Sunday Snippet: Quiver Full of Arrows

August 18, 2013

Hi,

I'm going to bore everyone with all my Strike Back talk, but holy hell, the hits keep coming. Poor Scott can't catch a break. I do have one wild hair theory of what I want for him at the end of the show's run, but I'll keep mum so I don't jinx it. :D

While on the subject of hits that keep coming, in Quiver Full of Arrows, the hero and heroine take more than a few physical and emotional blows. They can't quite trust each other, at least not at first, but they definitely form a reliance that grows into solid belief and faith—something neither is used to having with another person. J

Here's the tagline:

Frey Witter, codename Crossfire, is sent to bring in mercenary for hire, Solaris Polanski, aka, Moon Shadow for a covert mission. He's got one little problem. Solaris answers to no one—and she used to work for the other side.

And a preview snippet…

Three soft whirring sounds rapidly flew past her head followed by the snick and thwap of the arrows hitting their marks. Her three targets dropped like stones, keeling over sideways with heavy thuds. A white hot rage rolled through Solaris at the loss. She let out a frustrated yell.

A man emerged from the shadowy recesses by the railway turnstile. He made a slow circle around her and stopped directly in her line of vision. Even with her left eye swelling almost closed she admired the firm cut of his jaw and the way he carried himself and kept his weapon at the ready.

He lowered his crossbow. "Solaris Polanski?"

She lifted her chin. "Haven't heard that name in a long time." Most of her recent underworld acquaintances called her Moon Shadow. "Who the hell are you?"

He laid his weapon aside. "Frey Witter, codename Crossfire."

Codename. Not what she wanted to hear. An assassin sent to take her out, or bring her in?

She played her hand carefully. "Well, Crossfire, thank you ever so much for completely fucking up my operation." She snarled. "Did you have to kill them?"

He quirked a brow. "There's a problem with that?"

Solaris growled. "Yes, there's a problem, you moron. You just screwed a month long game of cat and mouse to find their cache of smuggled diamonds. I let those stupid apes grab and bring me here." She fought down an urge to punch something—or someone. "They'd just about given me everything I needed—except the location of the stash." She jerked her head toward the bodies. "You killed them before they could give it up."

Frey lowered his weapon and stalked over to grab one of the men and drag him under the light. "You wanna know where the location is, look at big picture, Moon Shadow. What's he wearing? What's it covered with? What type of boots does he have on?"

Solaris narrowed her good eye. He shouldn't know her alias. Only the dregs of humanity and people who could pay her price had it.

She tilted her head to the side. "Where are you going with all this?" She had to buy some time, keep him talking before she made a move.

He sighed. "Think about it. While you were getting the shit kicked out of you—brilliantly, I might add—you missed crucial details." He lifted the leg of the dead man. "He's got caked sand in the soles of his boots, they all do. That means they've been out to the shore recently." He dropped the guy's foot. "That string of caves along the coast would make a damned convenient place to drop off and pick up smuggled diamonds."

She snorted. "They wouldn't be so obvious?"

Frey lifted a brow. "Really? You're not dealing with highly intelligent people here. Like you said—a bunch of trained apes. They have to be obvious, or get lost trying to pull their heads out of their asses."

Solaris studied him for a moment. "Hmm. Looks like I'm dealing with intelligence now." She stopped speaking and snapped her mouth shut.

Frey bit back a grin, no doubt realizing he'd thrown her off balance. Again. Thankfully, he said nothing. He gathered up his arrows, leaving the tips inside the victims. Solaris watched him, silently. He wanted to his message to be loud and clear.

Shoving the quills back in his quiver, he strode over to her side. "Are you gonna pretend to stay all tied up or what?"

Solaris's mouth didn't drop open, but she had to fight to keep it shut. The guy knew too much about her. She needed to find out a little about him.

Letting the ropes binding her hands fall to the floor, she asked. "Why did you kill them? You could have made a buttload if you'd ransomed them." She rubbed her wrists, trying to get the feeling back in her fingers.

Frey's lips twisted. "I don't need them and they'd get in the way." He dropped to his knees, loosening the bindings at her feet.

Get in the way of what?

She slowly rose from the chair. "So why are you here?" She crossed over to the small backpack she'd had with her when the goons grabbed her from the street.

Rifling through, she found an ice pack, activated it, and gingerly placed it over her swollen eye.

He spoke softly. "I came for you."

She whirled around. "Me? What the hell for?"

He reached back and retrieved an arrow, notching it in his crossbow. Solaris scrambled quickly, trying to think who might want her dead. The list would take days to get through.

She took a direct approach. "Who are you? And why, exactly, are you here?"

Frey casually aimed the weapon at her heart. "I'm here to bring you in. The Agency has need of your services." His grip didn't waver on the trigger. "If you refuse, I've got orders to take you out." Glancing up, he held her gaze several moments. "What call should I make?"

Ohhh…I've had so much fun writing this one. It's still early stages, but the urge to get more on the page is strong. Stay tuned. J

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye