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KND Bargain Book Alert! Get this Top 500 K-Store Bestseller for Just 99 Cents – Through September 6 Only! Find Out What Readers Are Saying and Schedule Terri Giuliano Long’s IN LEAH’S WAKE Now as Your Next Book Group Selection! (4.4 Stars on 38 out of 42 Rave Reviews – Just 99 Cents for a Limited Time)

 

(CTRR, Reviewer Recommend Award, Book Bundlz 2011 Book Club Book Pick)

by Terri Giuliano Long

4.4 stars – 42 Reviews

Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled

Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.

Here’s the set-up:

The Tyler family had the perfect life – until sixteen-year-old Leah decided she didn’t want to be perfect anymore.

While Zoe and Will fight to save their daughter from destroying her brilliant future, Leah’s younger sister, Justine, must cope with the damage her out-of-control sibling leaves in her wake.

 

Will this family survive? What happens when love just isn’t enough?

Jodi Picoult fans will love this beautifully written and absorbing novel.

  • “Sometimes scary, sometimes sad, and always tender.” – Susan Straight, National Book Award finalist, author of Take One Candle Light A Room
  • In Leah’s Wake is a beautifully written and absorbing novel.” – Margot Livesey, Award-winning author of Banishing Verona
  • “Thoughtful characterization and beautifully woven prose.” – Emlyn Chand, power blogger and freelance author
  • “This is a story that will stay with you for days and weeks.” –Radical Parenting, the award-winning parenting blog written by teens
  • In Leah’s Wake is an irresistible read.” – Holly Robinson, author of The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter: A Memoir
  • “Terri Giuliano Long writes about the complexities of marriage and parenting . . . pulled me right along, as I continued to make comparisons to my own life.” –Jennifer Donovan, Managing Editor 5 Minutes For Books
  • In Leah’s Wake is beautifully written, haunting, fascinating, and a book that has a lot to say, a lot to teach you, without getting preachy.” –Haley Stokes, Triumphal Writing
  • Recipient of the Coffee Time Reviewers Recommend (CTRR) Award. This award, selected by reviewers, recognizes outstanding writing styles in all book types and genres. –Coffee Time Romance

Terri Giuliano Long grew up in the company of stories both of her own making and as written by others. Books offer her a zest for life’s highs and comfort in its lows. She’s all-too-happy to share this love with others as a novelist and as a lecturer at Boston College.

 

While her passion lies in the written word, Terri’s primary inspiration comes from her interest in existential philosophy and her observations of people and human nature. Her stories expand upon the subtle truths and what-ifs of everyday life. No matter where her stories journey, they always tie back to the family–the ways we love yet, in loving, too often hurt one another, the grief, the sorrow, the revelation, and the joy.

Terri’s goal is to offer lasting hope and deep emotional connection in a compact and entertaining package.

 

Her life outside of books is devoted to her family. In her spare time, she enjoys walking, traveling to far-flung places, and meeting interesting people. True to her Italian-American heritage, she’s an enthusiastic cook and she loves fine wine and good food. In an alternate reality, she could have been very happy as an international food writer.

 

Terri loves connecting with people who share her passions. She can be reached on her website (www.tglong.com), blog (www.tglong.com/blog), Facebook page (www.facebook.com/tglongwrites) or on Twitter (www.twitter.com/tglong).

 

(This is a sponsored post.)

KND Kindle Free Book Alert, Wednesday, August 31: 23 BRAND NEW FREEBIES in the last 24 hours! 1,092 FREE TITLES Sorted by Category, Date Added, Bestselling or Review Rating! plus … from the author of A SINGLE DEADLY TRUTH, Don’t Miss John M. Urban’s URBAN SHORTS at this great price! (Today’s Sponsor, $0.99)


Powered by our magical Kindle free book tool, here are this morning’s latest additions to our 1,090+ Kindle Free Book listings….

But first, a word from … Today’s Sponsor

Urban Shorts – four modern-day stories of mystery, suspense, and crime … collected here for just 99 cents!

Urban Shorts
by John Urban
5-Star Review
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled 
Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.



Here’s the set-up: 
 
Mystery writer John Urban provides four short stories plus an opening excerpt from his soon to be released mystery novel. The 20,500 word e-book includes:

“Junior Jameson” Extreme wealth, corporate excess, and a crime that takes the reader from New York to Antigua and back.

“Courtesy Call” A locally grown police officer patrols his home community on what was to be a quiet summer evening.

“The Association” Retirement life in Stuart-by-the-Sea is quiet and dull. Or at least it was until now.

“Halfway Rock” Urban’s protagonist, Steve Decatur, sets out in a water-borne chase on the stormy waters of Buzzards Bay.

“Devil’s Bridge” An opening except of a new Steve Decatur mystery involving modern day slave trafficking that draws historical echoes from the days of the early 1800s when ships from Newport and Bristol, Rhode Island sailed the Triangle Trade.


Five Star Review:


“I don’t usually read short stories but since I enjoyed Urban’s novel, A Single Deadly Truth, I decided to give his Urban [S]horts a try.

