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Skye Maddox is a contract assassin driven by both personal demons and professional discipline. Hired by grieving father Milo Williams to hunt down the chain of men responsible for his son’s death, Skye takes on a mission that escalates into a war with Washington, D.C.’s most dangerous underworld figures led by a man known only as Hetman. As she climbs Milo’s ladder of revenge, Skye uncovers a web of corruption that links drug dealers, judges, mobsters, and even international crime syndicates.
The story escalates through brutal shootouts, betrayals, and psychological games, as Skye pushes deeper into Hetman’s empire. Each success makes her a bigger target. In the end, she must weigh the cost of finishing Milo’s revenge against the danger of becoming just another expendable weapon in someone else’s war.
EXCERPT ONE:
When Jayla stood, Skye raised a palm to stop her. “Yes. Yes, all right. I just finished an assignment, but it was part of a larger contract so I’m feeling like both the situations you mentioned. I’m on the job, and I just took a player off the board.”
Jayla jotted in her notebook. She always collected the euphemisms Skye used for her profession. “So, tell me about this latest assignment. How do you feel about this player you’ve taken off the board? Was it, in your mind, a just action?”
“You always want to go there,” Skye said, shaking her head. “What did I tell you? The first rule of the assassin’s doctrine. The target has got to deserve it.”
“Oh, yes,” Jayla said with a half-smile. “Your job, while criminal, does have rules
“I misspoke earlier,” Skye said, sliding a slim dagger out of her boot. “It’s not a job. It’s a profession. All professions have their rules. For doctors, rule number one is ‘do no harm’, right? For an assassin, it’s that the target has got to deserve it.” Skye began to absently flip the dagger in the air, catching it by its tip each time. “In this case, this bastard kidnapped my client’s son. I don’t know how they got him. My client kept his family totally under the radar. But once he got the ransom demand, the client agreed to pay, and the ransom money was in transit but not fast enough to suit the kidnappers. They killed the boy, I think just to make a point. Just to be snotty. The action took place overseas and no way the police would ever have gotten close to the killer.”
Jayla nodded. “I think I understand. So, you were hired to…”
“Correct the balance,” Skye said, standing.
GUEST POST:
Falling in Love with the Main Characters
In past novels, I’ve presented heroic characters who were easy to fall in love with. Private eye Hanibal Jones is a traditional hero, with all characteristics we associate with that role. But when I got the inspiration to feature a professional killer I faced a new challenge. How could I make readers fall in love with Skye Maddox.
After I examined my character, I realized it might not be so hard. After all, people love James Bond and he is, after all, licensed to kill. But he worked for his government. So, step one with Skye was to give her limitations. She does her job following a number of rules. Rule number one for her is, the target has to deserve it. That makes it easy to make sure she only goes after people who are worse than she is, people readers would be happy to see gone.
As she materialized on the page she turned out to have several attributes we all like to see in our heroes. She has the courage, the confidence and the total independence we want to see in a strong woman. But she also displays empathy and kindness, even if she doesn’t want to show those qualities off.
And when Skye interacts with other characters, she turns out to have quite a smart mouth. We can’t help but like people who are wise guys (or gals) especially when we know they can back it up.
But most of all, I knew that to make readers love my professional assassin, I would have to show them how much she is like them, and everyone else. She has all of our worries and fears, she has a definite sense of personal morality, and tries to keep her word. As it turns out, she has all the characteristics of a real hero, and I think readers will come to love her as she chases down the bad guys.
AUTHOR BIO & LINKS:
Austin S. Camacho is the author of eight novels about Washington DC-based private eye Hannibal Jones, five in the Stark and O’Brien international adventure-thriller series, and the detective novel Beyond Blue. His short stories have been featured in several anthologies and he is featured in the Edgar nominated African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey. He is a past president of the Maryland Writers Association, past Vice President of the Virginia Writers Club, and one of the creators of the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity literary conference.
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