The shadows in the damp churchyard clutched at the weary little girl, She was so tired of waiting. But she knew she mustn't give up.Few people looked at her now, and when they did, they turned and hurried away."I have to find someone to listen to me, please God," she prayed."Please God, please God..."Coming out of his reverie Olav, with tears in his eyes finally went down the steps to look at his poor misshapen daughter sprawled in a heap at the foot of the steps.He went to the shed and picked up his shovel, paced back and forth in front of the house unmindful of the snow that was falling, covering him and the little house. Finally he went to the water's edge and looked at the river, but there was no comfort there either. At last he went to the small apple tree he planted that fall and started to dig a hole.They found me under the apple tree.I was lying on top of the patch of ground that wouldn't grow any flowers. Even though it was snowing, you could see where I tried to dig a hole with my bare hands.I couldn't remember what happened, especially why I would be trying to dig a hole under the tree in winter.Jim took me off to our new doctor in Delta on the south side of the Fraser River. He recommended bed rest. No Christmas hassle, just sleep.The kids helped but they still needed direction and I couldn't hear from upstairs so I brought my quilt and pillow and settled myself on the living room couch. Everything was still heading towards a wonderful Christmas.The next day dawned bright and sunny, it was a wonderful Christmas day. That was the end of bed rest; I got up and made buttermilk waffles, our special Christmas treat. Jim even made the coffee. The kids laughing and teasing set the breakfast table. The wonderful smell of Christmas coffee seeped into my nostrils as I sat at the kitchen table savoring a steaming cup of coffee when I happened to glance out the kitchen window.There was a man digging under the apple tree. I got up and went out to the porch and called to him, he didn't listen. He just kept digging.The kids found me outside.Under the apple tree.Again!

Brian, an amateur military enthusiast now tells the story of his father ‘Brian Bulls-eye Wilkinson’, and his personal quest for the truth. ’Brian Bulls-eye Wilkinson,’ the best rear-gunner in the sky. PC Brian Wilkinson is a pseudonym of British singer/songwriter: Jonathan R, P. TaylorBrian, an amateur military enthusiast now tells the story of his father ‘Brian Bulls-eye Wilkinson’, and his personal quest for the truth. A father who he had never known. Romance, patriotism and espionage, a forgotten hero of the second world war, and a father who saved the world.Brian had been a serving police officer for his entire life until he retired in 2010 at the age of sixty. Brian, an amateur military enthusiast now tells the story of his father ‘Brian Bulls-eye Wilkinson’, and his personal quest for the truth. A father who he had never known. Romance, patriotism and espionage, a forgotten hero of the second world war, and a father who saved the world, ’Brian Bulls-eye Wilkinson,’ the best rear-gunner in the sky.Police Constable Brian Wilkinson was born on Merseyside in 1945. Brian and his wife Doreen both grew up together as post-war children in Liverpool on the North-west of England where they married as childhood sweethearts in 1963. Sadly following Doreen’s prolonged illness and battle against cancer, Brian was widowed in 2004.

When Brandy Silver picks up her friend from a party, she doesn't expect to be forcibly drugged—or pursued by a demonic wraith. What she saw makes Brandy a target for a dangerous magical underworld, and worse, her partner Wraithbane is injured in the line of duty. To save him, Brandy must look into her past and the creation of Bliss.When Brandy Silver picks up her friend from a party, she doesn't expect to be forcibly drugged—or pursued by a demonic wraith. Now she's witness to a bliss den that the police pointedly ignore and, worse, the drug can be deadly.What she saw makes Brandy a target for a dangerous magical underworld, and worse, her partner Wraithbane is injured in the line of duty. To save him, Brandy must look into her past and the creation of Bliss.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Silent Sentinels is the seventh episode of Season 1 of the Blissed series. There are plans for 10 seasons, with about 10 episodes per season, each episode about 10,000 words long. (Except apparently this one, which is a bit longer than normal.)To catch every episode, please sign up for my newsletter.Hope you enjoy Silent Sentinels.Nicolette

