A Defender Rises (Magic City Chronicles Book 1)
Page 18
Jared laughed. “When you feel like you can say that to the boss, you can be in charge, and I’ll be your number two. I’m sure as hell not going to do it. I’m going to continue to say, ‘Yes sir, how high, sir?’ You let me know when you want to do differently.”
His phone rang, and Jared frowned at it, then his heart started beating triple time as he saw who it was. He answered. “Yes. Uh-huh. Yes. Thirty minutes. Yes,” and hung up. He looked over at the dwarf, his mouth dry. “It, uh, looks like you’ll get your chance. We have an appointment with the boss.”
They both downed a shot of whiskey for luck, then Jared drove them through the darkness to a place he’d never been before, an intersection out in the desert with an old and abandoned gas station on one corner. A stretch limo sat there, and four dark-suited men with guns stood at each corner of it, all of them tracking their approach. He and the dwarf stepped out slowly, and each of them was thoroughly and professionally searched by one of the guards while the others kept weapons trained on them.
Finally, one of them opened the limo’s rear door and waved them inside. A man and a woman sat there, the former in a stylish and expensive business suit and tie, the latter in a notably tight dress suitable for a night out on the town. Jared took the spot farther from the door and saw Grentham wince as he sat.
Gabriel Sloane was known to his enemies as The Nightmare, a moniker that hearkened back to his time as an enforcer and assassin. After making a bundle in those occupations, he’d killed his way to the top of a small criminal organization, then absorbed several others through tactics both businesslike and brutal. To Jared and Grentham, he was “Boss,” or occasionally “Big Man,” or “Him.”
Sloane was angry, to judge by the twist of his lips. “I find myself concerned by your incompetence, gentlemen. So much so that my wife and I will be late to a party in our honor so that we can have this conversation. Oh, and Mister Grentham, by now you’ve felt the anti-magic emitter. Please don’t get any ideas about trying to overcome it.”
The dwarf nodded. Jared replied, “We experienced unexpected complications in the last two attempts, sir. Someone is acting against us. We’ve already begun tracing—”
The man lifted a hand to stop him, and Jared’s voice died. His superior resembled what George Clooney might look like if someone grabbed his face and stretched it vertically. He was handsome but looked somehow wrong. Or maybe that’s the eyes, which are as crazy as I’ve ever seen on anyone other than his wife. Jared wasn’t afraid of much, but he was scared of these two.
Sloane said, “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’ll continue working the angles we’ve planned, but more slowly. I’m planning to bring in some out-of-town talent and take the game up a notch. When he’s finished, these aliens ought to run to you for protection. Once you’re inside, it will be child’s play to make them do what I want.”
“Yes, sir,” Jared replied. He still couldn’t figure what the man’s endgame was. He was already rich, and there had to be a lot of better ways to get richer. At first, he’d thought it might simply be the pleasure of playing a game that was valuable because it was out of reach of anyone with less money or more ethics. It felt like something more was going on in the background though, something that he might understand if he could make the right mental shift. “It might help to either acquire our competition or, uh, encourage them to leave the business.”
“I have no interest in the former. However, if you have plans to accomplish the latter that don’t take away from the tasks I’ve assigned you, by all means, strengthen your position.” He tapped a button on the console next to him, and the door opened. Jared and Grentham climbed out and turned respectfully back toward the limo. Sloane leaned over. “One more thing. Any more failures, and it’ll cost you far more than a conversation. Keep that in mind.”
Jared kept it in mind all the way back to Magic City. As he dropped Grentham off, he saw the other man thought similarly. “We need to get rid of whoever’s after us, first thing.”
The dwarf nodded. “Agreed. No more playing nice. We find them, we make sure they pay in blood for getting in our way, and we kill them.”
The city she thought she knew was a lie… can Ruby find a way to save it before time runs out? Find out in A MAGICAL ALLIANCE.
Magic Ops
If you enjoyed this book, you may also enjoy the first series from T.R. Cameron, also set in the Oriceran Universe. The Federal Agents of Magic series begins with Magic Ops and it’s available now at Amazon and through Kindle Unlimited.
FBI Agent Diana Sheen is an agent with a secret…
…She carries a badge and a troll, along with a little magic.
But her Most Wanted List is going to take a little extra effort.
She’ll have to embrace her powers and up her game to take down new threats,
Not to mention deal with the troll that’s adopted her.
All signs point to a serious threat lurking just beyond sight, pulling the strings to put the forces of good in harm’s way.
Magic or mundane, you break the law, and Diana’s gonna find you, tag you and bring you in. Watch out magical baddies, this agent can level the playing field.
It’s all in a day’s work for the newest Federal Agent of Magic.
Available now at Amazon and through Kindle Unlimited
Author Notes - TR Cameron
November 22, 2020
Back in the Oriceran Universe with a bang! (See what I did there? Because of the explosion at the casino? Nevermind.) I hope you enjoyed Book 1. So much adventure lies ahead as we explore the various sights and sounds of Magic City and see Ruby come into her own as its magical defender. Not to mention figuring out what the venamisha portends, other than the addition of an inordinately sassy companion.
I had a lot of fun with this one. It was great stepping back into Urban Fantasy. My return to Sci-Fi for the Azophi series was great, but it reminded me that this is where I feel most comfortable. I like the trappings of our current world, but with a twist.
In future books, several of the characters who got fairly little “screen time” in this one will become more important, and there will be some visits from characters that those have been with me since Magic Ops will no doubt enjoy seeing again. I am eternally grateful that Martha and Michael have let me stake my claim to a corner of the Oriceran Universe and weave in and out of what they’ve done while adding my own elements as well.
