A Blackwood novella plus two short stories. All proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Janet's Wadi, an animal sanctuary in Dahab, Egypt.
Dali the dog
Sniper Carmen Hernandez has two goals—kill drug lord Miguel Lozano and survive her mother’s matchmaking efforts. Dating is a minefield, and the assholes in her special forces unit have put her off men for life.
Assassin Nate Wood has two goals—kill drug lord Miguel Lozano and get the hell out of Mexico. He has a company to run as well as a house to finish renovating, and women are a distraction he doesn’t need right now.
Too bad a puppy messes up all of their plans.
Picky the pony
Sarah’s life has been a series of bad decisions, from dating an idiot to winning a dilapidated cottage in an online property auction. Then there’s Picky, the skinny pony she bought on impulse. So why did she think it would be a good idea to go riding on Dartmoor at dusk?
Houdini the hamster
Schoolteacher Cara has Christmas all planned out. She’ll clear up the mess left by twenty-three eight-year-olds at their end-of-term party, cook dinner for one, then settle in for a TV marathon. But a tiny hamster has other ideas…
Now available for pre-order:
Dali excerpt – the job:
Ouch. Whatever bug was crawling over my ankle bit me again, and I cursed under my breath. But I couldn’t swat it. Not when two of Miguel Lozano’s guards were looking in my direction. The slightest movement could give my position away, our mission would be compromised, and mi abuela would cry big, messy tears at my funeral.
I squinted through my rifle scope again as the thinner of the two guards laughed and lit a cigarette. Didn’t he know those things killed people? Although granted, the life expectancy of Lozano’s henchmen wasn’t long.
And me? I might just die of boredom.
If I did, what would they tell my mother? She hadn’t wanted me to join the army in the first place, so I’d told a small fib and now she thought I worked in the kitchen, cooking meals for the troops. I’m sorry, Señora Hernandez, Carmen accidentally cut an artery and bled to death while preparing burritos.
As the only woman in a twenty-person team seconded out of GAFE High Command, the most elite group in Mexico’s Special Forces, I had one job, and that was to shoot people. Literally, one job. When I’d joined the group, I’d hoped for so much more, but despite the men at the top going on about equal opportunities, I’d been bashing my head off the glass ceiling for a year now while laughing off sexist “banter” and pretending I didn’t care when my colleagues patted me on the ass.
And the question was, did I want it to continue? I’d nearly completed five years, and my contract was up in a month. Everyone just assumed I’d sign up for another stint. Including me, until our new commanding officer had arrived two months ago, a hurried replacement after the previous one got arrested for corruption. After our beloved new leader made it very clear I’d never be considered an equal, I’d christened him Captain Pendejo. While the men trained in the latest counterterrorism techniques, I was expected to be on the range day in, day out, round after round. I loved my guns, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I just wanted a little variety.
Dali excerpt – the puppy:
“You did what?” Black asked. He’d called Nate from Virginia for an update. “You went to blow up a drug dealer and came back with a puppy?”
Black was a grumpy fucker who rarely smiled, but right now, he was laughing so hard he could barely speak. Nate sat on the floor on his rented studio apartment and groaned as the dog pissed on the tiles again.
“The thing was hiding under a chair. I couldn’t just leave it there to barbecue.”
“Remember the time I went to England to waste a businessman and came back with an eighteen-year-old brat in tow?”
How could Nate ever forget? Emmy—the girl Black was training as an assassin—had driven him insane for months. Still did, but at least she was good at her job now.
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, you might actually have beaten that. What are you gonna do, train the mutt to sniff for explosives?”
“Who the fuck knows? It’s more interested in licking its own ass at the moment. What the hell am I supposed to do with it?”
About Janet's Wadi:
Janet's Wadi is an animal sanctuary in Dahab, Egypt, that looks after unwanted dogs and cats. I adopted my dogs Gigi and Maya from there, and I've seen firsthand what a wonderful job they do with caring for the waifs and strays that sadly have no other home of their own. Sadly, Janet, the sanctuary's founder, passed away at the beginning of 2020 and the remaining volunteers now have the mammoth task of rehoming all the animals, a task made even more difficult by the spread of COVID-19. If you can spare a few pennies to help, all donations are gratefully received!
You can find out more about the Wadi from their website HERE as well as their Facebook page.
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Thank you to Abigail Sins for donating the cover for this book 🙂 If you'd like to find out more about her art or commission a cover, you can find her portfolio HERE.
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