Dynamic debut of the Dave Haggard, investigative news reporter in a suspense filled thriller.Welcome to the world of investigative street reporting. Washington, D.C., power capital of the world, is also home to bums, killers, cops who bend the rules, F.B.I. agents who dole out leaks to reporters like so many dimes to the poor, and layers of lies and misinformation. Dave Haggard thought it was the worst idea he had ever had for a story. He was living in a homeless shelter, sickened by the smells, and feeling sorry for himself when a scuffle in the stairwell and a scream brought him into a terrifying hunt for the serial killer of priests. A sick, sadistic murderer was using a butterfly knife as a Rosary in grisly killings that would bring Dave into the hunt not as a reporter but as bait. The head of Homicide has a plan to trap the killer and it involves Dave and his girlfriend. A hit man for a group of religious fanatics is on the loose and has an agenda of his own. The killer is lost in his lunatic visions and he knows who Dave is and where to find him. What are his plans for Elena? Who to trust? Who to fear? Dave Haggard is a reporter in hiding from his own story.

Wade was a lonely grocery store clerk in a small town, a young man stuck in a world of numbered aisles and checkout lanes, parking lot wastelands and movies repeating in a theater below his apartment. Then, a stranger appeared in the cereal aisle, his eyes the color of the night sky, changing everything.“Turn around,” he said. “Please.” When I turned to look at him, his eyes were the color of the night sky again and full of constellations. “I have come back for you.”“I live here, now,” I told him.He smiled, his eyes deepening into black holes in his face, an inescapable force. I felt myself pulled toward him, stumbling forward.“No one lives here,” he whispered, “Come here,” and I took a step toward him, and then another, until finally I was pressed against him, our body heat combining, a single radioactive mass. Somewhere, in the theater, credits were beginning to roll. His breath was warm against my neck, and my eyes spilled over, wet and hot and lonely. Somewhere inside me, something dark and cold thawed and beat again for the first time in years, a single, burning thump inside my chest. I remembered every star, every constellation inside him, because they were our constellations.

John Sandford, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Prey novels gives suspense an ingenious twist as he takes readers into the mind games of two irresistible con artists plotting the perfect sting... Kidd is a computer whiz, artist, and professional criminal. LuEllen is his lover, and his favorite partner in crime. Their playing field in on the cutting edge of high-tech corporate warfare. This time they've been hired by a defense industry corporation to destroy its business rival through computer sabotage. If Kidd and LuEllen can pull it off, they'll reap millions. It's the sting of a lifetime. One false move and it's a lifetime sentence. As the takedown unfolds, everything goes according to plan. But their string of successes turns into a noose when the ultimate con artists find themselves on the wrong end of the ultimate con...

It is the greatest bounty hunt in history. The targets are the finest warriors in the world-commandos, spies, terrorists. And they must all be dead by 12 noon, today. The price on their heads: almost $20 million each. Among the names, one stands out. The enigmatic Marine, Shane Schofield, who goes by the call-sign "Scarecrow." Schofield is plunged into a race around the world, pursued by a fearsome collection of international bounty hunters. The race is on and the pace is frantic as he fights for survival, in the process unveiling a vast international conspiracy and the terrible reason why he cannot, under any circumstances, be allowed to live! He led his men into hell in Ice Station. He protected the President against all odds in Area 7. But this time it's different, because he is the target. With all of his trademark action, Matthew Reilly continues to establish himself as one of the top thriller writers of today.

James Patterson’s BookShots. Short, fast-paced, high-impact entertainment. I know who killed my son. Molly Rourke’s son has been murdered… And she knows who’s responsible. Now she’s taking the law into her own hands. Never underestimate a mother’s love.