I am really jazzed about exploring the magical item creation angle on things in this series. Coming up with new and clever objects is a mental challenge all on its own, and finding a way to seamlessly incorporate them in the story another. I have long enjoyed seeing that sort of thing in the books I write, though. At this moment, I’m remembering a character named Cadderly, from Salvatore’s cleric quintet, and a crossbow with exploding bolts. (I hope I’m remembering that right). I loved that, and adding in magic will make it all the more fun in Magic City.
It’s worth mentioning that Ely, Nevada, really exists, but has little in common with the version I’m using here. My research makes it seem like a pretty cool place, though. The train museum is a real thing. There are mountains nearby. But otherwise, there’s a ton of dramatic license there. Although, who’s to say there’s not a Kemana underneath, really?
Life outside writing is a mix of joy and frustration, as I’m sure it is for everyone. The kid and I missed out on our summer of amusement parks, which bummed the both of us out considerably. We’re playing Fortnite together, working slowly through Avengers on the PS4, and have just started playing with World of Warcraft again. My wife and I were, uh, well, let’s just call it what it is – seriously addicted to that game for a while there, back when it was new. And with a new expansion about to come out, we’re playing the trial to see if the kiddo likes it enough that we should dive in again. And while I thought I’d be playing Cyberpunk 2077 by now, at least it’s only been pushed back to December 10, so only a few weeks!
Watching
Picard, waiting for the Expanse, and consuming a lot of so-bad-they’re-almost-good movies. Also slowly moving through season 1 of the Mandalorian again before advancing to season 2. Heavens above, that show is slow.
The two new kittens are now fully integrated into the household. Going from five to seven seems like an exponential increase. There is always a cat, no matter what you happen to be doing. One of them has jumped in the shower with the kid twice now. The other loves taking a bath in the sink while drinking water from the faucet. But they’re both sweet and cuddly, at least if you get them when they’re tired and not racing through the house like cheetah / mountain goat hybrids. Although watching the two of them chasing after the older cats is pretty darn entertaining.
The kid and I are still watching movies in the car a few evenings a week. Most recently, the animated Addams family movie, which was laugh out loud enjoyable.
If this is your first taste of my Urban Fantasy, look for “Magic Ops.” I promise you’ll enjoy it. You might also enjoy my science fiction work. All my writing is filled with action, snark, and villains who think they’re heroes. Drop by www.trcameron.com and take a look!
Until next time, Joys upon joys to you and yours – so may it be.
PS: If you’d like to chat with me, here’s the place. I check in daily or more: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTRCameron. Often I put up interesting and/or silly content there, as well. For more info on my books, and to join my reader’s group, please visit www.trcameron.com.
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Author Notes - Martha Carr
December 23, 2020
I’ve hit my second wind of clearing out closets and tackling the to-do list. I think it’s the approaching end of 2020 and two vaccines out there somewhere. The end of whatever this was is nigh.
If you’ve been reading a lot of my author notes (and books – so thank you), you would have seen that I kept saying I was going to rid my closet of all clothes I didn’t like and can’t wear right now. No more aspirational clothes (the ones I hoped I’d fit in some day) and no more just in case clothes (if I grow mysteriously larger). Well, I finally did it. Four green garbage bags and a trip to Goodwill.
I even let go of that camel hair coat with the black collar that I liked so much. I held onto that one like there were no more coats in the world like that one.
Right after I got home, I noticed J. Crew was having a half off coat sale and lo and behold – a lot of coats like that one. Four days later I had a new coat that actually fits and far less ‘what ifs’ staring me in the face.
There were a couple of surprises after letting go of all that literal and emotional baggage. I finally saw that I was holding onto clothes that represented a time in Chicago that I loved and wasn’t ready to let go of – till now. It was like I wanted it back even though we can’t move backward, only forward.
I had been telling myself for years that if I wanted to, I could always go back to Chicago, or back to New York, or even try someplace new. My face was always pressed up against the window wondering what exciting things there are to see out there.
Just traveling to see a place didn’t seem like enough.
In the past, when I traveled, I took everything I owned with me. Letting go of all of it was also a way of saying, I’m staying put this time. I’m finally putting down roots and I’m going to let them grow deep, into the ground. Come what may, this is where you’ll find me.
It’s a new concept for me and may take some getting used to, which is good. All new adventures await from a completely different perspective.
The other surprise was how much I was waiting for things to be different in small and big ways before I was willing to say, I’m happy right now, just as things are. Happy at this size, happy in this house, happy in this town, happy writing these books. The reality is, I am happy but to get rid of that last ounce of restlessness I needed to acknowledge it and act like it.
Since the great clothing purge, I’ve added handles to the bathrooms, hung more curtains, framed some book covers and put on my office walls and a long list of other things.
I’ve even signed up for my first kayak lesson and gotten a portable punching bag. (Quiet Punch – it’s amazing, if you want to check it out)
By the time the new year rolls around, I will be ready to go out there and be a part of whatever comes next, without looking back over my shoulder. More adventures to follow.
Other series in the Oriceran Universe:
THE LEIRA CHRONICLES
SOUL STONE MAGE
THE KACY CHRONICLES
MIDWEST MAGIC CHRONICLES
THE FAIRHAVEN CHRONICLES
I FEAR NO EVIL
THE DANIEL CODEX SERIES
SCHOOL OF NECESSARY MAGIC
SCHOOL OF NECESSARY MAGIC: RAINE CAMPBELL
ALISON BROWNSTONE
FEDERAL AGENTS OF MAGIC
SCIONS OF MAGIC
THE UNBELIEVABLE MR. BROWNSTONE
DWARF BOUNTY HUNTER
OTHER BOOKS BY JUDITH BERENS
OTHER BOOKS BY MARTHA CARR
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