Protector. Part 49

"Where is it?" Jane said, undaunted.

"First things first," Cameron announced. "You check her out, Carlos?"

"Yeah, she's got the fifteen Gs."

"No gun?" Cameron asked Carlos, never taking his eyes off Jane.

"You think I'm stupid enough to bring a gun inside a f.u.c.kin' bar?" Jane retorted, echoing Cameron's prior statement. She noted a stream of patrons entering the bar and realized if she didn't move things along, the set-up was going to get complicated. "I got your cash." Jane opened her leather jacket to reveal a fat envelope secured in an inside pocket. "Where's my c.o.ke?"

"You gotta love these trust-fund snow junkies!" Nico said with a c.o.c.ky grin.

Cameron stared at Jane for what seemed like an eternity. Jane matched his steely glare, hoping he couldn't hear the deafening beat of her heart. Finally, Cameron nodded. "Take a shot to kill that edge and then we'll go out to the car," he suggested.

Jane grabbed one of her two shots and quickly knocked it back. "Let's do it," she declared, taking a drunken step away from the pool table.

Cameron eyed the remaining shot of whiskey, shrugged and drank it. Jane turned toward him as the last drops of liquid slid down his throat.

"What the f.u.c.k-" Cameron said, checking the aftertaste. He grabbed Jane by the arm. "How do you get drunk on tea?"

Jane started to react, but Cameron moved too quickly. He jerked Jane's body toward him, opened her leather jacket, and pressed his palm against her side. "She's wired! She's a cop!" Cameron pulled out his nine-millimeter handgun and aimed it at Carlos. "You dumb motherf.u.c.ker!"

Jane caught Cameron's hand, moving it just enough off target for Carlos to escape the deafening gunshot. The shockwave sent the bar into a frenzy. Patrons ducked for cover as Jane skillfully punched the b.u.t.t of her pool cue into Cameron's groin, causing him to drop the gun. She kicked the pistol under the pool table with her boot as Nico drew his gun, aiming it squarely at Jane's head. Jane rapidly swung the cue at Nico's forearm, deflecting the gun before it discharged. A split second later, Carlos leaped onto the pool table and took a forceful dive onto her body. The loosely hung fluorescent light fixture above the pool table crashed down as Jane hit the wooden floor with a hard thud. As the fluorescent tubing exploded around them, Carlos landed a brutal punch to Jane's right cheek.

"f.u.c.kin' b.i.t.c.h!" Carlos screamed, nailing Jane with another savage smack.

Jane managed to roll onto her back and slam the side of the pool cue against Carlos's forehead. The momentary dazing afforded her the opportunity to struggle to her knees, just as a burly male bar patron jumped into the melee. Chaos broke loose as the muscle-bound guy pounded Carlos's head against the pool table until he pa.s.sed out. Jane, slightly woozy from the two punishing blows that Carlos had delivered, ducked under the pool table and swept Nico's handgun under a nearby chair. But as she turned her body, the thick envelope of cash slid out of her jacket and onto the floor, spreading several hundred dollar bills under the pool table. Jane reached for the envelope, but Nico quickly snagged it and disappeared with Cameron into the dark recesses of the bar.

Jane achingly emerged from underneath the pool table just as the beer keg clock came loose and smashed to the floor. A stream of blood spilled from Jane's lip and she stood, disheveled, amidst the chaotic aftermath.

All eyes in the bar focused on her.

But one set of probing eyes was more intensely interested in her than the rest.

So begins Jane's next adventure. After the events in Protector, Jane has resigned from the Denver Police Department. Trying to make her living as a private investigator, she finds her past haunting her at every turn and her old demons rising up to torment her. Seeking some level of comfort at an AA meeting, Jane encounters a woman who knows what Jane does for a living. The woman wants Jane to drive with her from Colorado to Northern California in search of a man who matches the description of the killer who murdered her granddaughter many years before. She's convinced that the man has started to kill again and she wants to stop him.

Jane thinks the woman is crazy-especially when she discovers that she's a New Age devotee-but Jane is desperate for work. They head out on the road, gathering critical information about the killer, and themselves, along the way. Jane has recently experienced several events in her life that seem to border on the paranormal, though she is a complete skeptic in that regard. Now, those experiences come with greater frequency. And when the trail of the killer leads to a fundamentalist church, the consequences of belief and faith propel her toward a deadly confrontation.

Once again, Laurel Dewey has created a novel as rich in character as it is in suspense. Juxtaposing spirituality and religion, mission and manipulation, revenge and redemption, this is a powerful, taut mystery that will confirm the author as a top-flight storyteller.

You can read a longer excerpt of REDEMPTION.

at www.laureldewey.com and www.thestoryplant.com