Bermuda Triangle Blues: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (Scions of Magic Book 4)
Page 19
The mage had an odd smile on his face, as he often did. Grisham wondered yet again what went on in the man’s mind, then concluded like always that it didn’t matter as long as he continued to follow orders.
But maybe it’s time to get some eyes on him a little more regularly. Several members of the organization reported directly to the leader about the actions of the rest and others reported on them. He liked to think of himself as all-seeing, but if he had a place where his expansive vision blurred, it was the magical.
“The distraction was perfect,” Ozahl said. “The only snag was the incorrect intelligence that suggested the bullets would be at the MTC, but that proved to not be a huge problem. The prisoners…well, they weren’t exactly strong-willed.” His thin smile was easily read as the enjoyment of having power over others.
As long as I keep giving him things that play to that desire, I should be able to count on him.
Todd asked, “What’s next?”
Grisham smiled. “Now, we put our new toys to use. I see three areas of action. First, we’ll mess with their drug trade—hard. We’ll start with the human version but target the magical product shortly after. That way, we screw with their cash flow and resell the goods ourselves to improve ours.”
“Now that sounds like a good time,” Strang replied. The other men nodded in agreement.
“Taking out their people will be an equal priority. We’ll hit the ordinary ones with overwhelming force. I have bodies coming in from Chicago and New York to help. The higher-ups will get a taste of our newly acquired ammunition.” That statement brought a smile to Todd’s face and stretched the one the mage wore.
“Finally, once they’re reeling, we’ll go for the head. Find their leaders and kill them, burn down their headquarters and any other property they own, and hunt the remnants until our city is free of them.”
Ozahl asked, “And what do you imagine the council will do in response?”
He laughed. “If they’re smart, they’ll stay out of it. I’m fairly sure anti-magic bullets don’t only work on Atlanteans.”
“You’re willing to take them all on?”
Grisham nodded. “If needed.” It was a change from how the Zatora organization had operated in the past but the moment had arrived to travel down a different path. “The time for relatively peaceful coexistence is over. We’ll seize the dominant position in this city and anyone who doesn’t like it will be removed from the equation one way or another.”
He met the eyes of each of the three in sequence and saw acceptance and enthusiasm in the first two and an eager hunger in the mage’s gaze. He smiled, satisfied that everyone was on board with the plan, and raised his wine glass in a toast. “To the Zatoras and the city that will soon be ours.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ozahl fell backward onto the bed with a moan of exhaustion. Keeping his pleasant face on all night while Grisham blathered on about how the Zatoras would take control of the city had been almost too much to bear. His spy among the ladies had turned up nothing interesting but she’d been worth the expense merely for the diversion.
Of course, he would have preferred to bring his true partner with him, but it was far too early in the game to reveal that particular association to anyone. He sensed the portal opening in the living room and smiled. Her scent reached him before she appeared, her perfume of choice a mix of musk and spice that came from a shop in the Quarter where it was made especially for her. He had kept that store off the Zatora radar so she wouldn’t lose access to it.
Danna looked beautiful when she stepped through the door, as she always did. Her short dark hairstyle and the perfectly subtle makeup accentuated her natural good looks. She threw her jacket onto a chair and launched herself to land on her stomach beside him. No words preceded a long kiss but then she leaned back and said, “Hello, love. Hard day at the office?”
He laughed. “Oh, definitely. How about you?”
She sighed. “I have a ton of new tasks to prepare for wiping the Zatoras out of the city.”
“What a coincidence. I have a long list to lay the groundwork for the Atlanteans’ destruction.”
“Imagine.” She rolled onto her back and loosened her tie, then tossed it toward the jacket. “This whole being sneaky thing is tiring.”
“Too true. But each day brings the endgame closer. While I’ve come to enjoy the city, I must admit I won’t have any qualms about leaving it for New Atlantis.”
Danna nodded. “It’s like the universe wants us to succeed and delivered the Malniets as a backup plan if killing the girl doesn’t work. I floated the idea of taking her out the easy way but it didn’t get traction.”
Ozahl rolled over so he could look at her. “That’s not a worry. The Zatoras have numerous contacts who are proficient at assassination if we need them. But if I’m honest, I’d almost prefer having her survive. She’s shown tremendous heart. If the opportunity comes to wipe out the others to open our attempt to become one of the nine, we should take it. If not, then the girl.”
