Embraced by Fire - original prologue

The paperback of Embraced by Fire is out! Plus as a bonus the eBook is still on special at Amazon $2.99 (Amazon being Amazon I'm not sure exactly how long that'll last).

In honour of the paperback edition I thought I would post a deleted scene -- the original prologue. Although I loved the action of this scene, and the fact we get to see Ryu as a dragon, in the end it was decided because of the time gap between here and the beginning of the story it was better to drop the prologue and go straight into chapter 1. 

So the original beginning....

His curiosity had got the better of him, again. He’d overheard the guards mention level three, now here he was outside the last secure door debating the wisdom of going further. He stroked a hand over the metal panel, white paint chips catching on his calloused fingertips. Curiosity burned hotter. What were they hiding? 

Unable to resist, he narrowed his eyes in concentration and set to work on the lock. A tight smile tugged at his lips and excitement thrummed through his blood, the danger making him feel electrifyingly alive, like static against his skin. He changed the angle of the lock picks, his fingers sensitive to the slightest vibration. The empty corridor held its breath as he made short work of the mechanism. The click of the lock disengaging was overloud. He froze, nothing stirred. 

Ryu Mackay took a steadying breath. His life hadn’t always turned out the way he wanted, but this, this made it all worthwhile. This exhilaration, serving his country under the radar, knowing his actions made a difference. His picks vanished back into his pocket and he turned the handle. The door swung open on silent hinges – disturbingly silent for a compound full of squeaky doors.

He slipped into the room and his eyes widened. Horror turned his blood cold. In the centre of the bare concrete block room, sitting on a rough wooden table, were tubes of pale green chemicals surrounded by twisted wires. 

Bomb! The word exploded in his brain. The red numbers on the timer attached to the front clicked over, 04:23. He had less than five minutes to get the hell out.

“Shit!” The word was more exhalation than speech.

No time to disable the bomb. Neither his training nor his inherent difference would stop him dying if he was near that thing when it blew. He was turning even as he realised the only option was to run as if the world were about to be blown apart at his feet, which in fact, it was. He raced for the door.

Grabbing the doorframe, he spun himself around the corner. Three quick strides and he was across the landing and shoving open the door to the stairwell. He needed to get out faster than Houdini on a good day.

As the door closed behind him, he heard it: rapid footsteps pounding up the stairs from below. The sound pushed his heart rate even higher than the already adrenaline-surging beat it developed after he saw that little construction of destruction. 

Ryu began running up the stairs quicker and quieter than the men below. Thank goodness he’d already photographed the illegal importation documents. He slammed his way out of the final set of doors and found himself standing on the roof, five stories up with no external fire escape. He swore silently. Where was a helicopter when you needed one? 

Standing in the shadows surrounding the exit, he debated his options. His jaw tightened, he hated being caught out like this. He glanced at the sky. The heavy globe of the moon illuminated the compound. If he moved, he’d be a clear target. 

Unfortunately, like a ticking bomb, time wasn’t on his side. A man’s coarse shout on the other side of the door made up this mind. He’d have to risk being seen. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, he sent his clothes, weapons, and camera into Elsewhere and began running. He reached the edge of the roof—and jumped.

Air rushed past his face, burning his cheeks. Throwing his arms wide, he released the dragon. With an electric rush, he shifted. His wings caught the wind and pulled him upwards. If he was lucky no one would look up and see a giant, copper dragon flying overhead. If he wasn’t, he hoped they mistook him for a dream not an enemy aircraft. 

He pushed through the air with powerful wing strokes. His next mission better be an easy one or he’d kick Adrian’s butt. 

Boom!

The sound and heat of the explosion almost tumbled him out of the sky, only a jerk of his tail and a mighty wrench of his wings kept him airborne. He glanced over his shoulder to see the roof where he had been standing only moments before, shattered and engulfed in flames.

Embraced by Fire

Undercover lovers

Last week we had a feel good, real life love story. However, I'm mean. This week we're going to balance that out with something more gritty, less happily ever after.

This less than heart warming story is about women who fell in love with undercover police officers, while they were undercover. The full article is about four women, in particular Charlotte.

Charlotte 22, was a fringe member of an animal rights movement when she met Bob. They started dating and he encouraged her to get more involved, as he himself was doing. Bob was Charlotte's first serious boyfriend and fell she fell in love. Within a few months the pair were established in the radical protest movement, Bob had also effectively moved in with Charlotte.

Except Bob wasn't really Bob at all.

Bob was really Robert Lambert a member of a top-secret unit of the London police. He'd joined the police at 25, within three years he was a member of special branch, from there he was recruited into the Special Demonstration Squad. It was while he was a member of this squad that he met Charlotte.

One of the hardest things for undercover officers is turning up with no friends or family to vouch for them, Bob had Charlotte. Five days a week he spent his time with Charlotte and working to get deeper into the protest movement  The other two days he spent with his wife and children.

That's right, this man already had a wife, and a life outside the one he was living with Charlotte. Of course, that's not a surprise, undercover officers have a separate life, the surprise to me was the wife and children. Soon those were not his only children - he went on to have son with Charlotte.

Eighteen months after the birth of his son, 'Bob' instigated the breakdown of his relationship with Charlotte. He was ready to move on, to Karen who thought she had found Mr Right. Eventually Bob told both women (he was still seeing Charlotte and his son) that he was escaping the authorities by running to Spain. In reality his time undercover was over, he was being promoted.

I can't see this story as anything less than the betrayal of a wife, and the absentee fatherhood of her children, the unnecessary heartbreak of two other women (& in Charlotte's case phycological trauma when she eventually discovered how she'd been used), and the cruel abandonment of a son.

So, unlike late week, this is not a story with a happy ending.

To balance out the trauma of that story I'm going to let you leave with some sunshine, lollypops & rainbows (The Sound of Music was sure that would be the cure).