Tuesday, May 22, 2018

I have edits! Plus, a Black Hound snippet: It's morning

Coming June 15


I'm going to spend the next week on edits, but that's very boring for you, so here's an exciting snippet to whet your appitite.




From the next Convergence book, Black Hound. Available June 15 wherever ebooks are sold.


Wait! If that thing’s a foot thick, how are you getting cell reception?”
She blinked. When the answer came to her, she grinned. “I’m magic, cuz.”
His swearing was good-natured this time. The man forgot she wasn’t a helpless kid anymore. “Whatever. Get back to work.”
If you’d quit bugging me, I would,” she retorted in good humor, and hung up. With Ike soothed, she was able to focus and make rapid changes. First up was a garage door that looked seamless from the outside and a camouflaged man door. She sent Iron Eagle off to Ike with the key so he’d feel better.
She ran a line of thick bulletproof glass all the way around the spiral to let some light in, tinting it on the outside so it appeared like the rest of the gray steel shell to an observer. She studied it for a moment, reconsidered and added a rainbow of colors, making the light dance. After that she had to color the inside wall of the spiral white to better reflect the ribbons of light, add a few strategic mirrors...
Much better!
After lunch and a text to her twitchy cousin, she set up camp. An indoor outhouse was a necessary evil until she could work on plumbing, but it was easy to form a small stainless steel kitchen, storage shelves and a platform for her sleeping bag and thin foam mattress. She set up a map on a steel table and studied it, then made a curving stair to the peak of the roof where she formed a camouflaged observation window.
She groaned as she climbed, totally wiped out. Setting up house was exhausting, and she’d done it two days in a row.
The light was fading. The sunset turned piles of junk into mysterious hills of darkness. She noted the rising mist and was glad she’d installed special air filters in the Spire. She glanced ruefully down the stairs and thought about an elevator…later. When she wasn’t seeing double. She’d pushed her limits again.
Of course, if she didn’t push them, how would she know where they were?

A knock sounded at o'dark-thirty, waking Rue from a dead sleep. She fumbled for her phone and squinted at the screen. Yep, it was early.
The knock came again. She flicked on a battery powered camping lamp and got up, retrieved her gun, and looked through the disguised safety glass window. Moonlight revealed four men, but without a yard light, that’s all she could make out. Clearly that was an oversight, but she hadn’t thought she’d need one, not this soon. What would possess someone to visit the Yard at night? Unless they were dangerous themselves…
She wasn't about to let them in.
What?” she called.
We come in peace. We’d like to buy some metal.”
She scoffed. Metal? At this hour? “Come back in the morning and we’ll talk.”
Your word on it?”
That was odd. Words had power in this age, and the more powerful the person, the stronger the consequences. Still, there was no harm in talking. “Come back tomorrow and I will talk with you about metal,” she said carefully. “You have my word.”
They returned at four AM.
She stumbled to the door, stupid with sleep. “What are you doing?” she snarled, tempted to smash them like bugs.
It's morning,” the persistent visitor said mildly.
ARGH! She dragged a hand over her face to scrub away the sleep and checked the window; still dark out. It was hard to think before coffee.

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