Frank lifted his gaze again.
“My father doesn’t deserve your love,” Hackett continued.
“Your dad saved my life,” Frank said weakly.
Hackett snorted. “And what have you done with it?”
Frank didn’t answer.
Hackett felt the anger within him being replaced by a frightening and unfamiliar coldness.
He looked down at his weeping cousin once more — conflicting emotions churning in his mind — before turning his back and walking over to release Fats.
Frank holstered his weapon and quickly crossed the room to cradle his injured son.
The boy buried his face in his father’s chest and wept.
Fats struggled against his bonds and angrily cried out, “You should have fucking killed him.”
Hackett stared into his friend’s eyes, and for once, he didn’t have a comeback.
Epilogue
Eric waited until Friday night — the night his father went out with the boys. He called it his Chamber meeting, and though it was true the people he drank with were the most influential men in town, it was also a known fact that no town business was ever discussed.
Eric had dreaded Friday nights all his life.
Lying in a prone position inside the hayloft of the barn, Eric nestled the barrel of his father’s rifle on a large bag of seed. Unlike his own rifle, this Remington Model 7 had an extra inch of length on the stock.
The extra wood also made it a quarter-pound heavier, but as Eric looked down the familiar 20-inch barrel he could easily see why his father called it one of the best hunting rifles for whitetails ever made.
Eric locked his eye on the night-vision scope — “for those damn, chicken-butchering coyotes” his father had said when he bought it. His mother had snorted at the remark and secretly stashed away an equivalent amount to buy something for herself.
The scope turned the night into a liquid pool of green and made the kitchen light shine like a beacon. Beyond the frail, lace curtains, Eric watched his target place a pot of oil on the stove for a late-night snack.
Eric inhaled deeply and then released his breath slowly to calm his nerves. He inhaled again, and this time his vision became so clear he could distinguish individual hairs on his target’s head.
Air escaped from his lips in a slow hiss as he gently squeezed the trigger.
Across the yard, his target rocked backwards to slam against the kitchen stove, its flailing arms toppling the pot of oil. A cloud of blood as light and wispy as cotton candy blossomed in the air.
Eric froze, mesmerized by the blood’s beauty, and before he could recover to fire a second shot, the target disappeared from sight.
Eric stared at the broken window for a full minute, waiting for the emotion of his act to paralyze his body, but the emotion never came. Without burden, Eric abandoned the rifle and retreated from the barn.
On the ground, he stopped to load his father’s pump-action shotgun with 16-guage lead shells. He walked to the house with it cradled in his arm.
When he opened the kitchen door, Eric saw how his mother had tried to crawl along the linoleum floor toward the wall phone before her mind registered that half her skull was missing.
She died with her apron on — the angry face of the Other etched deep in her flesh.
As Eric watched, the spilled oil on the stove burst into flames and a thick, black smoke began to fill the room.
ERIC RAN UPSTAIRS to his bedroom, closed the door and stuffed dirty T-shirts into the cracks to keep out the rising smoke.
He wished he could cry.
If not for his mother, at least for himself.
But no tears would come.
Eric powered up his laptop, his ears filling with the crackle of wood and sizzle of melting paint from the kitchen below.
In his email Inbox, there was a message from Cypher. Strangely, instead of having been sent to everyone in the group, it was addressed to him alone.
The message was a rambling spew of words that talked of K.A.R.M.A.’s reorganization, of cells within cells, and families operating independently within the family.
It ended with the words “lead them well.”
Eric clicked on the lone URL contained in the message and watched as his computer jumped from site to site on its way to the secret chatroom.
Once there, Eric attempted to log in as FARMR, but was told his ID was invalid.
Puzzled, Eric tried twice more. He was denied both times.
Eric heard the living room windows explode outward as the flames devoured the first floor of his family home. He ignored the danger to focus on the puzzle in front of him.
Eric thought back on the email and logged in as CYPHER. He was asked for a password. He tried FARMR and was shocked when it was accepted.
The chatroom opened before him and he saw nine names already logged on. Eric greeted his family warmly and they returned the gesture with open arms.
Smoke began to rise through the floorboards and seep under the door.
Eric had expected to die here, but now, suddenly, he had a reason, and a family, to live for.
CYPHER: I’ll be back soon. Wait for me
NEEDLE: We’ll be here, farm boy
Cypher grinned and unplugged his laptop. With the machine under his arm, he climbed out his bedroom window onto the roof of the garage and vanished into the night.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Scotland, living in Canada and writing American fiction, Grant wears a toque and kilt with his six-guns. His debut novel, Switch, earned fantastic reviews internationally when it was published by Bantam UK, in Germany by Heyne, and in Canada by Penguin. It has also been translated into Complex Chinese for Spring International Publishers of Taiwan, and Famous Books has now made it available in the U.S.
Grant’s second novel, No Cry For Help, also garnered stellar reviews when it was published in the UK by Bantam TransWorld and translated in Germany by Heyne. It is also available in the U.S. and Canada.
His third dark thriller, K.A.R.M.A., and his fourth, Port of Sorrow, are out now from Famous Books.
