On the eve of the release of his new book about inner city crime, a young Birmingham writer starts receiving death threats. A friend asks Derrick Olin to step in and protect him and almost immediately the bullets start flying, people start dying, and the tough former Air Force operative finds himself in the middle of a deadly situation. Surrounded by desperate and dangerous people, Derrick soon realizes that they all seem to have only one thing in common: they all want his new client dead!
Compulsive, Inactive?, Vicious, Deadline, Extraction, Purity, Reciprocity,
Blackball, Retrograde, Fearless Rogue Principal Target Cloak & Stagger
The Undercover Groomsman Glock Smoke Extreme Prejudice Traffic(k)
Excerpt:
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA
"The one thing that you have to keep in mind, regardless of the situation you find yourself in, is that your goal is always the same, to escape. To get away before you are seriously injured or overcome. As I said before, if it is your possessions they are after, jewelry, money, stuff that can easily be replaced, then give it to them. Your life is worth a lot more. However, if they want to harm you physically, or want to take you to another location, perhaps some place less public, then you must resist and do so quickly with determination and resolve, using the tactics that I've been teaching you for the past week."
Karyn Lochert smiled nervously, a couple beads of perspiration visi- ble in the middle of her mildly lined forehead, a few strands of blond hair hanging loose, almost touching her skin. She was very close to me, or I was very close to her, depending on your point of view. Karyn is about five-four, which puts her six inches shorter than me. She's petite, weighing maybe a hundred eight pounds or so, probably less. I outweigh her by a considerable amount, but if she masters the techniques I've been trying to teach her, my size won't matter much.
I've just grabbed and pushed her up against the rear wall of the small exercise room in back of the gym we've been occupying for the better part of two hours. I've got one hand on her throat, using moderate pressure, while my other hand is on her left shoulder, applying even sterner pressure. Karyn's green eyes are focused directly on me, and she is remaining calm, her breathing controlled and regular. Good. Now let's just hope she remembers what else I taught her and can put it to use in this situation.
Apparently she has learned something because all of a sudden her left arm moved between us, sweeping up in an arc, the blade of her hand im- pacting hard against my hand at her throat, loosening my grip. At the same time her right hand shot out and the heel of her palm made a solid connection with my ribcage, the force of the blow causing me to double up and move back. And Karyn does not relent nor hesitate, quickly following up with a raised knee to my groin, and finally another heel-palm strike, this one to un- der side of my right jaw, jarring my teeth and knocking me off balance.
Or it would have had I not been wearing protective headgear, as well as similar gear over my chest and genitals. Still, I had felt the blows and knew for certain that had this been an actual confrontation and I wasn't wearing protection, Karyn would have done quite well, and I'd be in considerable pain right now.
She stood several feet away from me, having freed herself and quickly moved away from her attacker (me) as instructed. Very good indeed.
I pulled off my headgear and wiped sweat from the top of my shaved head.
"I think I've created a monster," I quipped, looking at the Colonial Bank senior vice president. "You did very well, Karyn. Really. I think you're ready now. Quickly!" my tone became urgent. "What do you do if someone grabs you?"
"Break their grip immediately," she responded instantly. "Before they can solidify their hold. Then get away from them as quick as I can, hurt them if I have to, but get away."
I nodded.
"Very good," I told her, dropping the head protector on the mat be- neath my feet then undoing the straps on my chest protector. "For the most part you're going to be traveling in countries that have pretty good police and security forces, and they do a good job of protecting American visitors, espe- cially those who are on important business that their governments believe will be beneficial to their countries. But even so, as an American you will be a constant target in a lot of locations. Especially when you get to some of the Middle Eastern countries you're going to, in particular Saudi Arabia and Jor- dan. Being a woman will be one factor, and being a banking executive will be another. Kidnapping is a high probability threat. For ransom in one in- stance, and for white slavery in the other."
