Slip and Slide

by Patricia Logan

  Slip and Slide

  Death and Destruction Series Book 3

  Patricia Logan

  Slip and Slide (Death and Destruction Book 3) Blurb

  ATF special agents, Thayne Wolfe, and his partner, Jarrett Evans, have gotten into sticky situations in the past but nothing prepares them for the daunting task of being loaned out to a coal mine in West Virginia where Jarrett’s grown up. Investigating a deadly mining explosion may be the end of them yet.

  In one of the most beautiful places on earth, Jarrett is familiar with the territory, growing up working in a nearby mine for a couple years before joining the Marine Corps just after high school. When he and his partner encounter a dubious mine CEO, two ATF agents who they’re tasked to investigate, and a good ‘ol boy who has a pickaxe to grind, all they can hope, is to solve this case before ending up dead and buried in that mine.

  From the beaches of California, to the coal-rich mountains of Appalachia, Jarrett’s dubious past seems to rear its ugly head wherever they go. Join our heroes as they are forced to face danger, fear, and maybe the most frightening thing they’ve ever faced together… family.

  Slip and Slide contains an exciting excerpt from Locked and Loaded (Death and Destruction Book 4)

  Slip and Slide

  Copyright 2016 Patricia Logan

  All rights reserved

  Edited by: Liz Bichmann

  Cover Design by: AJ Corza

  Formatting by: JP Adkins

  AuthorPatriciaLogan.com

  ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: PLEASE READ

  Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.

  WARNING:

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and one of their finest agents, Lincoln Snow, who will hunt you down, and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000!

  REMEMBER:

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places, is purely coincidental.

  PLEASE BE ADVISED:

  This book contains material that is only suitable for mature readers. It contains scenes of a sexual nature between two consenting men.

  Readers are saying wonderful things

  about Patricia Logan:

  “Patricia Logan smells of old poo and doesn’t wear pants… but her ability to weave perfectly real and sensual love stories into stories full of intrigue, suspense and the trials and tribulations of everyday life, pulls you in and makes you forget her personal hygiene.” ~ Lisa Worrall

  “Author Patricia Logan writes from the heart, sucking you into her story from the first page. She pulls no punches, telling gut wrenching heartfelt stories with a reality that makes you feel you are right there. Her kind of emotional honesty is rare and essential to great writing.” ~ Jean Joachim

  “Patricia Logan possesses the one key ingredient at her stage of writing that so many authors don’t and never will; an editor who can translate her cirque du soleil act of random contortionist

  word tappings into something presented as popular m4m prose. History will remember her fondly without the fondling, however, when someone eventually revisits her first drafts and realizes she’s really written a cookbook titled “How to Serve Me’…. and a Delicious One at That!” ~ Kage Alan

  “Reading a Patricia Logan book is not something to be taken lightly, the hotness contained within combined with multiple piercings can result in sudden breakage of certain adult toys

  making rapid trips to X rated shops a necessity! AND she will refuse to take responsibility for the added expense!! Oh and despite the hordes of Navy SEAL’s, Cowboys, leather, whips, ropes and other convenient methods of restraint, there are never enough firemen in her books. ~ Petronella Bond

  “Patricia Logan is a walking contradiction that may be baking cookies with her grandchild one moment and writing an e-stim sounding scene the next. Known famous as being a cat lady, she picks up more and more strays as she goes along through life. I am just happy to be one of them. ~JP Adkins

  Acknowledgements:

  I would like to thank Ms. Elaine Lee for her help with Slip and Slide. She grew up in West Virginia’s coal country and was instrumental in helping me with understanding of the role of female miners and the female mining school in the state which she attended. Thank you so much, Elaine. Your insight gave a richness to Slip and Slide which was so very important.

  I would also like to thank Mr. Tim Brehme, my amazing beta reader for the Death and Destruction series. I first met Tim at GRL in 2012 when he offered me a chair at his table. He has since offered me his never-ending friendship, even starring in Silver Ties, albeit as a corpse, but nevertheless, a mighty fine one he was! Thanks for being such a terrific friend, Tim.

  Patti xoxo

  LIST OF TRADEMARKS – Slip and Slide

  Bud/Budweiser: Anheuser-Busch InBev

  Cadillac: General Motors Company

  Chevy Nova: Chevrolet

  Coke: The Coca Cola Company

  Corona: Grupo Modelo, Anheuser-Busch InBev

  Crown Victoria: Ford Motor Company

  Denny’s: Denny’s Corporation

  Fiestaware: The Homer Laughlin China Co.

  Ford: Ford Motor Company

  Genuine Draft: SAB Miller

  Glock: Glock Ges.m.b.H.

  iPod, iPhone: Apple Inc.

  Jack Daniels: Brown-Forman Corporation

  Jim Beam: Suntory Holdings Ltd.