She propped herself up on her elbows and raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re not getting sweet on her, are you? Thinking of leaving me?”
He laughed, grabbed her, and demonstrated that there was no risk of any such thing.
The adventure doesn’t end in New Atlantis. Cali and Fyre have problems to solve back at home. Can she stop the gang wars before it’s too late? Join her and her friends in Spell Street Swing.
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
January 5, 2020
Thank you for reading the fourth book in the Scions of Magic series! I hope you love these characters as much as I do, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to keep bringing them to you!
I can’t believe it’s 2020 already. My mind is blown by how fast time has been moving lately. I hope that you closed out 2019 having achieved some or all of what you wanted to, and that you’re not putting too much pressure on yourself for the year to come!
I think Rath and Fyre need to go on an adventure together. Imagine the hilarity!
Our trip to Orlando in December was phenomenal. My kiddo and I were park warriors, up early to be there at opening, going for as long as we could, then crashing to do it again the next day. Three and a half days at Disney, and another two at Universal. It was amazing, everything I hoped it would be, although it could have been warmer. The new rides were amazing, and the storytelling in so many of them was just perfect. It was a definite refilling the well experience.
The kid now has second thoughts about going to Japan for the next 4-year-interval trip and is negotiating for a Disney cruise (not particularly successfully).
We all got sick on the plane home (naturally), so I played with Xb0x Game Pass for a bit, knocking out Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Again, amazing storytelling, although at moments the action suffered for it. The last part of our holiday time was spent playing games and seeing movies. Frozen 2 was worth it, both times we saw
it. Spies in Disguise gets a big meh from me, although I always enjoy Wil Smith.
Finished season 3 of the Expanse today. When I get back from this business trip (oh, yeah, I’m writing this on a plane again) to the Consumer Electronics Show, we’ll be diving into season 4. Some of the best books and best television ever. If you like science fiction even a little and you haven’t treated yourself to them yet, I recommend them unreservedly.
Also started watching the Witcher. I’m going to be honest – Henry Cavill’s Superman has colored my perception of him as an actor in a negative way. It’s hard to get past that at moments, but his portrayal of Geralt of Rivia is right on the money. He captures the character from the third videogame really well. I must admit to being remiss – I haven’t read the books. I tried the first, it didn’t hook me, and I got busy, and yadda yadda yadda.
The maturation forced on Cali by the experiences she’s going through has me thinking about choices. I have so many that I’d like to take back if I could – but who knows if I’d wind up here, where I absolutely want to be – if I did? It might be that going back would ruin it all. They say you can’t unring the bell – but even if we could, would we lose the essence of ourselves if we did?
This isn’t a new question for me. I wrote about something similar on John Scalzi’s blog some time ago, because those themes resonate in my science fiction series, The Chaos Shift Cycle, as well. Here’s a look at it if you’d like to give it a read: https://bit.ly/37CAZlK.
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. For more info on my books, and to join my reader’s group, please visit www.trcameron.com.
Author Notes - Martha Carr
January 24, 2020
Grace lives up to her name. I hit the jackpot in the world of admins when Grace Snoke called me back and asked if the position of admin was still open. I think we’re just coming up on our one-year anniversary and every day I realize what a valuable asset she is to my team for a lot of reasons.
It’s not just because she is the Queen of Spreadsheets, but also because of the marketing ideas she throws my way that I probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise. And, I never have to ask Grace about something twice.
It’s freed up so much of my brain space and left room for more trolls and drows and elves.
Frankly, everyone else has learned that if they want to get in my newsletter or need to ask about a giveaway, just ask Grace. She’ll have all the answers. It makes it so much easier for me to get back to writing about Leira or Maggie or Raven. You get the idea.
And, we put out a few books every month, which means there’s the occasional hiccup that we have to handle quickly and efficiently and with calm. That’s something I value just as much as those amazing, beautiful spreadsheets or the files!
Add in a little known fact that she’s a D&D Goddess, has a sassy sense of humor, handles adversity with more grace (yeah I said it) than most could muster, and celebrates the sweet moments with the delight of a kid… I’m telling you this girl is the entire package and makes my days so much easier and full of joy. Enjoy getting to know Grace…
-Martha Carr
1.Tell our readers a bit about yourself.
“Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes you just don’t know what that reason is.” That statement has been my mantra for some years, followed closely by “If it’s meant to be, it will happen. If it doesn’t happen, it wasn’t meant to be.”
