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

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As mentioned Monday ,this is my NaNoWriMo project for 2021. It hasn’t really been edited yet, and there will be a lot of changes before it is developed further. Warren Chestik is a former special forces operator before becoming an undercover agent for my fictional version of the DEA. However, his work has meant abandoning his family far too often.

The four men took off through the woods.  It was half a mile to the house.  They weren’t hurrying.  At four in the morning, there was little activity inside, and they wanted to do their best to be silent and invisible as they approached. 

“Scott, Juke, you guys take the back.  Warren and I will have the front.  We will blow the doors on my mark.”

The two other men disappeared into the gloom without a sound while Jack and Warren moved toward the front of the house.  They stopped just off the porch. 

“Any changes from the drone?” Warren heard Jack say quietly in his ear.

“Negative, Mustang.  All clear,” was the reply.

“Let’s get ready,” Jack said before creeping up the steps onto the porch to the front door. 

He opened a pocket and pulled out something that looked like a rope.  He pressed it around the door and then backed away to the side. 

“Ready to breach,” Warren heard Scott say in his ear. 

“Three…  Two…  One… Go,” Jack said, the door exploding inward on the last word. 

Warren heard the other explosion half a heartbeat later.  He briefly thought the timing must have been as perfect as it could be.  Aside from the last few weeks, it had been a long time since he’d breached a building, and the stakes had never been higher, but it felt like no time had passed since he’d done it in Iraq. 

He rushed through the door and to the left.  Jack was right behind, rolling to the right.  Both men pumped shots into the closest man to each of them.  Warren heard a similar sound at the back of the house.  A moment later, Jack had tasered two of the men, keeping them down.

“Juke, wrap them up and toss me another taser,” Jack said confidently.

Jack neatly caught the taser and holstered it as Warren broke for the stairs. 

“Warren, he knows we’re here.  I have your six,” Jack said. 

As he led up the steps, Jack was right behind him, Scott on their tail. 

“Heat sigs to the left at the top,” Warren heard in his ear from their mysterious overwatch.  He turned that direction as he peeked around the edge.  The corner of the wall exploded with a round striking it. 

“Thirty-eight Special was what he was carrying before,” Scott said over comms.  “Six shots, now five.  Unless he takes the time to reload.”

Warren looked across the hallway.  There was a bathroom, but the door was closed.  He looked back at Jack and Scott, pointed at the door, then himself.  He punched his hand to show them his plan.  A moment later, he exploded across the hall, splintering the door as he slammed into it.  Two more shots rang out from Ron’s direction. 

“That should leave him with three,” Scott said quietly. 

“Jack, I’m going to shoot up the hall… high… ceiling.  One of you can come over here.  Then I’ll need cover to break for the bedroom door ten feet up the hall,” Warren whispered. 

“Roger that,” Scott replied. 

Warren stuck his head out and pumped eight shots from his sidearm into the top of the bedroom doorway at the end of the hall.  At the same time, Scott burst across the hallway into the bathroom almost bowling Warren over.  One shot rang out in response. 

“Two left,” Scott said flatly. 

“Ok, Warren… go for your door on three,” Jack said. 

A few seconds later, the hallway once again lit up with the sound of gunfire as Warren raced up the hall toward the bedroom, diving to the side when he got to the first doorway. 

“I’m in,” he said on the radio a moment later. 

“What’s the play, Warren?” Jack said. 

They could hear a thudding from the bedroom as they waited for a response from Warren. 

“I’m going to go through the wall behind him.  I need him distracted… only for a moment.  I think I can get the rest of the way through in one hit.”

“Roger that,” Jack replied.  Then he yelled out, “Ron March, this is Jack Dixon.  What’s your play?  We can still fix this.”

“Go away, man.”

“I can’t do that, Ron.  Why don’t you let Vivian go, then we can square everything away.  Nobody else has to get hurt here.”

Jack snuck a look around the corner just before another round from the pistol struck the wall just below where his head had been.  At the sound of the gunshot, Warren slammed into the spot he’d selected on the wall.  As promised, he broke all the way though and emerged in the bedroom. 

