the chum. He knew he had to work fast; once it was full, it would likely fly away or simply swim back into open water. The nets he had lain had straightened out and surrounded them, meaning he would need to dart the dragon and then guide it into the netting, so he swam forward steadily to make his presence known.
And it didn’t take long for the storm dragon to notice him.
The marine reptile had been nosing at the bucket to release more tidbits, but it angled its head when it spotted his light. The glow of the flashlight shone over one of its pale blue eyes, its pupil contracting, and then the dragon let go of the chum bucket to focus on him instead. There had been many a time it was just him and a large aquatic predator in the shifting seas and something in him was always awed and terrified at the same time.
The dragon swam towards him much like a crocodile, its streamlined body cutting through the water, and stopped just shy of a few yards to examine him. The creature had encountered humans before, and unfortunately took a man’s life, but it had been an accident when the fishermen pulled up their nets. It seemed rather curious instead of afraid or agitated. Charlie let it observe him for a moment, then cautiously offered his hand to the creature, palm out. The dragon drifted closer. His hand landed on its snout and petted it gently. It didn’t seem to mind.
Its curiosity satisfied, the storm dragon glided past him. Charlie prayed for the safety of himself and his colleague as he let it go by, then turned and fired the harpoon gun. The syringe struck the dragon’s tail on the underside near the base. He hoped with the creature’s size that such a small prick wouldn’t be felt.
The dragon’s head snapped around, its teeth bared.
Hope is a thing with feathers, Charlie thought to himself.
Then he swam as fast and hard as he could for the boat.
–
Read the conclusion to Charlie’s hunt in Of Wings and Shadows, out now on all platforms! Thanks for all of your support so far and happy reading!
We’re heading into October, the spooky scary monster month, so why not sit down with me and a panel of awesome authors to discuss Mythological Tropes in Fantasy and Sci-Fi?
For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.
Of Blood and Ashes by Kyoko M. Mason Dixon Monster Hunter by Eric R. Asher The Water Blade by Stuart Jaffe Get Bent! by Rick Gualtieri Of Cinder and Bone by Kyoko M.
If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get all four of the regular books, plus ten more books for a total of 14!
Second Hand Curses by Drew Hayes The Fixer by Jon F. Merz Kill Three Birds by Nicole Givens Kurtz A Fall in Autumn by Michael G. Williams Amazing Grace by John G. Hartness Burning Shakespeare by A.J. Hartley The Children of Menlo Park by Jessica Nettles Fairy Godmurder by Sarah J. Sover The Ghost Dance Judgement by R.S. Belcher Spells, Salt & Steel by Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin
Cover art by BRose Designz; Promo Image by Silver Dagger Blog Tours
We’re officially less than 1 month away from the release of Book 5 in the Of Cinder and Bone series. To celebrate, I’ve created a Goodreads giveaway. Enter to win a free paperback copy of the book from now until April 22nd, 2022. Don’t miss your chance to own a copy!
In a modern day world teeming with marauding dragons, there is only one solution: The Wild Hunt.
Dr. Rhett “Jack” Jackson and Dr. Kamala Anjali have worked for the Knight Division capturing wild dragons for years, but now the government has decided to hold a tournament called The Wild Hunt. Jack, Kamala, and their teammates Calloway, Libby, Agent Shannon, and Yousef, must capture five of the deadliest dragons alive before the opposing team or they lose their jobs at the Knight Division. Jack and Kamala are also chasing after Kazuma Okegawa, the yakuza lieutenant who has been trying to kill them. Okegawa is planning a hostile takeover of the worldwide illegal dragon trade and if he succeeds, everyone will be in grave danger. Between the Wild Hunt and Okegawa’s plot to destroy everything in his path, Jack and Kamala have to rely on each other to stay alive in the middle of an inferno.
Of Claws and Inferno is the fifth book in the Of Cinder and Bone science fiction/contemporary fantasy series. It follows Of Cinder and Bone, Of Blood and Ashes, Of Dawn and Embers, and Of Fury and Fangs.