Had anyone told me five years ago in the next five years I’d be a widow, laid off from my job of 12 years and running my own business while trying to become an author, I’d have laughed at them. They wouldn’t be wrong.
Yet here I am. Three years ago, in January 2017, I lost my husband of 18 years to cancer – melanoma to be precise. He was 42, I was 36. We had a 17-year-old who was getting ready to graduate from high school. The previous year and that year tested me. I got through it. Shortly after his initial diagnosis I was promoted to Director of Communications for the company I worked for. Things were going well until we started losing clients and we saw layoffs every year. I had seen the layoff coming in December 2018 before it happened and was preparing for it, planning to launch my own business as a copywriter/virtual assistant for hire.
Shortly before the layoff, Martha had heard through Craig Martelle that I might be a good option for a virtual/personal assistant and she reached out to me about working for her. At the time I was working full time, trying to write my novels and didn’t have time, so I declined. I was laid off a couple weeks later and came back to Martha, asked her if the position was still open. After a local client came to me to take over work for them, Martha was officially my second client and I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Thanks to her, I’m running a successful business, have learned a lot both about being a PA and about being an author, and am absolutely loving being my own boss.
Beyond that, I turn 40 later this year and am strangely looking forward to it, and my son turns 21 (scary!).
2.Tell a little bit about your history with writing.
That’s a loaded question. I started writing when I was in elementary school. By junior high, I wrote a screenplay which was then produced by my music teacher with her students – it was a musical. I had done a lot of one-act plays in junior high and it kind of worked.
It continued in high school – I still have a horrible, HORRIBLE fractions of manuscripts written in first person from then that need a lot of reworking. It’s epic fantasy and I will eventually come back to it. Then I discovered roleplay chats where you got to write characters with other people and I’ve been doing that off and on since, roleplaying with friends in the real world too. Some of my most developed characters from my works in progress are generated from there.
I went to college for broadcast journalism, realized I was in the wrong field. Had a minor in English and history. I then did a lot of volunteer work, writing as a video game journalist for several game sites and my own websites before gaining employment writing non-fiction as a corporate journalist for 12 years.
What can I say? I enjoy writing.
3.What genre(s) do you write?
Is everything a valid answer? Okay, not really. I predominantly write urban fantasy, illustrated children’s books, fantasy, paranormal romance and sci-fi when it comes to roleplay. I’ve been told I should write sci-fi. Maybe I will in the future. I just need to, you know, finish some novels first. :) I do have 13 or so children’s books published as well as a poetry anthology.
4.What genre(s) do you read?
Now I know everything is a valid answer here. In junior high I was very likely reading things I shouldn’t have read. I don’t mean J.R.R. Tolkien. That’s totally age appropriate. I mean Michael Crichton and Stephen King. Now days, I read more urban fantasy, sci-fi and paranormal romance. Currently reading Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. My boyfriend told me I need to read it so I am. I’m enjoying it.
5.Do you have hobbies?
Besides reading? I like making jewelry. I run a booth at some local shows with nerdy/geeky jewelry and steampunk hats, necklaces, etc. And I do enjoy doing some gardening here and there. I’m not very good at it.
6.What is one of your goals for the new year?
Getting back to writing fiction daily. My goal for January was to write 500 words a day, or at least average that. For February that number is 1,000, March is 1500, April is 2,000. My boyfriend jokes about 10,000 a day. I might do that once in a while, but not every day.
7.Do you have a website you want to share?
Sure. http://www.spiderwebzdesign.net and www.gracesnoke.com . The latter is still being worked on and design isn’t finished (Fun note: I get distracted when it comes to designing sites for myself, but not for clients, go figure.)
Other series in the Oriceran Universe:
THE DANIEL CODEX SERIES
> I FEAR NO EVIL
THE UNBELIEVABLE MR. BROWNSTONE
ALISON BROWNSTONE
SCHOOL OF NECESSARY MAGIC
SCHOOL OF NECESSARY MAGIC: RAINE CAMPBELL
FEDERAL AGENTS OF MAGIC
SCIONS OF MAGIC
THE LEIRA CHRONICLES
REWRITING JUSTICE
THE KACY CHRONICLES
MIDWEST MAGIC CHRONICLES
SOUL STONE MAGE
THE FAIRHAVEN CHRONICLES
OTHER BOOKS BY JUDITH BERENS
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