Enjoy this sample previewing the opening chapters of the 5,290 word short story titled The Special, an action-packed science fiction crime thriller in the The Powers That Be extended universe. The story centers on Ben, a disillusioned PTB agent charged with apprehending a rogue alien shapeshifter on the run north of Alamogordo. He battles his psychotic superiors, the slippery and conniving shapeshifting alien, and a mysterious compromised waitress, pondering if the chicken-fried steak at the Shady Oaks Diner measures up to the New Mexican highway billboard hype.
Enjoy this sample, and if you want to find out how it ends, get the full ebook on Apple, Amazon, or KOBO Clara.
Winding northbound along a lonely stretch of Highway 54 through southwestern topography drier than a Mormon church picnic, Ben’s stomach gurgles a whiny complaint. “I should have grabbed a burrito before leaving the crime scene. Damn, that was a mistake.”
Levering the driver’s seat as far back as it goes to avoid jostling the autonomous steering wheel, he swipes his blood-smeared shirt and ponders his life choices.
The self-driving vehicle downshifts on a curved uphill grade and reports on its progress since leaving Alamogordo, “I project we will reach Los Alamos in 4 hours and 32 minutes.”
“Thanks, Hal. I’ll have to make a pit stop for food somewhere along the way.”
Heading north out of the old western town steeped in atomic lore, Ben checks the rearview camera and sees a smattering of cars and trucks—but no cops. The locals were no doubt preoccupied with the murder scene—and the dead alien—he just left behind on the blood and gore-splattered downtown sidewalk. Ostensibly on the same side, out-of-the-loop local constabularies nonetheless had an aversion to the big picture. Better to leave and let them piece it together by themselves. Not to mention there must be dozens of security feeds providing a blow-by-blow firsthand account.
The Powers That Be agent leans back in the faux leather seat and stares out the streaky passenger side window. A dwindling hodgepodge of shacks, hovels, junkyards, and dirt farms ebb to empty desert scrub with each passing mile while sweeping vistas of White Sands and rugged New Mexican scenery play out before his tired gaze. Weather-beaten billboards promoting a sprawling snowbird retirement enclave carved out of the desert, and repetitive signage advertising the Shady Oaks Diner off Exit 94 punctuate the roadside at irregular intervals.
A large raptor glides on a current of hot air high overhead as his mind replays the Alamogordo incident ending in the gruesome death of an innocent bystander. [end of sample]
With the story’s enticing sneak peek preamble still rattling in your frontal lobe, now is the perfect time to click the link and download The Special on to read on your Apple device, Amazon Kindle, or Kobo Clara. As with all of my short stories, this one is also coming soon to Barnes and Noble’s Nook.
