Morning All!
You know I love action packed, danger filled, exciting stories. RADIANTS is just such a story–controversial, intense, and fabulous. Give it a try! And Holy Cow, look at the cover!
Faith
Excerpt from RADIANTS, by David B. Coe (Belle Books, October 2021)
We whirled, sprinted. For a minute I thought they meant to run us down. Instead they swerved around us, bouncing up onto the curb on my left and gouging the grass. They jerked to a stop directly in front of us, angled so as to block our way.
Doors flung open and three men got out. All were white. All wore dark suits, white shirts, nondescript dark ties. And sunglasses. Seriously. Oregon in the rain, and they were wearing sunglasses.
Then I saw the guns, and stopped worrying about their eyewear. I glanced around. Wet, cold day—the park was deserted except for us.
I put out a hand and steered Miles behind me. Both of us backed away.
“Stop there, DeDe.”
The guy who spoke—who somehow knew my name!—had straight brown hair and a plain face, like he was meant to blend in to a crowd. His voice was deep. He held his weapon at his side.
“We just want to talk to you,” he said. His lips curved, and I would have bet every dollar I had that his smile didn’t reach his hidden eyes. “One-way streets. That was very clever.”
“Why are you following us?”
“We can talk about that.” He looked around the park, seeing exactly what I’d seen: No one. His friends, I noticed, were glancing around as well. “We need you to get in the car, though. Both of you.”
“No way. And if you don’t get in your car and drive away, I’m going to scream. There are houses around this park. Streets. I’ll scream for every person in Mossdale if I have to.”
Brown-Hair bent his arm, keeping his weapon close to his body, but aiming it at me.
“Scream and you’ll leave me with no choice. Now get in the car!”
He barked the command, startling me. My heart pounded like a jackhammer, fast and hard. My entire body quaked.
“If you wanted us dead, you would have killed us already.”
“Maybe. Maybe we only want you. And maybe we don’t care if you’re hurt. I can shoot you, kill your brother, and get you in the car before anyone knows anything. And if I have to kill one or two bystanders as well…” He shrugged. “That’s on your head, not mine.” He gestured sharply with his gun at the car’s nearest open door.
I didn’t move. Miles, still behind me, whispered my name. He sounded as terrified as I felt.
Brown-Hair muttered, “Damnit!” and took a single menacing step in our direction.
I had sworn an oath—not to anyone else, but to myself. I had wanted to keep it. Faced with these guys and their guns, I knew I couldn’t.
Heat drew sweat to my face, and I made the jump, knowing that same single instant of lightness, freedom. Then I was in Brown-Hair’s head, crushing his will, taking his thoughts for my own. I’ll admit that this time I enjoyed the sensation. Bastard.
He began to sweat, his face radiating warmth like a lightbulb.
Nick Sims. Department of… of Homeland Security?
What the hell?
I didn’t take time to learn more. I could see myself—the real me—and Miles peering out from behind me. My face had that vacant look again. I really didn’t like seeing that.
I glanced down at the gun I held in Nick’s hand. A Sig Sauer P226. Nine millimeter.
How the hell did I know that?
Same way I knew how to squeeze off a shot at the car’s rear tire. The report was louder than I’d expected. Miles yelped. Brown-Hair’s fellow agents shouted at me. At him. Ears ringing, the smell of spent powder stinging my nose, I pivoted, still awkward in this body, and took out the front tire.
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David B. Coe is the award-winning author of more than two dozen novels and as many short stories. He has written epic fantasy — including the Crawford Award-winning LonTobyn Chronicle — urban fantasy, and media tie-ins, and is now expanding into supernatural thrillers with Radiants and its sequels. In addition, he has co-edited several anthologies for the Zombies Need Brains imprint.
As D.B. Jackson, he is the author of the Thieftaker Chronicles, a historical urban fantasy set in pre-Revolutionary Boston. He has also written the Islevale Cycle, a time travel epic fantasy series that includes Time’s Children, Time’s Demon, and Time’s Assassin
David has a Ph.D. in U.S. history from Stanford University. His books have been translated into a dozen languages. He and his family live on the Cumberland Plateau. When he’s not writing he likes to hike, play guitar, and stalk the perfect image with his camera.