It took over and hour and a half for them to come back out. When they did, he hit Cassandra with a taser as he held Anne off with a gun. Cassandra was loaded into the trunk of his car. His snatch-and-grab took only minutes.

“I guess you are Nick’s mom,” Oscar said as he pointed the gun at her. “I’ll give Nolan a call to have a chat in one hour. Don’t follow me or Cassandra will not survive her ride.”

Anne was shaking with fury and fear when she ran back into the salon and asked the owner to call Constance. Ten minutes later Constance and William skidded up behind the shop.

“He took Linda. He kept calling her Cassandra. He’s going to call Nolan in forty-seven minutes,” Anne said, looking at her watch. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she related everything he said and did.

William bundled her up and put her in his Suburban, while Constance took the other truck to drive back to the beach house to tell Nick what had happened.

Anne walked into Nolan’s study. She was pale and still shaking from the adrenaline that was starting to wane. “What are we going to do?” she asked her ex-husband.

“He wants money. He thinks she is the key to it, but I might be able to buy him off,” Nolan said, emotion lacking from his voice, but fatigue taking its toll.

“What… the key to getting money from you?”

“No. I talked with Nick and Linda. It’s complicated, but it involves Kathryn and Nicole and this guy… Oscar… his father’s will. His real name is Stephen Dollard, and his father cut him off, but left the money to his granddaughters. He thinks he can get access to the money through Linda.” He told her it was a long and complicated story, but that he was going to try to fix it.

“Anne, this is an island, and I know people everywhere. I will take care of this. Every favor I have to pull in.”

Anne knew Nolan better than anyone. When she looked in his eyes, past the physical pain and emotional duress, she could see the blind determination. She knew that he would push himself to his absolute end before he let go of his objective. It was a large part of the reason she married him, and why she still loved him.

“Nolan, you do whatever you have to do. I’ll support you. I don’t care who that man is. He can’t do this to Linda, her daughters or our son.”

Nolan needed his medicine, which Constance would normally get for him, but Anne took over, making sure he was able to take everything. As she got him a glass of water, his desk phone rang.

“Tower,” he said brusquely into the handset.

…

“What will it take to let her go?”

…

“She would never agree to that, but I can give you money.”

…

“What the hell kind of father are you? Do you really think that Linda would let you take her children? Get real. She would rather I let her die than let you take those girls. With that solution none of us can win, including you. I can give you money.”

…

“I don’t have ten million dollars in cash laying around the house, Stephen. I can give you a cashier’s check.”

…

“I can bring you a million in cash. I would give you more, but that is all I can get in cash on short notice. Even the banks here aren’t going to be able to do better, and I’m assuming you don’t want the police involved.”

…

“Yeah, I know where that is. I can meet you there in forty-five minutes.”

…

“I’ll come alone, but I can’t walk. I’ll drive a golf cart. You better have the girl, or you won’t get off the island.”

…

“Like I said, I can’t walk. You already know I have heart problems.”

…

Nolan hung up the phone. William stepped into the room.

“You know what to do, William. Take me down to Cross Street… my warehouse next to the old distillery.”

William rushed from the room and Anne could hear him moving around the house. Nolan pushed himself from behind his desk and walked around it to a wall safe. He spun the combination.

He grabbed her hair and dragged her back over the low table. With a grip on her hair, he slapped her across the face as hard as he could. She could feel the world closing in… her vision starting to gray. All she could see was his unfocused face in front of her. He threw her to the floor.

It seemed like only a moment later to her, but she didn’t know. She heard the ‘oooff’ of someone’s breath being knocked out of them. Cassandra struggled to open her eyes and through the fog of her vision she could see Oscar doubled over, clutching his stomach.

Behind him, Gina’s husband, Howard, lurked. He reached down and grabbed Oscar by his scraggly hair and hauled him to his feet. With his other hand, Howard grabbed the back of Oscar’s belt. He dragged him across the living room, slamming his face into the doorway to the hall, then down the hall to the front door. Again, he slammed his face into the door casing of the front door, releasing his belt long enough to open the door.

With the front door open, Howard again took Oscar’s belt in his hand. He pushed him through the doorway and tossed him off the stoop onto the sidewalk several steps below.

Cassandra struggled to her feet and stumbled to the door. She looked out and saw Howard standing on the stoop looking down at Oscar as he tried to get up from the ground.

“Listen to me, boy,” Howard railed, his bass voice thunderous. “If you plan on coming into my house again, you take a minute and get yourself right with the Lord first, because I will send you to visit him. You follow me?”

