I have just finished uploading Second Chance, my newest novel, for Kindle. It should now be available for pre-order at only $2.99. I had been kicking around for a while with the title, and finally settled on Second Chance.Read More

There are excerpts on here under the working title, New Life and Reveal. They will be linked in the tags for New Life… that should bring up any excerpts I have pushed to the blog, but know that there have been changes made since they were published. One of the big changes is that the Cooks, Jim and Dave, are now Jim and Dave Chance. Kind of worked with the title.

This book isn’t part of the main story line of the Dixon-Prince series, but Jack and Amy Dixon are prominent through the story. Warren Chestik, Jack Dixon’s head of security is also more prominent, which has lead me to begin writing his story. That one has the working title Sniper, and is about half done. I think that one might keep the title, though. There are also a few excerpts from that story on the blog.

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I think this one is third in line for publishing. That should put it around June… although that could change. It is the backstory for Warren Chestik, who has appeared in a couple of the Dixon-Prince stories and will have a larger role in the next book to come out. Read More

In this excerpt, he is rescuing Candace Clinton, who has been doing undercover work for Antonio Sky of the Narcotic Enforcement Agency. Her cover was blown and she had to run, but her plane was shot down. He is nearby (for his own reasons) and responds to Jack’s call to help her.

Warren scrambled down the side of the steep ravine, grabbing onto roots and jumping from boulder to boulder.  He’d spotted the wreckage of the center section while he was close to the top of the ridge, but as he moved closer, he spotted the tail of the plane downstream.  From his high perch he could also see some of the contents strewn down the hillside. 

A moment later he spotted the nose section.  The damage was even visible from a distance.  Then he thought he saw something move near it.  He reached into his backpack and pulled out his binoculars.  Jackpot. 

With the binoculars stowed safely back in his pack, he started angling toward the nose section.  The going was a little rougher than it had been going straight down, but he decided it would be faster than going to the bottom and scrambling along the creek then climbing back up to the wreckage. 

It took thirty minutes for him to make his way to where he thought he might have seen Candace.  As he got closer, he called out to her but didn’t get a response.  He kept hiking toward the wreckage. 

“Warren?” he heard a few minutes later. 

“Candace… I’ll be there in a minute.  Are you injured?”

“Bumps and bruises, but nothing serious.  My pilot and co-pilot didn’t make it, though.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” she replied.  “They are in there, but they took the brunt.  I’m sure.”  Her voice started to fail. 

“I’m not sure what the exfil strategy is, but I’ll see what I can do.”  He pulled a phone from his bag and tapped redial.  “Jack, I have Candace.  She’s safe.  Bumped and bruised, but no serious injuries.  Her pilot and co-pilot weren’t so lucky.  Can we recover them?”

…

“Roger that.  I’ll keep an eye out for them.  We need two bags.”

Warren ended the call and then turned back to Candace. 

“Jack has a team that should be air-dropping in any minute.  That will be followed up in about an hour by a chopper for the exfil, unless we call it off for some reason.”

“Why would we call it off?” Candace asked. 

“Rumor has it that Jimenez is trying to get a team here as well.  The chopper won’t come in if we are in a firefight.  We can hold them off, but if they come in and someone shoots at them, they won’t come back, and we will have to make other arrangements.”  To Warren, “other arrangements” sounded suspiciously like hiking fifty miles through ungodly terrain until Jack Dixon could personally fly them out.

As if on cue, a C-130 flew overhead.  They both looked up in time to see eight people step out of the back in a spaced line.  Their chutes opened.  Warren glanced down to see a text from Jack saying that his guys had just jumped in, then he grabbed a shiny piece of metal to signal them with, flashing it toward them in the sun.

***

Ric’s men had jumped in with two body bags to gather the pilot and co-pilot.  As Warren helped Candace to the top of the ridge, where they expected to find the easiest landing zone for the chopper, Several of Ric’s men extricated the pilot and co-pilot from the wreckage of the airplane.  Another man had worked his way down to the tailpiece to search for the black box.  Candace had told him where she left it. 

“Can we hurry that chopper up?” Warren asked Ric.  “It looks like there is a team coming up the valley.  I’d guess two miles downstream, but that only gives us an hour until they are within shooting range.”

“Let me see what I can do.”

Ric made a call through comms to get his guys hurrying, while he talked to Jack about the estimated time of arrival for the chopper.  After explaining the situation, they made the decision to head north along the top of the ridge, keeping a consistent distance between them and Jimenez’s men to the south.  It would buy them a little extra time.  A pair of Ric’s men broke off and headed south along the ridge. 

“Chopper ETA is about ten minutes.  We should be in the clear unless they have air assets coming in, and radar says they are clear.  Someone flying low in the valley could be invisible inn the ground clutter, though,” Ric said. 

Warren swept all around to see if he could see anything, but he didn’t pick up any movement nearby from the top of the ridge. 

Half a mile south there was a small explosion just below the top of the ridge.  It resulted in a massive rockslide down into the valley.  He could see the two men that had broken off from the main group earlier running back along the mountainous spine. 

“That should slow them down, Mr. Chestik,” one of them said, passing by. 

