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Category:
Action/Thriller
Publisher: Follow Your Dreams Publishing
ISBN-10: 0989163407
Type: Fiction
Pages: 349
Copyright: 2013
ISBN-13: 9780989163408
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
Detective Gabriel McRay once again faces his inner demons when he mistakenly thinks the beautiful female witness to a string of sexual murders is a fragile victim -- like himself.
In the second pulse-pounding thriller in the series, Detective Gabriel McRay must once again face his inner demons. This time the ultimate test comes in the form of the beautiful Tara Samuels. Tara is Gabriel’s one and only witness in a case where women are turning up dead from the enclaves of the super rich to the kinky underbelly of Los Angeles. Blinded by sympathy and a reckless desire, Gabriel is soon embroiled in the world of her dark fantasy, and McRay must find the sadistic killer before he loses his sanity along with his life.
Excerpt
Gabriel returned home after midnight, pulled his car into the carport, and collected his briefcase, gun pouch, and his father’s coat. He walked to his front door, put the key into the lock, and instantly felt another presence.
A rain gutter ticked like a clock and low clouds ebbed and flowed about him. Bay Street was not what it used to be, and the Venice gangs didn’t stick strictly to Venice. Gabriel gently unzipped the gun pouch and pulled out his service revolver.
He heard a barely discernible footstep behind him. God, he hated people sneaking up on him… He allowed his anger to consume his fear, and in one swift movement, Gabriel whirled himself and the gun around.
Tara grabbed him.
“Tara!” Gabriel instantly lifted the gun to the sky; worried his quaking heart might shake his trigger finger. “What are you doing? Why are you—?”
“Help me,” she whispered frantically, clutching him. “I don’t know what to do! Marc’s back and he’s being so mean. I had to get away!”
“Shhhh,” Gabriel said, mindful of the neighbors. He took hold of her hands. “You’re freezing. How long have you been waiting out here?”
Once inside, he poured them each a whiskey from the bottle Ming had given him. Gabriel stood before Tara as she sat on the couch. She quietly sipped her drink and stared into the amber depths.
“Did Marc hurt you?” Gabriel demanded.
“No.” Tara kept her eyes on the floor. “He’s just, he’s been acting odd ever since… You know.”
“Would you like me to drive you to a hotel?”
She looked up at him with her luminous blue eyes. “Can’t I please stay here?”
Gabriel did not reply. He reached for his revolver to return it to its case.
“So what did Ross say?” Tara patted the space next to her, indicating that Gabriel should sit. “You never called me.”
“He wasn’t very forthcoming.” Gabriel remained standing. The buttons on Tara’s tight blouse strained against her cleavage.
“What did he say?” Tara pressed.
“He denies any involvement.”
Tara appeared to absorb that for a moment. “And what do you think about that?”
He gave her a sardonic look. “Most suspects deny involvement.”
An uncertain expression clouded her features and then Tara perked up and grinned. “Can I see that?”
At first, Gabriel didn’t know what she was referring to, until he remembered the gun pouch in his hand. “This?”
“Yeah, the gun.”
Gabriel made sure the safety was on and then leaned over the coffee table to give it to her. It was a Smith and Wesson Military and Police semi-automatic pistol.
Tara hefted the weapon in her fist. “I think a man with a gun is very sexy.”
“I bet you like uniforms, too.” Gabriel joked and then noticed a spot of red on Tara’s neck. “You’re bleeding.”
Tara immediately placed her hand over the spot and rubbed it away. “It’s nothing. Probably a spider bite I scratched too much.
“Are you sure that had nothing to do with Marc?”
Tara smiled and pointed the gun at Gabriel. “Bang.”
“Answer me.”
She fiddled with the safety lever. “How do you…?”
“Don’t do that.” Gabriel reached for the pistol, but Tara flicked the safety off and put the barrel of the gun against Gabriel’s forehead. He froze.
“You’re under arrest, Detective McRay.” She took hold of his shirt and pulled him down to the couch.
“This isn’t funny. Give me the gun, Tara.”
She giggled and pressed the gunmetal against his flesh.
“Give me the damn gun,” Gabriel demanded tensely.
Tara’s smile broadened and she shook her head. Gabriel’s hand flew up and grabbed her wrist with a vice-like grip. He yanked her arm and the gun away.
“Oh, there he is!” Tara appraised his fist clamped tightly onto her wrist. “I knew the lion was hiding somewhere in the lamb.”
Her semi-biblical inference made Gabriel pause, perplexed by her once again.
Tara’s eyes went dreamy and she pushed her body against his. “Doesn’t this make you hot?”
Gabriel swallowed. He could feel her heartbeat.
“Here,” she whispered and let the gun dangle from her finger.
As Gabriel took the weapon from her, Tara immediately covered his hand with her own. She began to guide his hand, still gripping the revolver, down her body.
“Okay, enough.” Gabriel forced himself to pull away from her.
She regarded him with concern. “What are you doing?”
He stood up, returned the pistol to its pouch, and retrieved his car keys. “Get up. I’m checking you into a hotel.”
“I don’t understand,” she said. “We’re just having fun.”
“Fun? Jesus, Tara. Haven’t you been roughed up enough?”
“I’m not being roughed up.”
“You were hurt with a gun, remember?”
“This is just a game.” Tara rose from the couch and walked over to him. “Play with me.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” Gabriel glanced toward the couch and his words halted in his throat.
Andrew Pierce was sitting there, casually nodding his approval.
“What is it?” Tara asked.
Gabriel stared frozen at the longhaired specter. Wearing ripped jeans and an auto-grease stained T-shirt, Andrew Pierce pulled off a plug of black licorice and chewed it slowly, his eyes drilling a hole through Gabriel.
Gabriel felt a spider crawl up his back and he jumped.
“What’s wrong?” Tara asked, her blue eyes sailing in her face. Her hand remained crouched like a spider on Gabriel’s shirt.
He closed his eyes and felt a small pulsing in his skull. He counted to five. When he opened his eyes again, the place where Andrew had sat was empty.
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