“I found all four of the stories varied and interesting and I have to say I enjoyed reading them. This doesn’t mean that I’m going on a short story reading frenzy anytime soon, but if John comes out with another story collection in the future I’ll probably pick them up. Besides, how can you beat four stories for 99 cents.

Mike Jastrzebski

About the Author

Like his protagonist, John Urban has worked as a college professor and he sails the waters of Southern New England on an old wooden sailboat that he restored. He is a regular contributor to the blog Write On The Water, and his short stories have appeared in the anthologies Seasmoke and Deadfall.

 Urban lives just outside Boston and spends his summers near the waters edge of Buzzards Bay and Rhode Island Sound. A Single Deadly Truth, published on Amazon Kindle, is Urban’s debut novel. As second Steve Decatur mystery is due out in 2011. For more information: www.johnmurban.com


Click hereto download Urban Shorts (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!

UK CUSTOMERS: Click on the title below to download

Each day’s list is sponsored by one paid title. We encourage you to support our sponsors and thank you for considering them.

Authors and Publishers: Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information.

Free Contemporary Titles in the Kindle Store 

Welcome to Kindle Nation’s magical and revolutionary Free Book Search Tool — automatically updated and refreshed in real time, now with Category Search! Use the drop-down menu (in red caps next to the menu bar near the top of the page) to search for free Kindle books by genre or category, then sort the list just the way you want it — by date added, bestselling,, or review rating! But there’s no need to sort by price — because they’re all free!


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Small Business: Quick and Easy Guide to Marketing, Business and the Digital Generation - 2 Book Bundle. Two Web Marketing Books Inside: • Quickly Dominate Social Media Marketing: The Ultimate Guide Top Tips to Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube Viral Marketing....
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Nick Woods is tired of waiting. America's greatest sniper has spent the better part of two years up in the mountains of Montana, waiting for the government to double-cross him and try to come get him.But waiting in isolation, with his wife Anne gone, has caused his paranoia to reach dangerous...
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Mexican Heat (Nick Woods Book 2)
By: Stan R. Mitchell
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Seven year old Leonard hadn't connected for so much as a foul ball all season. Today's game would turn out to be different....
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That Championship Season
By: Leonard Stegmann
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This is an inspirational tale of one family’s international achievement in the face of adversity.In 2014, the Mundell family embarked on a spectacular adventure. After introducing their children to the thrills of mountaineering, they ascended to the Mt. Everest Base Camp in Tibet. The children...
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Have you heard of the digital nomad lifestyle? Everyone wants to know how to make money while you travel the world. There is just one problem…Too many digital nomads think that it can’t be done with kids. Once they have children, they feel like they have to settle down and conform to other...
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Digital Nomad Moms: Women who Carved Out Successful Remote Careers to Travel the World with their Children
By: Marcy Duval, Caro Mojica, Kari Sherwood, Nadja Bester, Maud Maciak, Marina Dolgova, Krystal Loverin, Linda Mitchell, Jane Freund, Sara Tyler
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The sixth novel in The Artemus Newton Thrillers.All Artemus Newton wanted was a nice, quiet retirement.However, a Russian mobster and a group of even more ruthless adversaries have other plans.ISIS has activated terrorist sleeper cells inside the U.S.A. and has armed them with Weapons of Mass...
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Teach Children to Overcome Fears and Embrace New ChallengesGet ready for a heartwarming adventure in Pawprint Academy: Madi's All-Star Fun! Join young Madi as she conquers her fears and discovers the true meaning of courage. With Lulu the Yellow Labrador by her side, Madi learns that having fun and...
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Pawprint Academy: Madi's All-Star Fun
By: CJ Canterbury
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BOOK DESCRIPTION:There has been a flurry of robberies in the Town of Cresentville in the last few weeks. Jack and Fiona are investigating the murder of Manuel Sanchez, the manager of a local car wash. Is his murder just another in a string of drug crimes that has hit their area? Or is the manager's...
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US Marshal Jack Dillon, assigned to An Garda Síochána, Special Branch is just about to settle into an enjoyable evening with his neighbor Tara when his phone rings. Against his better judgment, he answers… Good thing he does. It’s his boss, Detective Chief Inspector McCabe. There’s been a...
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The Uprising (Stonecrusher Legacy Book 1)
By: David K. MacDowell
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Kindle Nation Bargain Book Alert: Cici McNair’s NEVER FLIRT WITH A FEMME FATALE is our eBook of the Day at just $2.99, and Here’s a Free Sample! … plus … Save 78% on our Kindle Deal of the Day – POKE THE BOX

Here’s the set-up for Cici McNair’s Never Flirt With a Femme Fatale, just $2.99 on Kindle:

Midsummer. Manhattan. The Upper East Side is the setting but the cases attracted international attention. The women live in penthouses, multi-million dollar mansions. Or they want to.

Sante Kimes is ruthless, driven by greed and an unquenchable thirst for excitement. During two murder trials, her private detective comes to know her as well as anyone ever will.

Vogue cover girl Melanie Cain unwittingly becomes a dark force when she leaves her wealthy playboy lover. Both women tell their stories for the first time to someone they trust: Cici McNair. All three women talk about seduction, manipulation, betrayal, and murder.