A few minutes later a Chinook helicopter could be seen flying along the ridge.  The pilot spun the craft around and hovered just over the edge of the ridge, backing it to their location like a truck.  Warren was impressed by the skill the pilot had displayed, not having a landing zone.  The chopper wouldn’t have been any more stable had it been parked on the ground.  The tail section of the chopper lowered to allow them to quickly load up.  As Ric Espinoza cleared the tail ramp, it started to close, and the chopper sped northward, back from where it had come. 

If you enjoyed this clip, you might check out my novels on Amazon. Here is a link to my Author’s page. From there you can grab any of my books… in Kindle format or softcover.

Reveal is currently the title for what was New Life, and this is an excerpt. I’m out of town for a few days, so I am stacking a few of these on the blog. I am delaying the release because of a new scene I’m adding. If you enjoy my writing, be sure to check out my Amazon Author Page. And don’t forget, my paperbacks are on sale for $8.99 until the end of the year (or until I get back…)

Jack Dixon walked back into the aircraft and headed back to Patrick Henry airport in Virginia. He planned on trading the C-130 for a Gulfstream and going to be with Dave Cook and Warren Chestik.

Before heading back to North Carolina, he congratulated the HRT for a job well done. He shook hands with each of them, hugging some with whom he’d had longer relationships, Like Gino, Duke, Patrick and Ric. They were men he’d trusted with his own life, and in the case of Ric, had entrusted him with their lives, as well.

Three hours after dropping Martinez with Sky, Jack walked into Dave Cook’s hospital room. He was just starting to rouse, his son at his side. Amy was sitting on the far side of the bed, her hand clasped in Pam’s. Stacy Cook stood behind her husband, hovering over Dave. Monitors softly beeped and hummed in the background.

A few doors away, Warren Chestik was in another ICU suite, but was getting ready to be moved to a regular room. When Jack had stopped in, Chestik had jokingly called it GenPop, like General Population in prison. His top security man was ready to bust out. The only thing keeping him in bed was the insistence of his wife. He knew he still needed to heal, but inaction wasn’t his style.

“Warren,” Jack told his security man, “I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier. If there is anything you need, you know you can count on me.”

“I know, Mr. Dixon. I’m thankful you were able to safely return the Cooks and Mrs. King. I wish I’d been able to keep them safe in the first place.”

Jack leaned over the bed to hug his security man. He whispered to him, “You did everything right, my friend. I’m the one that made the mistakes.”

Jack sat with him for a few minutes as they prayed for the families of his two comrades that hadn’t survived the attack. All of them shed tears over the loss of life, but Jack’s assurances that Chestik had done all he could helped.

“Warren, I talked to Stacy. She told me that there was nothing you could have done. You were the senior man. You were with your protectees, that was where you belonged.”

“Thank you, sir.”

He’d left him just a few minutes before to visit with the Cook family. When he walked into the hospital room, all three of the women walked over to greet him. His wife gave him a kiss and Stacy and Pam each hugged him tightly.

“Chestik is down the hall. I think they’re getting ready to move him to a regular room, though,” Jack said.

“I going to go visit with him,” Amy said.

“I’d like to go,” Stacy interjected. “I want to speak to him.”

“Stacy, I think he’d like that. But you need to know, before you go… I gave the order to move you. I thought you’d be safer if we moved you to someplace we had more control over. If you are going to be angry about what happened, that should be directed at me, ok?” Jack said softly.

Stacy hugged him again, “I’m not upset, Jack. Nobody could have guessed what would happen. I wanted to tell him how much I appreciate everything he did.”

Jack gave her the room number and she walked out of the room.

“Pam,” Jack said, “she is a remarkable young woman. You and Chad deserve a lot of credit for raising her.”

Reveal is currently the title for what was New Life, and this is an excerpt. I’m out of town for a few days, so I am stacking a few of these on the blog. I am delaying the release because of a new scene I’m adding. If you enjoy my writing, be sure to check out my Amazon Author Page. And don’t forget, my paperbacks are on sale for $8.99 until the end of the year (or until I get back…)

As Dave lay unconscious in his room, Jim and Stacy sat in chairs on one side of the bed, while Pam sat with Amy on the other side of the bed. Chad walked into the room. He crossed to kiss his wife.

“We need to talk, Chad,” she whispered as he tried to hug her. “Stacy hasn’t seen the video, but I did.”

She took her husband’s hand and quickly pulled him from the room. A few minutes later she returned to the room alone. She walked back around the bed and sat down next to Amy again. The tears were gathering in her eyes when Amy looked over at her. Seconds later she was crying into Amy’s shoulder as the other woman held her.

“Mom?” Stacy said, rushing around the bed.

Pam shook her head. “Not now,” she replied. “You need to be with your husband and his father. They need you more than I do right now.”

The nurse walked into the room to check on Dave. She took a look at his chart, then walked over to Jim. She let him know that the medication would be tapering off and that he should be awake in an hour or two.

“Pam, do you need to talk? What happened?” Amy asked.

Pam nodded and the two women left the room.