  Kleenex: Kimberly-Clark

  Kool-Aid: Kraft Foods

  Mercedes Benz: Daimler AG

  Miller: SAB Miller

  Pabst Blue Ribbon: Pabst Brewing Company

  Schlitz: Pabst Brewing Company

  Teflon: SEB SA

  Ziploc: S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.

  501 Levi’s: Levi Strauss & Co.

  Prologue

  “I’m sorry, sir. But, you want us to do what?” Thayne Wolfe’s voice rose just a tiny bit as he and his partner, Jarrett Evans, blinked at their boss, SAC Lloyd Stanger, the head of the ATF’s Los Angeles field office. They were gathered around the large oval table in their conference room along with the four other members in their work group, Sarah Connor, also known as The Terminator, her partner, Tim Darcy, Jose Galvez and his rookie partner Craig Baldwin. Craig was a former Marine like Evans and the two men had graduated their Special Agent Basic Training in Georgia together a few months before.

  “I said, this weekend you and your partners will be teaming up with an outside group for a lesson in team building. You will each be expected to complete a group task and then I will be judging the winner.”

  Tha
yne glanced at his partner. Jarrett was wearing a nicely-tailored suit, the likes of which Thayne knew he hated even though he looked exceptionally trim and handsome in it. Jarrett wasn’t really a suit type individual. He’d spent the majority of his career—prior to joining the ATF—lying on his belly and watching a target through a sniper scope while in the Marine Corps. Thayne still found that image to be incredibly sexy. After all, it wasn’t every man who could say he had a partner and lover as hot as Thayne had. The man could certainly fill out a suit—as well as camouflage—in all the right places.

  Jarrett seemed to be ignoring SAC Stanger at the moment, holding a rubber band stretched between his thumb and forefinger and snapping it with the fingers of his other hand every so often as he sprawled in his chair. His right leg was also bouncing in a nearly frantic kinetic display which was the only thing that gave away his need to be up and active. Thayne knew his partner had an incredibly hard time sitting still, demonstrated in part by how he hated doing desk work. Writing reports made the man nearly insane. All of this just made it more difficult for Thayne to understand how Jarrett had been able to complete a nearly twenty-year career as a Marine Corps sniper when he was required to sit still for up to 72 hours at a time, watching his target.

  “Team building?” Thayne asked, horrified. He glanced around the other members of his work group. “When did this become a thing?”

  “That’s right,” Tim Darcy drawled, “You’ve missed out on the team-building exercises the last two years because you were undercover.”

  “Lucky bastard,” Jose grumbled.

  “That will be quite enough bitching,” SAC Stanger growled. “You’ll complete your day of team building or you won’t be allowed back out in the field.”

  Thayne watched Jarrett suddenly sit straight up, curling his fist around the rubber band.

  “You mean like we’d have to do desk work forever?” His deep voice rose in pitch.

  “Forever and ever, Cinderella,” Stanger groused. “And yes, I know how much you like your field time, Evans. I bet you think I’m unaware of how much desk work you try to pawn off on your long-suffering partner, but you won’t be getting out of this one so easy.”

  “Dammit,” Jarrett swore quietly behind his hand.

  Evans glanced at him and briefly narrowed his eyes before turning comically large puppy eyes on Stanger. “I have no idea what you could mean.”

  Sarah snorted from beside Tim who just rolled his eyes. Jose started swearing under his breath in Spanish and the fresh-faced Craig just grinned.

  “So, tell me about this latest team-building exercise,” Sarah said, expertly deflecting attention away from Jarrett for the moment.

  “Bullshit,” Evans coughed into his hand and Stanger opened his mouth to object.

  In an effort to head off the boss’s next comment, Thayne spoke up quickly to keep Jarrett from being skewered again. “So… this team building means I have to work with my partner to accomplish something and then you judge us to see which team did the best?”

  Stanger frowned at him. “That’s what I just said. I am the boss so I decide who wins. Are you all so very deaf?”

  “No, sir.” They all answered.

  “Good. Well then, one of the objectives in the team-building exercise is to have you learn to work with partners other than your own.” SAC Stanger turned to look directly at Thayne. “For example, you, Wolfe. Someday, your partner may decide to kill himself by jumping off a building, getting blown up, or rolling off a mountain on a Harley… so you will have to learn how to work with another teammate.” He held up his hand as Jarrett opened his mouth to object, turning to glare at him. “What did I say about I am the boss that you didn’t understand?”

  “Nothing, sir,” they said in unison.

  “Good. Then, I am pairing Wolfe with Darcy, Connor with Baldwin, and…” he looked at Jose. “I’m sorry, but I’m partnering you with Evans.”

  “Hey!” Jarrett said, taking objection.

  Thayne couldn’t help but chuckle at his partner’s clear indignation.

  Jose came to Jarrett’s defense as he lifted his fist and bumped it with Evans’s. “No sweat, man. We’re gonna crush the rest of you.”