 

Visit Amazon’s Cici McNair Page

From Cici McNair’s memoir for Detectives Don’t Wear Seatbelts:  True Adventures of a Female P.I.:

Growing up in Mississippi, Cici McNair was always more the tomboy her mother supported than the Southern belle her father demanded. She escaped her suffocating upbringing the first chance she had to travel the world. Whether working at the Vatican in Rome or consorting with a gunrunner in Haiti, she lived a life of international adventure. When Cici finds herself in New York, divorced, broke, and fashionably starving to death in a Madison Avenue apartment, she impulsively decides to become a private detective.

But, as Cici soon learns, the world of P.I.s is tight-knit and made up almost exclusively of former law enforcement officers. By nature, they are a highly suspicious group and are especially wary of a newcomer with an untraceable past. Diligently working her way through the Yellow Pages, doggedly pursuing the slightest lead, Cici is finally hired by a private investigator willing to take a chance. The next day she’s working side by side with a pair of seasoned detectives and a skip tracer who is scary to meet but like silk on the phone. She quickly realizes she’ll need all her energy and wits to succeed in this new world.

Being a private investigator is as exciting and liberating as Cici ever dreamed, from creating a false identity on the spot on her first case in the field to surviving adrenaline-rushing car chases. Working with law enforcement, she goes undercover, dealing with the ruthless Born to Kill gang in Chinatown and the Middle Eastern counterfeiters west of Broadway. A detailed account of the hidden world and real-life cases of a P.I., this action-packed memoir is as entertaining as any detective novel you’ve ever read.
Poke the Box

plus … Don’t miss the Kindle Daily Deal: Poke the Box

If you’re stuck at the starting line, Poke the Box just may be the kick in the pants you need to shake up your life. A manifesto by bestselling author Seth Godin, this book might make you uncomfortable. It’s a call to action about the initiative you’re taking-–in your job or in your life.

Yesterday’s Price: $6.64
Today’s Discount: $5.15
Kindle Daily Deal Price: $1.49 (78% off)

 

And here, in the comfort of your own browser, is your free sample:


 


Kindle Nation Bargain Book Alert! PULSE – What if You Can Begin Life All Over Again? In Kailin Gow’s novel PULSE, Kalina is the elusive dream all vampires have – to return to their human state. Free Excerpt and a Note to Readers from Kailin Gow: “Vampires are fun, dangerous, sexy, romantic, and everything you imagine them to be.”

Dear Readers:

As noted in my dedication to blood donors, PULSE is a book inspired by my personal experience with extreme blood loss, as every book I write comes from personal experience or revelations. Although I have other series with vampires – Wicked Woods, The Stoker Sisters, and Harold the Kung Fu Kid, this series is different in that it’s about the romanticism of blood to humans and to vampires.  I wouldn’t say it’s more romantic, but it does have a lot of kissing. What’s similar to my other series, though, is that this series is pure fun and fantasy. That’s because vampires are fun, dangerous, sexy, romantic, and everything you imagine them to be. If you do decide to get serious and analytical about PULSE, there are discussion questions available for clubs and groups too. Thank you and enjoy!

Kailin

PULSE

by Kailin Gow
24 out of 36 Rave Reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
Here’s the set-up:
17 year-old Kalina didn’t know her boyfriend was a vampire until the night he died of a freak accident. She didn’t know he came from a long line of vampires until the night she was visited by his half-brothers Jaegar and Stuart Greystone. There were a lot of secrets her boyfriend didn’t tell her. Now she must discover them in order to stay alive. But having two half-brothers vampires around has just gotten interesting.

The PULSE Series, starting with PULSE, is the Award-Winning Finalist in two categories – “Fiction: Romance” and “Fiction: Multicultural” of the 2011 International Book Awards, where Pulse’s author Kailin Gow won first place overall in Fiction Horror.

Start reading an excerpt of PULSE here:

She ran like an animal. Her clothes were wet, sopping, clinging to her thighs and to her chest, hollow and transparent around the curve of her shoulders. Her hair shook out droplets of rain; her cheeks were flushed and she was breathless. He could see her heartbeat throbbing at the side of her throat, see it in the rhythmic panting, hear it from across the street, pounding in his ears, intermingled with the thunder bolting from the sky. He could feel it – it felt like an earthquake to him, shaking his ribs, his shoulders, his legs. It had been so long since he had seen a heartbeat like hers – since he had felt a heartbeat at all.

The skies had opened up – as they so often did in North California – without any warning, without any hesitation. It was as if the smooth blue glass ceiling of the world had shattered all at once, letting the primordial oceans pound down upon the pavement. He could see her consternation, her irritation – she wanted nothing but to get out of the rain, to dry herself off, to curl up into something warm and dry.

But Jaegar loved the rain. He loved the energy – the pulse of life beating down upon the earth.

Continued….