Ron swung around at the explosion of sound off to his side, seeing the man emerge from the wall, stumbling a couple of steps into the room, then charging him.  He shot his last round at the man, point blank.  The gun clicked just before Ron was lifted from the floor, losing his grip on Vivian.  The man carried him across the room and slammed him into the wall hard enough to break out the sheetrock around two studs. 

Jack rushed down the hall, pulling Vivian away and shielding her from the other men with his body. 

“Warren, I have her.  I have Vivian.”

Scott rushed into the room behind Jack and rolled to the right toward where Warren was pushing Ronald March into the wall.  He pulled Warren off the other man and dropped March to the floor, cuffing him. 

“Warren, I got this.  Jack is taking your wife downstairs,” he said. 

Warren started running back up the hallway, but stumbled at the top of the stairs, collapsing and then rolling down the hardwood steps. 

“Jack, I think Warren is hit,” Scott said into the radio. 

At the bottom of the stairs, Jack turned back, releasing Vivian.  Warren rolled into a heap at his feet. 

“I need medical, right now.  My guy is hit,” Jack yelled for the benefit of the communications person outside.  “Warren, I have you, relax, ok?”

He rolled Warren onto his back on the flat part of the floor and started stripping away the gear that prevented him from seeing the extent of the other man’s injuries. 

“GSW in the leg, another in the shoulder.” Jack said into his comm.  “Vivian, I need you to help me,” he said over his shoulder. 

Vivian was drugged through this exchange, which is why she doesn’t seem to understand what is going on around her. Warren though, is dedicated to protecting her, no matter the personal cost.

If you enjoy this excerpt, check out my full novels. I would recommend Triple Cross, which is a story of Deep Fakes, Deep Cover and Deep State intrigues.

This book was my NaNoWriMo challenge. During the month of November, I pledged to write a 50,000 word novel. I set a personal goal to write each day, and ended the month with a little over 60k words. Some days I struggled to find a thousand words, other days, writing four times that was a breeze. But I wrote every day for that month.

This book builds the backstory for Warren Chestik. He is one of the Dixon’s bodyguards in Unknown Caller, and he has a greater role in (New Life… I hate that title, but haven’t figure out a new one yet) which I hope to have ready for release by the end of the year.

Warren is a complicated guy, dedicated, loyal and sometimes cold-blooded. He is willing to do the job… even if he doesn’t think he’ll live through it. And that is repeatedly tested.

Warren followed his buddy into the bar.  It wasn’t his scene, but Roger had wanted to hit the club in Atlanta for his birthday, so that was what they did.  They had a couple of rooms rented in Atlanta, in the Buckhead area.  And Roger had a list of clubs he wanted to try out.  They had booked a limo, so they didn’t have to worry about driving, and planned on some heavy drinking. 

“Come on, Chestik, we’re only young and stupid once, brother,” Roger had said as they rode up in his truck.  “Loosen up… find a girl.”

“We may be young, but we don’t both have to be stupid,” Warren had laughed back. 

Walking into the third bar of the night, Warren’s outlook on the whole exercise changed.  In a flash, he went from dedicated wingman to flight leader.  He was at Roger’s elbow as the two men walked over to a table with two young ladies.  Roger had already claimed the blonde and wanted Warren to take the redhead out of play to clear the field.  They were watching the two soldiers walking across the bar, talking quietly back and forth, laughing.

Despite being a brash young soldier, Warren was out of his element in the singles bar.  Butterflies dominated his stomach, and he could feel his palms sweat as he approached the table.  Roger was confident and smooth, slipping up and offering both of the girls drinks. 

He zeroed in on the blonde, “Heaven must be missing a pair of angels.”  He took her hand.  “My name is Roger.  This is my buddy, Warren.”  His eyes never left hers.  But she glanced over at Warren.  His face was pale, and he looked like he might pass out. 

“Warren,” the blonde said, slipping her hand into his, “I’m Vivian.  Why don’t you slide in here next to me.”

Warren heard the redhead say something to Roger as she patted the seat next to her, but he wasn’t listening.  Vivian had caught his eye, and he couldn’t see anything past her.  Her blue eyes entranced him.  Maybe it was the lighting in the club, he thought, but her eyes seemed to glow… he couldn’t look away.  Nor, it seemed, could she.

“Tish and I just ordered a few shots,” she said, her hand still in his.  “You look like you could use one or two.” 

