by Bryan Cohen
"Please! Whoever you are, I'll help you. I'll be on your side. I don't want to die."
There was nothing but silence. Stucky closed his eyes, half-expecting another grenade to come rolling over in his direction. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes. A woman stood there holding the grenade launcher. She had a rainbow butterfly tattoo on her hand.
"Sandra?" His eyes widened. "Are you here to rescue me?"
She continued to smile as she looked behind her. There was someone else there. It was a man Stucky recognized as well. He pulled back his hood to reveal half a face.
"Stucky, it's good to see you again, old friend. It's a shame you couldn't come through for the cause."
Stucky looked around. There was nothing but road and forest as far as the eye could see. With his bad leg and the two-on-one odds, it seemed like his only chance was to try to talk things out.
"We tried to kill Ted." His chest tightened as he looked down at his bloody leg. "We tried to bring the army over. We can try again."
The half-faced man laughed.
"You failed, Stucky, and there's got to be a penalty for that. How else will I teach my protégé how to behave?"
"Forgive and forget?"
The man walked up to the fallen prisoner and placed his boot on Stucky's chest. The dark soul thought of his brother for some reason.
"When a plan doesn't work, it never hurts to start fresh."
The last thing Stucky saw was the half-faced man slamming a heel into his throat.
CO-AUTHORS’ NOTE
Thanks so much for reading this book. Rewriting almost every single word of a three-year-old novel is kind of like re-living your bad decisions in college all over again. "Oh no, did I really write that?" "Why would this character say that?" "What the heck was I thinking?" Fortunately, this collaboration helped to turn a very exciting first novel into something we could be proud of in 2017.
When you add all the grind work of revamping a full novel to the expense of getting new covers and edits for the whole series, we’ve put a lot on the line with this. Maybe even more than we intended.
We hope that by reworking the original, giving it a fresh coat of paint, and more-or-less knowing what we’re doing this time around, we can get this book (and series) into many, many more hands. Thank you for owning those hands and for being a part of this.
Stay tuned for a sneak preview of the second book in the series, The Telepath, which is now available on Amazon. Click here to skip the preview and read the whole dang book.
Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Bryan & Casey
PS: Reviews help authors keep writing. Please feel free to leave one!
EXCERPT: THE TELEPATH
"Everybody buckle up." Dhiraj clicked his belt into place. "It's going to be a bumpy ride."
"Why?" Erica followed his advice. "Do you need to get your shocks fixed?"
Ted did the same. "Are we going off-roading?"
Dhiraj glowered. "I just wanted to say something cool." Dhiraj pulled out of the Lexus showroom-like parking lot and gave the gas pedal a push. "Let's be the superhero team that has fun."
Dhiraj merged onto the highway and got into the fast lane.
"Actually, Ted and I are the superhero team." Erica typed a few words into her phone.
"What does that make me?"
Ted chuckled. "The superhero team's driver?"
Dhiraj changed lanes and took the curve of an exit a lot faster than he should have. The tires made a skidding sound. The car was about to spin out of control when Ted steadied it with his powers. Dhiraj could feel the tires moving into the right position without his steering command.
When they'd stopped skidding, Ted returned control to the driver. "Careful there, buddy."
"Just warming you up." Dhiraj put on a fake smile. "Nobody should superhero cold."
"Uh huh." Erica pointed toward the sign outside the shopping complex. "Pull in over here."
Dhiraj parked and scampered around the car to open the door for Erica. She stuck out her tongue at him and exited. Ted followed, and they were about to dash away before Dhiraj held up his hand.
"Guys! Don't forget the gear."
"Oh yeah." Ted rubbed his hands together. "All the secret agent stuff. Did you ever have this as a kid?"
Erica raised her eyebrows. "Sorry, we didn't have plastic yet when I was growing up."
Dhiraj opened the trunk to reveal some of their crowdfunded goodies, including night vision goggles, bulletproof vests and fiberoptic cameras. Dhiraj grabbed the cameras and locked the car.
Sheriff Norris and the rest of his squad were camped outside the jewelry store where the situation was taking place. The shopping center consisted of a chain Thai restaurant, an ice cream parlor, the jewelry store and a couple of knick-knack shops Dhiraj had never entered.