Writing under the pen name M.C. Grant, a new mystery series set in San Francisco was launched in 2012 by Midnight Ink. Angel With A Bullet, the first in the Dixie Flynn series, is available now, while the second in the series, Devil With A Gun, will be published in September 2013. Grant is currently writing the third Dixie Flynn adventure, Baby With A Bomb.
Grant’s short stories have been featured in the First Thrills anthology edited by Lee Child from Tor/Forge, plus Out of the Gutter and Spinetingler magazines, and his first screenplay won a fellowship at the Praxis Centre for Screenwriting in Vancouver, B.C.
As a journalist, Grant has worked in virtually every area of the newspaper business from the late-night dead body beat at a feisty daily tabloid to editor at two of Canada’s largest broadsheets, plus editor-in-chief of the alt-weekly Monday Magazine. He has also contributed numerous technology/humor columns to magazines around the world. He resides in Victoria, B.C.
Grant can be contacted via his website at http://grantmckenzie.net
And on Facebook at: http://facebook.com/grant.mckenzie
SWITCH
How far will one man go to save the ones he loves most?
Two strangers trapped in the same kidnapping nightmare face their worst fears when they are challenged to destroy everything they hold dear in order to save the ones they love.
Set in Portland, Oregon, featuring the spooky and labyrinthine tunnels underneath the city, this is a fantastically commercial, brilliantly paced read from a debut author.
“Think Harlan Coben on speed with a heart breaking compassion that will literally have you biting your nails.” — Ken Bruen, best-selling author of the Jack Taylor series
‘Switch crackles with suspense and is as tense as a switchblade opening in a dark alley.’ — Rick Mofina, international best-selling author
“A terrific little-guy-in-big-trouble thriller moving
at warp speed - with the emphasis on warp.” — Lee Child, #1 NY Times best-selling author
‘Switch is not merely good, it’s damned good.’ — David Hagberg, best-selling author of Joshua’s Hammer
‘Grant McKenzie really knows how to make a story move.’ — Linwood Barclay, best-selling author of No Time For Goodbye
NO CRY FOR HELP
During a cross-border shopping trip, a family vanishes.
No reason.
No ransom.
No cry for help.
Bus driver Wallace Carver fears the worst when his family fails to meet him at the Bellingham, Washington mall. His anxiety is justifiably heightened when security cameras unexplainably show that he crossed the Peace Arch border alone.
Now all Wallace wants to do is get his wife and sons back. But first he has to work out why they were taken and by whom.
“A terrific novelist . . . I hope American publishers are taking note!”
— Tess Gerritsen, NY Times bestselling author
“A great read! The ultimate page-turner.” — William Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe (Field of Dreams)
Reader reviews:
“One of the most frenetic, atmospheric and imaginative books I’ve read this year.” — Milo Rambles
“McKenzie always manages to draw his readers from the very first line . . . and it is just as impressive that he keeps this tension to the end with a breathtaking pace.” — hammett-krimis.de
"(With Switch) I recall writing that Lee Child needs to look out. I was wrong, he needs to look up! Great book, great read, thank you Grant, I am looking forward to your next." — Cormac McCarthy
PORT OF SORROW
A sadistic killer has turned Port Sorrow into his personal hunting ground.
Traveling the stripper circuit of small town America, Finn is a female impersonator with a golden voice who never made the big time. His latest stop is Port Sorrow, a rough-and-tumble coastal town on the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula.
In the audience tonight, rookie deputy sheriff Julia Rusk has drawn the short straw and is scanning the rowdy audience for signs of a suspected serial rapist.
A shotgun blast brings these two strangers together as a young stripper bleeds out on stage.
While Julia tries to find the gunman and prove she's worthy to wear the badge, Finn takes the law into his own hands. Tracking through seedy dockside bars and the hidden world of the homeless, Finn comes to realize just how many lives this killer has touched.
But what neither of them realizes is the killer doesn't work alone, and not even the police can protect them when he finally shows his face.
Reader reviews:
“A fantastic book that kept me up at night when I should have been sleeping, a page turner that as you got closer to the end you didn't want it to finish, Kept me guessing until near the end just what I like in a thriller.” — Jean (Amazon US)
“Find a comfortable chair and strap yourself in because Grant McKenzie is going to take you on a fast paced ride filled with murder, deception, and bravery. Grant's ability to paint a picture with his words makes you feel like you are indeed in Port Sorrow. All of the characters are so expertly developed you can't help but be pulled into the story.” — Darwin Unrsu (Amazon US)
ANGEL WITH A BULLET
Wisecracking reporter Dixie Flynn thinks fast and talks even faster—it’s the only way to survive the San Francisco crime beat. When she’s assigned to look into the death of her former lover, artist Diego Chino, Dixie’s instincts tell her there’s more behind the apparent suicide than the police are letting on.
Dixie’s canvassing of the Bay Area art district reveals it to be a perfect picture of corruption, with a handsome art dealer and a reclusive patron in the foreground. After a romantic evening in Chinatown ends in a brush with death, Dixie is more determined than ever to expose the truth. But when a fire in her vicinity turns out to be more than just performance art, it’s clear the perpetrators would rather see Dixie dead than let her destroy their criminal masterpiece.
Praise: “Dixie Flynn may be the most kick-ass heroine ever created. Kudos to Grant for giving us the ultimate ‘girl power’ thriller!” — Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Girl.
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