Click on the title below to keep reading the entire book for just $2.99!

by Kailin Gow

Learn about the book and series by watching the trailer here:  http://kailingow.wordpress.com/pulse-vampire-series/

 

Publetariat Dispatch: Self-Publishing, A Source Of Innovative Thinking And How To Benefit From It

Publetariat: For People Who Publish!

In today’s Publetariat Dispatch, Piotr Kowalczyk discusses what all of us can learn about innovation from self-publishers.

This post, from Piotr Kowalczyk, originally appeared on his Password Incorrect site on 3/3/11 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission.

The presentation you’ll see below was prepared for Ebook Lab Italia conference. I wanted to highlight a prevailing characteristic of self-publishers, not yet discovered and fully utilized by publishers and readers. It’s the innovative thinking.

In digital times, times of over-content, the front line is the attention of a reader. Technology leads to equal chances. Both big publishers and self-publishers use the same on-line tools and services to find the reader and convince him to buy the book. But obviously there is a difference: it’s the money at disposal.

Self-publishers usually don’t have money, so they use all their energy to be creative and innovative. In a presentation there are several examples of innovation in both a self-promotion run by single authors and joint actions taken by self-publishing community:
3D1D project (3 days, 1 dispatch) – a draft of a novel written live in under 72 hours,

– Bathrobe Guru – a short story written using Google Wave,

Indie Call to Action – authors cross-reviewed and promoted their books using social media,

Friday Flash – a large group of writers share their new flash-fiction stories on Twitter with a tag #FridayFlash.

Truth is that not every self-publisher is as successful as Joanna Penn. She made her debut novel, Pentecost, a bestseller within 24 hours from launch.

What can self-publishers do if royalties are just not enough? Again, they are innovative enough to find other ideas for earning money. You’ll also find the examples in a presentation.

This year self-publishing is on the rise. In January there were as much as 18 self-published books among top 50 bestsellers in Kindle Store. There are big chances that self-publishers will be noticed and get the attention they deserve.

 

 

If you liked this article, please click on a Facebook Like it button. Buy my geek fiction ebooks ($.99 each at Kindle Store) or get a free sample: Password Incorrect and Failure Confirmed. You can subscribe to one of RSS feeds here. Let’s also connect on Twitter.

 

Welcome to the our Thriller of the Week free excerpt post: Desperate Puppets by R.D. Brindisi, 5.0 stars – 6 Reviews, Kindle Price: 99 cents

Welcome to the our Thriller of the Week excerpt post.  Each week we choose an outstanding thriller and share a generous excerpt of it with you via email. We hope you’ll come to count on us for your weekly thriller fix!

by R.D. Brindisi
5.0 stars – 6 Reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled

Two friends uncover a violent scam that originates in the world financial markets and involves the most prestigious Wall Street banks, the murky world of organized crime, and the highest levels of government. In a reckless attempt to protect his family from the sinister forces closing in on him, an overmatched but desperate man designs his own lethal strategy for justice.

An Excerpt From Our Thriller of the Week, Desperate Puppets by R.D. Brindisi …

Chapter 4

Frank was trying to stay calm, “Damien, stop it! OK? Before you say another WORD, ask yourself one thing . . . are you a killer?”

Damien didn’t look at it the same way.

“Frank, I was in the Army. I was taught to kill for a righteous purpose. Your client NEEDS help to achieve what is obviously a righteous purpose! Can you imagine what it was like to be in that Russian village? I can easily put a Serb face on the bastard right before I pull the trigger.”

Frank backed off because he felt like he had done everything to keep Damien out of it. He also thought Damien would eventually come to his senses.

“Damien, OK, you can do this for me, but you have to promise me that if you have any second thoughts, you need to back out and let me take the heat for it. You can have all the cash. I don’t want it. I just want this thing to go away.”

Damien was at once relieved, grateful, terrified.

“Look man, I understand. I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to do this. You won’t be sorry I got involved. The only thing that would make me back out is if your client won’t verify that the target is one of those people that committed those atrocities. Make him verify it.”

“I’ll talk to Molov today. My client’s name is Vitaly Molov.

Damien knew that the disclosure of Molov’s name meant that Frank was all in.

“Thanks man. When can you get me the rest of the info from Molov?”

Frank was already looking at the clock to see where Molov would be.

“I’ll give him a call when we hang up here.”

“Frank, one other thing. Why you? I mean, there have got to be several hundred Russian gangsters in the US that would do this.”

“I thought of that too, did some research and determined that the answer was one of two scenarios: One, Russian organized crime is so decentralized and so rampant, maybe Molov didn’t have a connection in the US, or at least a reliable one. The second, yet equally as likely scenario, was that Molov is not actually a Russian gangster, even though he was acting like one. In the end, I have to assume that even if he isn’t a Russian gangster, he is just as dangerous to me as if he were one. He wants someone dead and is willing to pay a lot of money to see that it happens. If I fail in this, let’s just say I will feel less than safe. Shit, I already feel less than safe. I’ve been looking over my shoulder since he first told me what he wanted. I can’t believe I am up to my neck in this. Look, let me call Molov. I’ll call you when I have all the information.”

The two ended the most intense phone conversation of their lives without even saying goodbye.