  Thayne watched Jarrett smirk as he fist-bumped Jose right back. His lover’s deep dimples were gorgeous and Thayne was momentarily stunned.

  “I’m expecting that all of you will… crush it,” Stanger said. “Now, I want you to meet your helpers.”

  “Helpers?” Thayne asked.

  “Yes. I did mention that you and your partners will be working with an outside group to accomplish your goal.”

  “What is our objective, sir?” Craig Baldwin asked, sounding exactly like the Marine he was.

  “You and your partner will be pairing with a troupe of Bluebirds and completing a team-building project which will show your patriotism. This project can be anything that exhibits the very best of our country.”

  “You want us to work with blue birds?” Jarrett asked. He seemed to ponder the idea for a few moments and then began to nod. He opened his mouth and closed it twice. “Does chicken count as a bird because I love fried chicken. It’s as American as apple pie. You can’t get much more patriotic than fried chicken and frankly, I don’t know what there is to be blue about.”

  SAC Stanger stared at Jarrett as if he had two heads and Sarah leaned forward, pitching her voice low. “Evans, ‘Bluebirds’ are not depressed chickens.”

  Thayne snorted. “They’re like Girl Scouts but younger, Evans.”

  “What?” Jarrett shot out of his chair. “That’s even worse.”

  “Cool your jets, Evans and sit the hell down,” Stanger growled. He stood up before anyone else could put their foot in their mouth, walking to the door and sticking his head out as Jarrett sat down and slumped. “Carolyn!” he bellowed at his secretary. “Please send in the Bluebirds.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “I don’t understand,” Jarrett hissed quietly, leaning forward as he whispered to Thayne.

  “Please don’t tell me you don’t know what a Girl Scout is,” Thayne whispered back.

  Jarrett frowned deeply at Thayne and snorted loudly. “Of course I know what a…”

  He was interrupted when six small girls marched into the room. They were dressed in the most adorable royal-blue pleated skirts with matching knee socks and sky blue shirts. On the top of their little heads they wore royal-blue berets and draped across their chests were red sashes decorated with the badges they’d earned. They looked to be no more than eight or nine years old.

  “Young ladies, I know that your troupe leader has explained the nature of your task,” Stanger said, speaking in a grandfatherly tone Thayne had never heard his boss use before. “I’d like you to meet the special agents you’ll be helping today. Is that okay with all of you?” The six little girls nodded their heads. One was chewing gum and she blew out an impressive bubble. It popped all over her lips and nose. Thayne had to cover his mouth with a hand to stop himself from bursting into laughter.

  Stanger picked up a yellow pad from the conference room table and adjusted his reading glasses on his nose before glancing at the little Bluebirds again. “Ellie and Jenny?” Two little girls stepped forward. “There you are,” Stanger said. “You young ladies will be working with Sarah and Craig.” He pointed at the agents and Sarah and Craig smiled. Sarah waved them over and bent to speak to them.

  “We’re so excited,” Sarah said.

  Jenny, a redhead with a ton of freckles on her nose, held up her closed fist to Craig. He stared at it for a second and then he reached over and fist-bumped the Bluebird. Jenny did the same to Sarah.

  “Next,” Stanger said, “I need Suzie and Melissa.” Two more little girls stepped forward. Stanger pointed right at Thayne. “You young ladies will be working with T
hayne and Tim.”

  Thayne dropped into a squat as the two little girls walked over. He held out a hand for them to shake. “Nice to meet you. We’re gonna win aren’t we?”

  The little girl named Suzie giggled and shook his hand, nodding like a bobblehead. Melissa stepped up and shook Thayne and Tim’s hands as well. Thayne straightened to his full height, towering over the little girls.

  “Finally, Tiffany and Joey, you’re going to work with Jarrett and Jose.”

  The girls walked over and looked up at Jarrett. “How old are you?” one of them asked. “My grandpa has white hair and he’s seventy.”

  Thayne watched Jarrett’s smile drop away as he stared at the Bluebird who’d popped a bubble all over her face. She was still chewing gum and staring at Jarrett.

  Jarrett narrowed his eyes as he stared at the little girl. “You must be Joey, right?”

  “Yes,” the bubble blower answered.

  “So who gave you a boy’s name?” he asked, deadpan.

  Stanger loudly cleared his throat. “Okay, I think it’s time to start your projects. Please feel free to use my office, the conference room, and the bullpen to talk about what you want to do. Remember, whatever team-building project you decide on has to reflect your patriotism and symbolize the best of America. Please don’t tell the other teams what your team is going to do to win this contest. Remember this is a contest and the project will be presented by the end of the day. I will judge the winner.” Stanger reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. He opened it and drew out three one hundred dollar bills, handing one to each team. “This money is to cover your expenses. Lunch will be provided by the mess downstairs and will be brought to you.”