Where Cold Hearts Lead
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Randy started to wonder if he was going to be allowed to live. It seemed that Cam had become intent on beating him to death. And why not? Randy could identify him, and it was highly unlikely Cam was going to allow that to happen and risk going to a real prison. Still dangling, Randy tried to focus through the blood that poured into his eyes. He saw a tire iron lying on the floor of the back seat. Why it wasn’t in the trunk he couldn’t remember. Nor did he care. It was his only chance. He grasped the tire iron with his right hand and slowly wriggled out of the broken window, all the while keeping the weapon low on his opposite side where Cam wouldn’t see it. Randy lowered his feet to the ground, holding the tire iron as inconspicuously as possible behind his right thigh. Cam had apparently been reloading his mouth with the nasty tobacco and was several feet back, a fresh wad bulging in his cheek. He saw Randy with his feet back on the ground and moved quickly toward him, almost at a run. Randy swung wildly, praying he would feel a connection with flesh. He did. Cam howled and staggered back. It hadn’t been a full blow but had been enough to open a gash under Cam’s left cheekbone. Unfortunately, it also served to elicit any dormant rage yet untapped. Cam came charging and tackled Randy into the side of his car. Despite the air being knocked out of him, Randy held on to the tire iron and brought it down hard into Cam’s back. Cam grunted and fell back. "You son of a bitch. You’re really dead now!"
In the background, Randy thought he heard another car’s engine, but he had no time to be bothered with distractions. If only it were the police-- Cam assumed a boxing position in front of Randy and began dancing around. Randy waved the tire iron menacingly from side to side trying to track Cam’s movements. Cam threw out a left jab that struck Randy squarely in the nose, causing another flow of blood. Cam laughed. "Pussy. What you got? Nothing. That’s what I thought. Give me the tire iron!" Randy knew that giving up his weapon would be tantamount to suicide. "No chance, Kurtis. You’re going to have to pry it from my cold, dead hands." He’d never been a NRA member or any kind of gun advocate for that matter. The idea of him using one of their catchphrases struck him as utterly absurd. He would have laughed under different circumstances. "I’ll be glad to arrange that for you, Tallas." Cam came charging with no apparent concern for the piece of iron that Randy was wielding like a man stuck in a corner trying to stave off hungry lions. He lunged at Randy with a flying tackle. But as Cam was airborne Randy swung the iron like a baseball bat and connected with Cam’s left temple. Cam groaned and fell to the ground, limp and lifeless.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
It was already the worst twenty-four hours of Randy Tallas’ life. His family had left him and he was ridiculed at school, where he was a guidance counselor. A few drinks after work and an episode of road rage that possessed him to follow a car into deserted gravel pits, and the next thing Randy knew he had killed a young man in self-defense and was on his way home with Melinda, a beautiful student who he had rescued from being gang-raped. But that was just the beginning. Several town thugs saw what Randy did, and Randy knew what those thugs had been about to do to Melinda. After receiving a lesson in life from Melinda, Randy is able to convince his wife Terri that he is sincere about changing, and she agrees to return home to him. Soon, they realize they must band together, along with Melinda and Terri’s father, an ex-Special Forces soldier in Vietnam, to wage a war for their survival against a brilliant but psychotic punk named Torino Boy and Max Kurtis, a ruthless and powerful man in the community who happens to be the father of the young man Randy killed.
About the Author
Jeff Stratton lives in southern New Hampshire with his wife, Kathleen, two cats and a dog. He has a master’s degree in education in the field of counseling/psychology and has been working in the mental health field for thirteen years.