Damien realized after they got off the phone that Frank couldn’t call him back because he was talking to him through his computer on Skype, which had no phone number. Damien waited a few hours and called Frank, with no answer. He repeated this process before going to bed to only to mind zoom all night long with little to no sleep. What little sleep he did get wasn’t full of nightmares, at least. It was more like wish fulfillment dreams where he was avenging all those murdered Serbian women and kids. He got up the next day positive he could do this thing. Damien wasn’t able to reach Frank the entire next day. He was starting to lose his mind. He couldn’t concentrate on anything. He called Grace to check in with her, but realized after hanging up that he had no idea what they discussed. There was a squeezing feeling that was taking over Damien’s head and chest. He was afraid that this was a precursor to a heart attack.

Frank finally answered the phone the next afternoon.

“Frank, holy shit! I thought that it all fell apart when you didn’t pick up the last few days. Did you get him?”

Frank was apologetic, “Yeah, sorry. I couldn’t get him and picking up to tell you nothing would only have led to serious speculation and stress on both our parts. In fact, let’s make this a rule until this whole Molov thing is over. If one of us is waiting for information, we can’t talk until we get the information. Otherwise it will just drive us nuts.”

Damien was doing his best to be patient but was losing the battle. Frank was starting to sound like a bad spy novel.

“Yeah, that’s fine Frank. So, I’m assuming that you talked to Molov and have all the information since you answered the phone. Please tell me I’m right!”

Frank was annoyingly calm for Damien’s liking.

“Yeah man, I talked to him. He told me that this guy, Phillip Krueger, is without a doubt one of those guys that he told me about. Krueger’s address is 3254 Oakland Park Way, Scottsdale, AZ. His Social Security Number is 353-53-9685.”

“Why the fuck do I need his Social Security Number? How did Molov find that out? Molov really must be well-connected. ”

“I don’t know. That’s a good question. He just gave it to me so I passed it along without thinking about it.”

Damien wasn’t thrilled that Krueger lived all the way out in Scottsdale. He wanted to drive to the target so as to not create a record of traveling to the area, but Richmond to Scottsdale was too damn far.

“Frank, I need you to get me a plane ticket to . . . hold on, I have to see what is close to Scottsdale . . . how about Albuquerque . . . yeah, Albuquerque. I’m also going to need a rental car. Post the reservation information on the message board of our fantasy football site for a few hours, then delete it. I’ll have it by then.”

“You got it man, and hey, whatever happens, don’t get caught, ok? Back out if you have to. I can figure out a way out of this if I have to.”

“No you can’t, and I’ll be fine. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”

Frank signed off. Deep down, Frank didn’t really think that Damien was going to be able to actually go through with killing Krueger. In Frank’s best case scenario, he hired Damien to do it, Damien can’t do it, and Frank tells Molov that he tried but it just didn’t work out. That was going to be his course of action until Damien talked him into letting him kill Krueger.

It was only a seven hour drive from Albuquerque to Scottsdale but far enough away to not raise any tracing red-flags. Damien’s military training kicked in and he started thinking about getting a gun. He needed to get one that wasn’t traceable and had a silencer. He started going to pawn shops looking for the right weapon and found it at the third pawn shop he went to. Damien found a Gurza/Vector SR-1 that was perfect for his purpose. He had noticed a standard silencer at the second pawn shop he had stopped at so he went back to buy it. It fit the Gurza/Vector SR-1 perfectly. In the ultimate irony, this was a special assignment gun used by the Russian Special Forces. This model was constructed for hitting armored targets, piercing protective vests, and vehicles. At a distance of 100-meters, it pierces 30 layers of Kevlar or 2.8 mm titanium plate. Damien learned about this online while researching the Gurza/Vector SR-1 and couldn’t suppress a chuckle.

“I’ll be shooting the bastard with a Russian weapon. Poetic justice.”

Frank set up the flights and the rental car which Damien pulled off the message board seconds after it was posted. He left for Albuquerque two days later.

Chapter 5

 

Damien put the gun in his checked luggage and hoped against hope that the airline would not lose his luggage. In what Damien believed was a harbinger of good things to come, he and his luggage made it to Albuquerque on schedule. Damien picked up his rental car with a significant delay due to the fact that the rental car company had staffed the counter with only one person and she was acting with the urgent attentiveness of a hormonally charged teenager in algebra class.

Damien didn’t know Scottsdale at all but had researched the area as much as possible online and got a GPS from the rental agent. Damien planned to drive by Krueger’s house to get an idea of the neighborhood, the house, and anything else he needed to know. The drive from Albuquerque to Scottsdale was considerably more scenic than Damien had expected. He was under the impression that he was going to be driving through a desert wasteland where he would have to work hard to find a gas station. That didn’t turn out to be the case. The landscape was fascinating and actually made the seven hour drive relaxing and enjoyable. At least as relaxing and enjoyable as a trip to assassinate someone can be. His “journey to an assassination” music choices included a diverse selection from Vivaldi, Neil Young, Dean Martin and Metallica.

