It is July, 2130,
less than a year after the destruction of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, the
last of its kind in America. Major Reginald Mattersly of the British Army’s SRR
has been slowly making his way to the west coast, where he wishes to find a
home on the beach and live out the remainder of his life.
These plans are cut short when
he is ambushed in Nevada by a mysterious trio of armed men. To his rescue comes
a man of the 82nd Airborne who calls himself Elias Mulhaney. The two
of them continue on to a town called Lovelock, currently embattled with their
neighbors in Reno.
The mayor of Lovelock, Jazz
Hernandez, is the prime target of her former lover, Gillespie, the mayor of
Reno. His mentality: If he can’t have her, no one can.
Mattersly and Mulhaney band
together to infiltrate the city of Reno to rescue her kidnapped niece, Nora,
and destroy the factory that provides Gillespie’s military power.
In a post-Great Exodus Earth
where there is no law and no national government, can there still be justice?
Reviews:
"Frederick H. Crook is a masterful storyteller. He pits good against evil with a way different from most writers in the genre. The dialog is crisp and believable." ~ Frank Scozzari
"The entire book takes place over the course of a few days and honestly, I was bummed when it ended. You will never get bored reading this book." ~ Melissa Massey-Maroni
"I loved each page of this tale of hope. Anyone who still believes in the magic of heroism, should definitely have Of Knight & Devil in their bookcase." ~ Susan Lynn Solomon
“I
have to reload here,” Mulhaney said. “Both belts are about out.”
“Do it. Quickly,” Reginald replied.
Just as he finished speaking, an
explosion rocked the parking garage.
“What the hell was that?” Elias
wondered aloud and froze. “Artillery?”
“Just reload, now!” Reginald
ordered. Seeing no one beyond his driver’s window, the major dared open his
driver’s hatch to listen.
Another explosion rocked the
building, this time more violently. Angel opened the infantry hatch and took a
look behind them. Bits of concrete and dust filled the air around the two
machines. Just as she was ducking back inside, a third explosion struck the
building, directly above them. The outer hull was struck with falling concrete
from the ceiling.
“Mortars!” Reginald shouted into the
microphone for the benefit of their new ally, Sergeant Schamski. He slammed the
driver’s hatch, locked it, and extracted himself from the seat, leaving the helmet
behind. “Angel, get into the driver’s position and move if I tell you. We are
being shelled!” With that order given, the major snatched up his Dragunov and lowered
the rear ramp.
“Major, I don’t know how to drive
this thing!” she protested.
“Just do it! Shut the door when I
get clear!” he shouted as the next mortar round struck against the side of the parking
structure, this time on their floor. Mattersly was shielded by flying bits of
concrete by Necromancer, which was
immediately covered in dust.
Reginald used the dust as cover for
his run to the southwest corner of the building. He had judged from the
trajectory of the first three rounds that whoever was launching the mortars
would be found in that direction. He crouched low as he met with the wall,
pulled his beret from his tunic’s breast pocket and placed it on his head. The
action was more out of necessity than pride, for the gray surface of the cap
would not reflect the sunlight.
Another mortar round struck nearly
the same place as before, only one floor below. Wasting no time, he took a peek
over the top of the waist-high wall, where his eyes found another large hotel
across the street. Having adjusted his eyes for distance, he immediately
located the mortar crew, which had taken a room on a floor slightly below the
level of the garage on which Necromancer
and Wolfhunter were trapped.
He quickly reset his eyesight to
normal and brought up his Dragunov, being careful to remain in the shadows.
Reginald watched as the crew fired a sixth round. In seconds, it was clear that
this one was going to be rather close. He lay flat and covered his head as the
round struck just left of his position, taking out the short wall and the
leading edge of the pavement. Mattersly felt several bits of concrete strike
him and was covered by dust.
His ears rang despite the audio
devices’ cancellation attempts and his eyes burned from the dust. Reginald noted
that Necromancer had again opened
fire on targets trying to come up to their level. Without further thought, the
major rose upon one knee, lifted his rifle to his shoulder and located a
target. It was the mercenary attending or perhaps firing the mortar.
Reginald squeezed the trigger and
dropped him. Training told him to move to another location, but he had found
Renoite militia to be undertrained and inexperienced. He found a second target.
This one was another militiaman which came to the aid of the man Reginald had
just brought down. With another squeeze of the trigger, the second man was
felled.
This time, Mattersly did drop to the
floor to crawl to another location. It was none too soon, as the place where he
had just fired from was struck with a smattering of assault weapon rounds,
returned from the militiamen supporting the mortar. As the two Stryker’s fired
at targets that he could not see, the major lifted his body onto his knee and
prepared to take another look. Just then, the seventh round struck the parking
garage, close enough to knock him flat.
Available now in paperback or for your kindle, this fast-paced, dystopian adventure will keep you planted and reading!
This is Author Frederick H. Crook's fourth novel, his third publication with Solstice Publishing, for which he also is employed as an editor.
For more news, visit Frederick's website: http://frederickcrook.wix.com/crooksbooks
Connect on Twitter: @FrederickHCrook
Also, coming in early 2016, Campanelli: Siege of the Nighthunter
Thank you for the feature, Vicki! :D
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