Oscar still hadn’t made it to his feet.

“And you need to leave that girl alone. A dirtbag that would hit a woman like her don’t deserve any woman, let alone a sweet girl like her. Don’t let me catch you in my sight. Understand?”

Howard turned and saw Cassandra propped in the doorway. He walked back in and helped her to the couch. He jogged to the kitchen and got ice for her. The bruise on the side of her face was blossoming from her ear almost to her nose.

“Are you ok, Cassie?” he said, his deep voice calming. “You were out when I came in.

“I think… I should be ok,” she replied, though she still couldn’t focus all the way.

Howard walked back over to the door to see if Oscar was still outside. When he was satisfied her attacker was gone, he came back to sit with Cassandra.

 “Cassandra, we have to find a way to get you away from him permanently. I don’t know what he woulda done had I not come home,” Howard said quietly. “I know a guy that might be able to help. Why don’t you just lay down and relax… Gina and I will help you. You and those girls of yours don’t deserve any of this.”

“Thank you, Howard, I don’t know how I can repay you.” “You live a full life away from that scumbag and raise those beautiful little girls and we will be repaid in spades,” he said softly.

I usually shoot for someone in the 80k to 100k range for a novel. However, I don’t want to pad something just to get it to the minimum length… but I usually find there is something lacking in the story if I’m not close to that range.

That said, At Arm’s Length is the one that is currently furthest along. It is tapping in at around 71k words. It is a story about a writer, Finn Powers, who is in the early throes of divorce when he runs into an old flame. It wasn’t random, either… she needs something from him. Which puts both of them in danger. It isn’t directly part of the Dixon-Prince series, but does have a couple of characters… including Warren Chestik, below.

The next closest one is Sniper. That title also might stick… although I am also kicking around (Guardian) Angel (of Death). Warren Chestik (who appears in Unknown Caller and Second Chance) is a former military sniper. He ends of going undercover in a drug cartel, but then his wife and daughter are kidnapped.

Shining Star, a title that will likely change, is the story about a woman that runs into the man she left at the altar. They met when he saved her life, and she ran back to him again when she needed saving. Both of their lives have changed in the decade since that happened, and they are both different people. It 64k words, the story is well developed, but there is more that needs to go into it.

The one that I have been working on the longest… and which has sat by itself in the corner being ignored the most is Death Star. It is currently around 47k words, and I barely have the meat of the story covered. Jennifer Coolidge works for Dirk Bryce, Jack Dixon’s long-time friend. She calls her computer the Death Star, and she uses it to protect the computer network of Jack’s father-in-law’s old company. But she is targeted for her skills and her assistant is the one that has to save her… after stinging her with a betrayal.

Another that has been kicking around a long time, Invisible Jack. It is only around 28k words right now, and doesn’t even have a skeleton. The premise is that Jack Dixon isn’t as clean as he seems. In the other books, Jonathan “Jack” Dixon is almost too good to be true. He is smart, loyal and a perfect husband. But nobody can be that “good.” Jack isn’t a bad guy, but he faces his own demons and his own temptations.

Finally, one that has been around a little while and hasn’t been developed much, at only 13k words… Railroaded. It is another story that isn’t part of the Dixon-Prince universe, like Shining Star. Every once in a while I just get a bug on this one and write a few thousand words. It won’t be the next book… but it could get written in a month, or it could ripen for a year of more. I just don’t know with this one.

He was resting in his cell. The lights had been out for a while, but he hadn’t been able to sleep since arriving. As he lay there, he thought he heard a sound outside the cell. A moment later he saw a thin sliver of light as his cell door quietly opened and someone slipped in. As dark as it was, he could only see their shadow against the light coming through the door, but he watched to see if their moves seemed threatening.

As the shadow approached his cot, he saw them slip something out of their sleeve… a knife. As the mystery person reached for him, he snatched the man’s arm and twisted it around, pulling him down and off balance. The knife was in his other hand, and it started down. He slipped toward the foot of the bed, twisting the man’s arm as he went.

The knife buried hilt deep in the pillow he’d been laying his head on just a moment before. There was a sickening snap as the man’s arm finally broke. It was followed by the prisoner snapping the heel of his hand into the jaw of the attacker. His head bounced back as he pulled back his hand from the thrust.

The prisoner was instantly on his feet, driving his fists into the sides of the attacker’s head. It only took a moment for the attacker to lose consciousness. The prisoner pulled the knife from the pillow, dropped it to the floor, and kicked it into the corridor outside of his room. The guards should have been watching the cameras, and he didn’t want them to think he was trying to keep the knife. He wasn’t going to give them an excuse to do anything to him.