Once Damien arrived in Scottsdale, he easily found Krueger’s subdivision. The sign at the entrance said ‘Oakland Trace – A Deed Restricted Community’. Damien thought about what that meant for a minute, having never owned a house. Did that mean that you could only do certain things to the house? Did they control the color of your house? Trees? Fences? It seemed all too conformist for Damien’s liking. The houses were large, twenty feet apart, and well kept, but, all seemed to look like variations on the same theme-cookie cutter houses came to mind.

It was night by the time he got to Krueger’s, which cut down on visibility as well as his ability to see the nuances of the neighborhood that could be very valuable to him the next day. Children’s toys were left in the front yard of the house across the street. This was not a welcome sight for Damien.

“Kids, greeeaaaaat.”

Children meant that attentive parents might be looking out to see what was happening in the neighborhood. Damien drove up the street to the end, turned around and came back down, driving slowly. He wanted to quickly get as much information as possible so as not to draw suspicion. The last thing he needed was for the investigation to reveal some weirdo casing the neighborhood the night before the murder. He made a point to figure out his escape route back to the highway and confirmed the deed-restricted neighborhood did not have video surveillance. Once back to the highway, he made his way to the airport. Damien had figured that he would sleep in his rental car in the long term parking garage at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport so as to not leave a trace of his being in town. Damien also felt that a hotel, even a motel, seemed like too much luxury for the job he had to accomplish. He figured that brutal work deserved savage accommodations. The backseat of his rented car did indeed look savage. He was really starting to enjoy this.

Damien slept remarkably well considering what he was going to do upon awakening and considering the contortionist position he had to assume crammed in the backseat. He overslept according to the schedule he had in his mind. He even wondered out loud in the back of the car.

“Who does that? Oversleeps for an assassination?”

His flight out of Albuquerque wasn’t until 9pm, which gave him plenty of time. He didn’t want to have to rush back and risk getting a speeding ticket along the way, which meant he had to be done by noon and on the road back. It was 10am when he sat up in the cramped backseat and, after paying for parking, headed for Krueger’s house.

Damien had a plan to identify Krueger. It would have been Damien’s worst nightmare to kill the wrong person. He couldn’t live with being a killer. He thought of himself as an avenger. The bodies in Kosovo were flashing in his mind, flaming that obsession to do the world a favor and rid it of war criminals one at a time. Damien didn’t consider that killing, nor himself a killer.

To avoid killing the wrong person, Damien had brought a box clearly addressed to a Mr. Phillip Krueger. He was going to knock on the door to deliver the package and ask if the person was Phillip Krueger. Given when Krueger was supposed to have committed the acts which were now going to get him killed, Damien was expecting to encounter an old man. What if he encountered a younger looking man? Damien hadn’t thought about that yet and considering that he didn’t have enough time to think it through, he decided that he would just abort the mission if things didn’t add up for him. That wouldn’t require him to think twice, despite the money on the line. There was a line that Damien wouldn’t cross, and that was killing an innocent person, or put another way, someone who wasn’t a war criminal.

Damien got to Krueger’s house and the street was quiet. It was a hot day and nobody was outside except for a lawn maintenance guy working on the corner house. He would be too far away to notice what was happening at Krueger’s house. Additionally, Happy Dave of Happy Dave’s Landscaping was sporting large, noise-canceling, Mickey Mouse-type headphones which made him a non-factor as far as being a witness. The kids in the neighborhood must have been in school, or were being kept in to avoid the heat. Damien pulled in Krueger’s driveway, grabbed the box and scanned the houses across the street as he stepped out of the car to see if there was anyone within sight. Seeing nobody, he headed for the door.

Just as Damien expected, an older man answered the door. Damien sized him up quickly. He didn’t look as old as Damien expected, but Damien reminded himself that people age differently. He fit the age range. He looked like he could have been Damien’s grandfather, so that seemed about right. He even looked familiar, but Damien quickly put that out of his head. There was no way he knew this bastard. So many thoughts flooded Damien’s mind. It isn’t every day you get to stare evil in the eye and know it. He didn’t really look evil. He was wearing a sweater vest in this oppressive heat. Damien thought about Molov’s people and wondered what specifically Krueger did. Damien wished he could have read a formal sentence so Krueger would know that he was paying the price for what he did so long ago. Did people stay evil their whole lives? What makes the evil come to the surface? Has he suppressed it the rest of his life since the incident in Russia? Has Krueger atoned for his acts? Did he try to live a good life? Or did he continue being a rotten bastard? Did he produce kids just like him? With all these thoughts and questions flying around his head, Damien blurted out the first thing he could think of that wouldn’t tip him off.

“Hi, are you Phillip Krrrrreuuuuuuger?”

Damien made a good show of it by pretending to forget his last name and then struggling with the pronunciation.

Krueger smiled at Damien’s effort.

“Yes, that is me. What have you got there?”

Damien had a clipboard with fake signature lines. He had written 5 signatures in for authenticity.

“Package for you. Just need you to sign.”

Krueger seemed surprised, “Oh, geez I wasn’t expecting anything. Does it say who sent it?”

Not good. Think, think, think.

He had noticed when pulling up to the house that there were shrubs on the side of the house. He quickly produced a smile.