He sat there, still mesmerized by her.  He didn’t move or speak. 

“Not a big talker, I guess?” she laughed.  “I won’t bite.”

Vivian looked over at her friend.  Roger had adjusted quickly, chatting her up without missing a beat.  She expected nothing less.  To Vivian’s mind, Tish was ravishing.  Her red hair and green eyes, along with her alabaster skin and lithe shape… she was a man-magnet.  And Roger was just her type.  While Vivian liked guys that were a little more on the shy side, Tish always seemed drawn to the ones that were bold and dangerous. 

Vivian pushed one of the shots toward Warren after the waitress set them on the table.  Roger had already paid for them and provided a generous tip before either of the girls could reach for a purse.  She picked up another of the shots and clicked glasses with each of them.  Everyone quickly downed a shot. 

Another one of their friends walked over to the small table and whisper shouted to Warren, between the two of them, “Corporal Chestik, you gotta talk to her if you are going to try to get anywhere.”

“Corporal Chestik is doing just fine on his own,” Vivian replied before leaning in and kissing him on the cheek. 

A slow song came on and Vivian pulled Warren out to the dance floor.  She wrapped her arms around him and his fell around her.  She snuggled in close to him.  “Your friend is right… this works better if you talk to me.”  She smiled up at him. 

Warren would later claim he didn’t remember, but as Vivian looked up at him, her smile shining in his eyes, he leaned down and kissed her.  He pulled her up to him and her toes barely touched the floor.  One arm encircled her waist, pulling her tightly into him.  The other slipped into her hair, just above her neck.  She melted into the kiss. 

One of her hands held the back of his neck as the other slipped inside his jacket and up his spine.  She held on as her knees weakened.  She quickly went from shocked to thrilled. 

“Or you could do that,” she said when their lips parted.  “Wow.  Do you kiss all the girls like that?”

“I’m sorry… I don’t know what came over me,” he said, his eyes downcast.  “So embarrassing,” Warren then said, quietly. 

“Hey, Warren, that kiss was nothing to be embarrassed about.  If any man had kissed me like that before, I’d probably be married to him.  Want to do it again… just to see if the first one was a fluke?”

He pulled her in tight again.  The music sped up and the dancing became frenetic around them, but they were in their own world as they looked into each other’s eyes.  He slowly lowered his lips to hers and she stretched to meet him.  A few minutes later a bouncer tapped Warren on the shoulder, rousing them from the kiss. 

“Dude, we’re all thrilled that she said yes, but this isn’t the place for the honeymoon, get my drift?” he said, laughing at his own joke. 

Vivian shot the bouncer a winning smile and led Warren off the floor and back to their table.  She pushed him into the seat in front of her, then dropped onto the seat next him with her arm draped around his shoulder.

***

Vivian and Tish we in the back of the limo with Roger.  Warren had run into the convenience store to grab a few candy bars.  Tish sat back with her feet in Roger’s lap as he absentmindedly massaged them.  Her eyes were closed as she enjoyed the pampering touch of the twenty-three-year-old soldier. 

“Vivian,” Roger said, glancing up at her, “he really likes you.”

“I like him, too.”

“No, I mean…” he paused, “Warren is different.  The guy is a real scout, you know.  I’ve known him for a few years, and he doesn’t hop from girl to girl.”  He kept rubbing Tish’s feet as she sat there with her eyes closed.  “She’s too young, but of all the guys in the unit, Angel is the only one I wouldn’t freak out about my little sister dating.  You follow?”

“Angel?”

“That’s his field name.  He’s often our guardian angel…”  He didn’t say that he’d been called “Angel of Death” by soldiers on three continents that he was charged with protecting people from.

“Why’s that?” Vivian asked. 

“John 15:13…  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  Roger looked down at Tish’s feet again, then looked up and smiled.  “That’s Warren.  He watches over the rest of us.  I hope you like him the same way.”

Warren climbed into the back of the limo a moment later with a bag of candy bars.  Vivian leaned over and slipped her fingers into his hair.  She’d never wanted to kiss a man so badly. 

If you enjoy my books, check them out on Amazon. If you want to read a little more about Warren Chestik, although brief, he appears in Unknown Caller. The start of that series is Planning Vengeance.