A telepathic infection is eating its way through Ernum Gustabler and has been since his childhood. But what's the source of his troubles? Is he merely a puppet, pushed along to the rhythm of a lie, or is he the master of his own fate? The Clutter Box: An existential sci-fi thriller.YA Paranormal Romance Short StoryUnder the muggy July sun, traveling carnie Fade finds his soulmate in the form of 16-year-old Kai. She’s human, he’s Fae, but she calls to him like no other being has. They spend a wonderful week together, but when it comes time for him to travel to the next city, he sees her future: She’ll die of cancer before he ever sees her again. Selfish, he makes her promise to wait for him.After she hears the doctor’s news, Kai realizes that somehow, Fade knew all along. She fights to stay alive, just to see him one last time. He tells her he’s a Faerie and that he can heal her…but it will change everything. If she becomes Fae, she’ll lose everything she’s come to love… If she doesn’t, she only has a matter of time before the cancer kills her. She knows the risks…but how will she ever make the right decision?

Death had come to town to the small little town of Calgary and it will have a smaller population when he leaves. The people of Calgary are colorful and memorable. Sam is a good man with a heavy heart and a kind nature but the devil is at his door. Choices will have to be made....lives will depend on Sam. Can he turn back death.Death had come to Calgary driving a 1964 Cadillac hearse and the small little town will have a smaller population when he leaves.

For years Daniel had admired it, the cryptic stone temple in the heart of downtown. He could never have guessed the secret it holds...Theodore Arbuckle had been walking the fine line between reality and his own mind since his early childhood, plagued by voices and hallucinations. For the last four years he has been waking up screaming, tangled in his own bedsheets and covered in cold sweat every night.Over the years he had found ways to keep his mind anchored to the real world, but everything that he has worked so hard on comes crumbling apart in the course of a single night. Now he can't even trust his own mind, let alone other people.And with more secrets uncovered, everything seems to be plotting against him.

FBI Special Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine have a new mandate as the government’s Covert Eyes, assembling a handpicked team of top-notch agents to tackle crimes and criminals both international and deadly. But their first case threatens to tear the fledgling team apart when the enigmatic thief known as the Fox reappears with a plea for help. Master thief Kitsune has stolen the staff of Moses from the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, and now that she’s delivered, her clients are trying to kill her. On the run, she asks Nicholas and Mike to help her discover the true identity of her clients and stop the threat against her life. Under strict orders to arrest the Fox and bring her back to New York, the Covert Eyes team heads to Venice, Italy, to meet with Kitsune, and finds nothing is as it seems. Kitsune’s secret clients are the Koaths, a family descended from Moses himself, who will do anything, anything, to find the Ark of the Covenant and wield its power, as their long and bloody history can attest. To execute their plan, they’ve spent years perfecting a machine that can control the weather, manipulating worldwide disasters that spin the entire globe into chaos. From New York to Venice, from Rome to the Bermuda Triangle, Nicholas and Mike and their team are in a race against time, and nature herself, to stop the Koaths and recover the famous Ark of the Covenant. But can they trust Kitsune, their sworn enemy, to help them save the world from a family of madmen?

Take a stroll through the mind of Melissa, a troubled teen unable to cope with reality, in this two part short story.Home is often the picture of safety, but where the rest of the world experiences comfort, Melissa feels nothing more than regret and sorrow. But as the truth begins to surface from the recesses of her mind, can she face the reality of her actions?

A voyeur sees more than he bargained for, and the show isn't over yet...Thomas likes to watch, but his clandestine pastime brings him to witness a horrific crime, and he can't report it without exposing his own dirty secret. Is he just as guilty as the perpetrator for not acting or reporting it? The victim thinks so...

Call me Israel is a short story about strange accidental deaths at a university. The main character is a typical student that stumbles across a terrible truth that forces him into circumstances that he cannot change.When a strange tarot card appears in a friend's deck, Jason assumes it's just a prank done in poor taste. But, when terrible events befall those around him, he must face the possibility that something sinister is afoot.Death is closing in, along with a suspicious detective who believes that Jason may be the killer he's stalking. With his life turned upside down, Jason finds that there are worse things to be hunted by than the authorities.This 4,500 word short is a supernatural horror story in the spirit of the pulp era, but with a modern feel.