“You know I didn’t look at it, I just deliver them. Say, I couldn’t help but notice your shrubs on the side of the house. I like what you have done with them. Can I ask you something about them?”

Damien thought that did the trick to divert Krueger’s attention from who sent the fake package. Unfortunately for Damien, things took another unexpected turn.

“Who is it?” The voice was an older woman’s voice.

“Package, dear.” Krueger hollered back.

“Oh, that’s nice. Who is it from?”

Shit! There was that question again!

Damien was hovering over utter panic mode now.

Who has to know who sent a package before opening it? Doesn’t he know the Unibomber was arrested years ago?

“Hey, I need to run to deliver another package. Would you mind just showing me how you . . . with the shrubs?” Damien said motioning to the side of the house.

Krueger seemed to snap out of his previous thought about who sent the package.

“Oh, sure.”

Krueger left the door ajar as he stepped out to walk to the side of the house. Damien was hoping that his wife wouldn’t follow. He would have to bail, retreat and regroup.

As they approached the side of the house, Krueger got a confused look on his face. It was the look of someone completely not understanding what was so interesting.

“Funny, nobody ever took any interest in these before.”

Damien was pointing underneath the middle one.

“Why does this discoloration happen?”

Krueger didn’t know what Damien was talking about. “Where? I don’t see . . .”

Damien said, “Right there. Under here.”

Come on. Just a little farther. You’re dead anyway. We are just making it a little cleaner.

Finally, Krueger bent closer to the ground to try to look under the shrub to see the discoloration. Damien didn’t waste any more time. He stood up and pulled the gun from the back of his pants where it was tucked under his belt.

“See it? Right next to the bodies of those Russian villagers you motherfucker!”

“Huh?”

Damien didn’t give Krueger the chance to move. He shot Krueger in the head, knocking him into the shrubs. The silencer worked perfectly. Damien shot Krueger again in the back of the neck just to make sure. Krueger landed perfectly. He was hard to see right now and he would bleed out behind the shrubs-if he wasn’t already dead. Damien thought about telling Krueger why he had done this, not that Krueger would have heard him. It just seemed like the right touch. Sanity won out though and Damien retrieved the package from Krueger’s side, calmly yet quickly walked to his car, and drove off. The front door was still open but nobody ever looked out. He turned the corner and knew it was done.

“Score one for the Russian village,” he said as he drove onto the highway. He thought he might like to find out more about that village one day. Maybe even go visit, who knows. He was feeling amazing, almost high. He imagined a little parade in his honor through the cobblestone streets. He would be a local hero. He also thought that maybe he was starting to lose it.

In minutes, Damien was on Route 87 headed for Albuquerque. He got back early and stopped at a grocery store to buy a pay-as-you-go cell phone to call Frank. He wanted to call the mayor of the Russian village to tell him the news, but knew there were several impediments to that. Frank would have to suffice.

Damien loaded up on minutes as he knew that a call to Bermuda would be expensive.

“Hey man, done and done,” Damien said proudly.

Frank sounded both depressed and unsurprised, “I already know.”

Damien almost drove off the road. He was sure now that he was seen and there was a mad search on for him with his picture all over the news.

“What the hell? How do you already know? I was careful. It went so smoothly!”

Frank said calmly, “It’s on the Arizona Republic website under the local news. Just that a man was found shot in his yard and there was nothing to report pending the investigation.”

Damien let out an audible sigh, “Oh man, you freaked me out! I thought my face was all over the news and there was a manhunt on.”

Frank unenthusiastically reassured him, “Nah, you’ll be back before they ever figure out what happened, if they ever do. Did anyone see you that you know of? What did you do with the gun?”

“No . . . I mean I didn’t see anyone and I was careful to look. It happened cleanly. It almost didn’t happen because I thought his wife was about to come to the door. I had to get him to come outside to the side of the house. Once that happened, it was easy. I still have the gun with me. I don’t want it anywhere near Arizona so I’m checking it in my luggage like when I came down here. I own it legally so once I am on that plane, I should be all set. ”

“OK, well, I don’t know anything about how the TSA treats guns in luggage or anything like that so I’ll assume you know what you are doing in that regard. Hey I need your bank information to wire the funds to you. You’ve more than earned them. I don’t know how I would have gotten this done without you. I’m not happy about it at all, but at least it’s done,” Frank blurted once he got the rare opening.

Damien had no bank information with him.

“I’m going to have to get it to you when I get back to Richmond. No worries.”

“Do you want me to send it in three payments so as to not trigger any Anti-Money Laundering red flags at the bank?”

“Nah, I can justify the payment from you as consulting work. Besides, if anyone is laundering money, it’s you. Who knows where Molov’s client gets his money, or how?”

“Don’t remind me. Shit. Thanks for that.”