He sat down on the bed, expecting there would be a guard coming any minute. Even if they were dozing, the commotion should have alerted them that something had happened in his cell. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the knife when the guards responded. Instead, he saw the knife come back in the hand of another inmate.

“Don’t do it, man,” prisoner 62665707 said.

“You’re goin’ down, bitch,” was the response.

The newcomer leapt forward with the knife leading the way. It was a wild, uncontrolled stab. The prisoner easily sidestepped the attempted attack and grabbed the arm holding the knife. He tried to twist it around, but the newcomer broke free and spun around for a second shot.

Out of the corner of his eye, Prisoner 62665707 saw a guard standing in the doorway. In one hand was taser and in the other, his collapsible wand.

As the knife lurched toward him again, Prisoner 62665707 reached out and grabbed the newcomer’s wrist. This time he was able hang on and give it a twist. As his wrist snapped, the newcomer dropped the knife. Prisoner 62665707 pulled the other man toward him by his broken wrist. The man cried out in pain as he was hoisted above the Prisoner’s head and then spun around, only to be slammed down on the concrete floor next to the bed.

Prisoner 62665707 sat down on the bed, the unmoving form on the floor at his feet.

“What’s going on here, Ross?” the guard finally said.

“You tell me, boss. I was laying on the bed when the first guy came in. Then waiting for you guys when the second one came in. Not exactly like I can open the door, you know?”

“Don’t be a smart-ass. Not if you want to make it to trial.”

Another guard walked into the cell behind the first. It was obvious by the reaction of the first guard that he hadn’t been aware of the second until he’d stepped into his peripheral vision.

“Come on, man! It’s not like I’m trolling for trouble. I’ve been in this room continuously for two days. I’ve been outside for exactly two hours, and there were no other prisoners in the yard when I was out.”

More guards removed the beaten attackers. A moment later, his cell door was once again locked, and he was left alone.

“Watch yourself, Ross,” the second guard said through the door.

“I guess sleeping is off the table for a while,“ JD said through the small window in his cell door. He walked back over and sat back down on his bed.

His concern was that there was a problem with his parent’s house.

“What’s up, Wayne? Is there a problem with the house?” he said as Wayne answered his phone.

“No, dude, everything is good. It’s something out of left field… Ellen put me up to this,” Wayne replied.

Jason started to ask what was going on, but Wayne was already handing the phone over to his sister. She was as scared as she’d ever been, but she kept telling herself that she had it under control… Fake it ‘til you make it was going to be her mantra until she got through this.

“Jason, it’s Ellen,” she said, her voice weak with the nerves. Her hands were shaking, and she was scared she’d drop the phone.

“Hi, Ellie, what’s up?” JD asked, “everything ok with the car?”

“The car is fine, Jason, and I’m so glad you loaned it to me. No… I have a favor to ask. And I understand if you can’t…” she trailed off, her courage waning.

“I’ll do anything I can for you, Ellie, you know that. What is it?”

“Can you take me to prom? It’s a week from tomorrow, and… I really hope there is a way.”

“Wow… what about… what’s that kid’s name, the one you were dating when I was there… Greg? What about him?”

“We broke up. And I kind of said some things… it doesn’t matter. Is there any way?” she asked. “Please?”

“Ellen, let me make you a deal. Tomorrow, I’ll talk to my CO and ask if I can get leave. You’re going to owe me one, though. But I promise, I’ll ask, and I’ll let you know as soon as I know, ok?”

Ellen beamed. She was giddy. She had known JD long enough to know that when he made a promise, he’d keep it. She wasn’t out of the woods yet, but he hadn’t laughed at her. “Thank you, Jason. Thank you so much. I love you,” she said before she realized it. As soon as she heard the words, she hung up the phone. She could feel her face reddening and she dropped Wayne’s phone on his bed and ran out of the room.

“I’m such an idiot,” she said to herself as she closed her door behind her. “You really screwed that one up, Ellen. Way to grab defeat from the jaws of victory.” Then she smiled… she did love him, and she’d told him.

Wayne called JD back a moment after his sister ran out of the room. “Wow… I guess you told her that you could do it?” Wayne said.

“I told her I would ask for leave,” JD replied. “I don’t know. We’re shipping out in two months for a temporary duty station… but there’s a tiny chance.”

“So, you’re really going to ask?”

“I can’t lie to my best friend’s little sister, man. Of course, I’ll ask. I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

JD hung up the phone and laughed.