When the three of them walked in, Sheriff Norris and the rest of the department parted like the Red Sea. Ted was in front, with Erica and Dhiraj flanking him. Dhiraj imagined the trio looked pretty awesome; that is, until Ted tripped on a power cord that led into one of the department's vans. He fell forward so quickly that the hero didn't even have time to deploy his powers, landing face-first on the ground. There was a gasp from the onlookers. Dhiraj saw Erica shake her head as the sheriff ran over to help Ted to his feet.
"I'm okay." Ted brushed some dirt from his face. "I'm good."
Sheriff Norris chuckled. "You three sure know how to make an entrance."
"Once we're done learning how to walk"—Erica glared at Ted—"how about you tell us what we've got, sheriff?"
Ted nudged Erica.
"Shouldn't I take the lead on this in public?"
Erica put up both her hands and smirked before taking a step back.
Ted took her place. "What've we got, sheriff?"
"It's a robbery gone bad. Six hostages, one of whom has a potentially serious injury. At least three kidnappers. All of them armed."
Ted squinted. "I don't remember the last time there was a robbery–"
"Four years." Sheriff Norris looked past the three of them to the jewelry store. "Discounting the occasional house burglary, it's been four years since anything like this."
Dhiraj presented the cameras. "You want some eyes on the inside?"
The sheriff's eyes twinkled. "And it isn't even my birthday yet."
Dhiraj set up the equipment as the sheriff and his men guided two of the cameras in through an air conditioning vent on the back of the building. They flipped the devices on and Ted used his powers to maneuver them through two storage closets and into the jewelry store. Before long, they could all survey the scene. Dhiraj flipped a switch, and the sound from inside the store played through a speaker.
"Will you stop crying?!" A scrawny kidnapper stood over the body of an injured hostage.
There was a puddle of blood beside her, and Dhiraj wondered if it was from a knife or a glass wound – shards of glass from the jewelry cases were spread throughout the room.
"Stop looking at her!" The scrawny man gestured to his fellow robbers. "Get the cops back on the phone."
Judging by the way he gave orders, the man seemed to be in charge. That didn't seem to stop him from nervously pacing back and forth.
Ted cleared his throat. "What's the play here?"
Before Erica could say a word, a noise came from the other side of the parking lot. There were voices, one of which echoed louder than the others through a bullhorn. A group of about 50 people marched in unison and began to surround the sheriff's forces.
"Here they are." The sheriff looked over at his squad. "Set up the barricades, boys."
Erica placed her hands on her hips. "Do they have a permit?"
The sheriff nodded. "It just came in before you got here. I was hoping we'd be through already, but they work quickly."
Dhiraj marveled at the growing crowd. He recognized some of them from outside the school parking lot. Most of them were middle-aged or older and carried s
igns. Dhiraj wondered how any of these folks could maintain a day job while harassing Ted. He looked through the crowd to see if any of their slogans were clever. Most of them said one thing and one thing only.
"Go Home Alien!"
The Go Home Alien movement had grown from a hashtag into something much more annoying.
Dhiraj shrugged. "If only they were protesting robberies."
Nobody laughed at the joke. Erica looked angry enough to punch somebody.
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All contents Copyright © 2017 by Bryan Cohen & Casey Lane. All rights reserved. No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. This book identifies product names and services known to be trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their respective holders. They are used throughout this book in an editorial fashion only. The publisher has used its best efforts in preparing this book, and the information provided herein is provided "as is." Bryan Cohen & Casey Lane make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose and shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Thank you to everybody who made this book possible. Our beta readers Torsten Spooner, Blake Williams, Irene Hamilton, Barbara Pohland, Tim Matson, Julianne Clancy, Lindsey Muscato and Sarah Wynde were invaluable. Damonza and James Olsen, along with Candice and Logan Conner, Alisa Rosenthal, Michael Silberblatt and Cordelia Dewdney were awesome in their cover contributions. Big thanks to Ashley Gainer and Abigail Dunard for rocking the edits. Sheridan, you’re a great formatter and a delight to work with. Lastly, thanks to Amy for everything.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Epilogue
Co-Authors’ Note
Excerpt: The Telepath
Legal Business & Acknowledgements