Damien had one more moment of brief panic while on the plane in Albuquerque. The pilot announced that they would be closing the door and twenty minutes later, it still hadn’t happened. The pilot got on the speaker again to apologize for the delay and that they were just doing a passenger verification which shouldn’t take too much longer. Damien was convinced, albeit briefly, that the authorities had tracked him to the flight and that he was about to be taken off the plane. Three minutes of thinking about that seemed like three hours. He felt like screaming, “Just close the door!!!” in a Telltale Heart moment of insanity. There was a loud thud! When Damien looked back, the door was closed. THE DOOR WAS CLOSED!!! He was as good as gone!

Damien was sitting next to a young, good looking twenty-something girl that he might have started a conversation with if he wasn’t sweating profusely. He made a half-hearted effort by turning up the airflow above his head and saying, “Wow, I’m so glad to be out of that heat!” She was engrossed in US magazine and barely acknowledged him. Damien figured he had that coming. He thought about a better lead in but “I’m sorry I’m sweating so much, but you see I just shot a man in the back of the head and am very concerned that the holdup was to allow law enforcement to storm the plane to take me off in handcuffs” didn’t seem like it would achieve the desired response either. Plus, since he slept in his car last night, he couldn’t have looked or smelled too appealing either.

Upon arriving back in Richmond, Damien resolved to get his tire fixed as the cab ride was almost half of what the tire would cost. He also was determined to get his finances in order and get a job. Damien sent Frank his bank information when he got home that night and then took a long, hot shower. There was so much to wash off. Damien slept what he believed to be a dreamless sleep for the first time in more than a decade. He was on a mental vacation.

Vitaly Molov was also on a kind of vacation . . . call it a working vacation. He was in Lebanon at a resort meeting with his main client, a very wealthy fellow countryman that was elected into the Duma, or lower house of the Russian parliament, the year before. Lebanon was a favorite vacation destination for many wealthy Russians. It was there that a lot of business deals were discussed as well as the strong-arm tactics underpinning the execution of those deals. Not coincidentally, the Lebanese coast was also a favorite destination for higher ranking members of Russian organized crime. There was business to be had there. The strong-arm tactics of the Russian businessmen naturally needed a strong-arm which was the perfect entre for organized criminals. The two had developed a very close relationship and couldn’t exist without each other.

Continued….

Click on the cover or title below to continued reading!

 

by R.D. Brindisi
5.0 stars – 6 Reviews
Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled

(This is a sponsored post.)

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Confessions of a D-List Supervillain 

by Jim Bernheimer

4.7 stars – 39 Reviews

Text-to-Speech and Lending: Enabled
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“Picture a world with characters like the ones from The Incredibles or Megamind, except instead of a cheesy cartoon, imagine these characters really
exist and this is what the world is really like. That’s the world that Bernheimer creates, and it really works well.

–David Edmiston, Vine Voice

Here’s the set-up:

 

 

“Being a supervillain means never having to say you’re sorry … Unless it’s to the judge or the parole board. Even then, you don’t really have to. It’s not like it’s going to change the outcome or anything.” 

Those are the words of Calvin Matthew Stringel, better known as Mechani-Cal. He’s a sarcastic, down on his luck armored villain. Follow his exploits as he gets swept up in a world domination scheme gone wrong and ends up working for this weak willed, mercy loving heroes. Immerse yourself in his epic battles and see what it’s like to be an outsider looking in at a world that few have ever experienced.

Climb into Cal’s battlesuit and join him on his journey. Will he avoid selling out his principles for a paycheck and a pardon? Can he resist the camaraderie of being on a super team? Does he fall prey to the ample charms of the beautiful Olympian Aphrodite? How will he survive the jealous schemes of Ultraweapon, who wears armor so powerful it makes Cal’s look like a museum piece?

See the world of “righteous do-gooders” through the eyes of someone who doesn’t particularly care for them.

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One Reviewer Notes: 

 

 

“Jim Bernheimer definitely subscribes to the Alan Moore/Frank Miller school of superheroes, where the line between superhero and supervillain is very thin. But, Bernheimer also clearly understands that the appeal of the superhero lies in the reader finding a relatable (some would say, normal) person who willingly puts themselves in extraordinary circumstances on a regular basis. Bernheimer creates such a character in his protagonist, Calvin Stringel, by both utilizing outstanding dialogue and running Stringel through several superbly paced situations. He even throws in a nice twist at the end, which is perfectly in character for a comic book tale. The result is a well-constructed homage to the superhero/villain idea that keeps the reader engaged and entertained. Confessions of a D-List Supervillain is required reading for any geek, former geek, or wannabe geek who gets a thrill at the endless possibilities offered by the superhero genre. 

–Michael Lima, Vine Voice

 

 

 

About the Author 

I’m 41 years old, married, with two young daughters and live in Chesapeake, Virginia. With Gryphonwood Press, I’ve authored Dead Eye: Pennies for the Ferryman, and Spirals of Destiny Book One: Rider. My next project for Mr. Wood is Dead Eye 2: The Skinwalker Conspiracies. On my own imprint, EJB, I have published a short story collection and an anthololgy (Horror, Humor, and Heroes Volumes One and Two), as well as the science fiction novel Confessions of a D-List Supervillain. 

For more information visit www.jimbernheimer.com

 

Click hereto download Confessions of a D-List Supervillain (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!
 

 

 

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