“What happened?” Amy asked, sitting down in an empty corner of the hospital commissary.

“That woman showed us a video. I don’t know what to think… It was Chad.”

“What was he doing?” Amy asked, holding the other woman’s hands.

“It was short… Dave said it had likely been pieced together to make it look worse than it really was… but Chad was giving her thug the address to the shop so they could go get Jim and Stacy. The guy that was beating it out of him didn’t hit him in the video… and he didn’t look like he put up any fight at all. He was just so… weak.”

“Look, Pam, Dave is right, the video probably was edited. Martinez was trying to manipulate you. You need to give it some time.”

“I know. But you saw Dave. He fought. He fought for his son and my daughter. He fought for me. He was ready to die trying to save the rest of us. And Chad was scared of someone hitting him. I don’t know that I can trust him,” Pam said. The tears that filled her eyes began to spill again. “Stacy told me that after they took me, when it was just her and Jim, he was ready to launch himself on anyone that came through the door. And when the hostage rescue team came in, he covered her… he was there to protect her. Dave tried to protect me, even at the possible cost of his own life.”

“Pam, listen to me. We don’t know what really happened with Chad, ok? Talk to him. He’s your husband. He’s Stacy’s father. Give him a chance.”

“I don’t know…”

“Look,” Amy said, taking Pam’s hands in hers again, “no matter what, I’m here for you. Anything you need. What you have just been through is life changing. It is emotional and physical. You need a little time to let everything sink in. If you need to talk with someone, I can arrange that, too… a friend. Just don’t do anything rash, ok?”

“Ok,” Pam replied, her voice unsteady.

“Promise me.”

Pam nodded, “Thank you, Amy. Stacy thinks the world of you, and now I know why. Can this stay just between us?”

“Of course,” Amy replied, holding up her pinky and smiling.

Pam laughed as they took a moment to “pinky swear” silence about their conversation. It was simple and didn’t mean anything, but a second of silliness made Pam feel a lot better. She chose to keep the rest of her thoughts to herself. She couldn’t completely admit them to herself, much less someone else.

Reveal is currently the title for what was New Life, and this is an excerpt. I’m out of town for a few days, so I am stacking a few of these on the blog. I am delaying the release because of a new scene I’m adding. If you enjoy my writing, be sure to check out my Amazon Author Page. And don’t forget, my paperbacks are on sale for $8.99 until the end of the year (or until I get back…)

The C-130 set down at a general aviation runway in eastern North Carolina. An ambulance was sitting on the apron waiting for them. As soon as the plane stopped, the ramp folded down and the stretcher was carried out with Dave Cook on it. Patrick jogged along on one side, holding an IV bag. Hodges was on the other side carrying his heart monitor. They loaded him into the back of the ambulance as Jim, Stacy, and Pam loaded into a Suburban with Jack to follow.  

It took them fifteen minutes to get to the hospital, and the ambulance was already unloaded and pulling away from the Emergency Room doors as they arrived. Jim jumped from the truck and ran through the doors to find his father. Pam and Stacy were on his heels. Jack headed back to the airstrip.

***

“I brought you some lunch,” Amy Dixon said, walking into the waiting room. Dave Cook was in recovery from surgery. None of them had been able to see him, although his surgeon had come out to let them know he’d made it through surgery and his prognosis was hopeful. “My husband will be back here in a few hours. He wanted to make sure that Olivia Martinez and her henchmen were delivered into custody.” Stacy rushed over to her, and Amy hugged her as the younger woman told her how much she appreciated everything Jack had done.

“My husband is incredibly loyal. You are all friends,” Amy said, Stacy hugging her as she talked. “If you need anything, I’ll be in Mr. Chestik’s room with his wife and Mr. Williams until Dave is out of surgery.”

***

“Warren, you have got to stop getting shot,” Amy joked as Chestik lay in his bed.

“Getting shot does kind of suck,” he laughed back before wincing at the pain in his side. “But knowing that Jim and Stacy Cook are ok makes it hurt a lot less than normal.”

“How many times have you been shot, Warren?” Heather asked, holding her husband’s hand. “I mean… my brother told me this wasn’t the first time, but most people don’t have a frame of reference for a ‘normal pain level’ after being shot.”

“What do you think, buddy?” Roger said, “is this six or seven?”

Roger started counting off the times he could think of. Warren added one. Heather looked over at Amy with wide eyes.

“They are like my dad and my father-in-law, Heather. They were both Special Forces… freaked the rest of us out when we found out.” She turned and looked over to Chestik, “Warren, what’s important to me is that you are going to be ok.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Dixon.”

As you may know if you have been following the excerpts from “New Life”, I am getting close to releasing it. Very close. Inn fact, close enough that I am working on the cover art.

I knew that I didn’t like the title “New Life”, so I was working on another. The two I have been working with are “Second Chances” and “Reveal”. Right now, “Reveal” is int he lead, so that is the one that I have built out with cover art. Although I could easily drop either name into either of the covers.

So, here they are…

I’ve ben going back and forth. The story has a lot of cool cars and the one on the right expresses that. However, the one on the left is more striking.

I’d LOVE to get some feedback.