Ares Road
Jake Caldwell, #2
by James L. Weaver
Publication
date: March 2nd 2017
Published
by: Lakewater Press
Genres:
Adult, Thriller
With his days as a mob enforcer
behind him, Jake Caldwell’s trying to go straight.
But it seems his past
won’t let him go.
His first job working as a
private investigator turns up a teenage girl screaming down a dead man’s cell
phone, and Logan, his mentor and the only man with answers, beaten into a coma.
Now Jake’s taking it
personally.
The only clues Jake has to
unravel the mystery are a Russian with a stolen, silver briefcase and three
names: Snell, Parley and Ares. Teaming up with his best friend Bear, the
Sheriff of his home town, and an attractive FBI agent, Jake quickly discovers
they’re not the only ones looking for the briefcase and its deadly contents.
It’s no longer about
seeking revenge.
The thrilling second book in the
Jake Caldwell series is a heart-stopping ride that won’t disappoint fans.
EXCERPT:
“How do
you know, Mr. Logan?” a uniformed cop named Murphy asked Jake while a couple of
young paramedics tended to Logan. Murphy had a low forehead and wide-set eyes,
and spoke like he’d been dropped on his head multiple times as a child.
“We work together.”
“You a PI, too?”
“Sort of. I was learning the ropes from Jack. Don’t have a license
yet.”
Murphy jotted in a notebook. Paramedics wheeled Logan out of the
office on a stretcher, and Jake wondered how they would get him down those
three flights of narrow stairs. A rail-thin, black detective with a shaved head
and a cheap, tan suit slipped into the room. His polar opposite partner
squeezed through the door, red faced with beads of sweat rolling down his jowls
from the three-flight climb. The fat one was as tall as he was wide and waddled
into Logan’s office. The bald one talked to Murphy, took some notes, and turned
to Jake.
“I’m Detective Ogio. You know Jack Logan long, Mr. Caldwell?”
“Three years,” Jake answered. “We were supposed to meet tonight.”
“To do what?”
The detective waited with raised eyebrows for an answer. Ogio’s
acorn eyes were hooded, giving him a sleepy look, but there was light there.
The guy wasn’t stupid. He was suspicious of Jake, which pissed him off because
he’d given them no reason to be suspicious. Plus, Jake couldn’t tell the cop
the truth because it would start a whole line of questions he didn’t want to
answer. He had to stonewall them.
“We were going out to dinner,” Jake lied.
“Where?”
“Does it matter?”
“It does if I’m asking the question.”
“I didn’t do this,” Jake said.
“I didn’t say you did. You’re a big guy, though. Six two and
what…two hundred twenty pounds?”
“Six three, two thirty. Like that matters. Why would I beat the
shit out of him and then call you guys?”
“Like I said, I didn’t say you did. Why are you getting
defensive?”
“You think I’m being defensive?” Jake asked.
Ogio’s head ticked to the side. “A little.”
“I’m worried, that’s all. My buddy just got his ass kicked.”
“What were you guys working on?”
Jake shifted, tired of answering these banal questions.
“We were between jobs.”
“Must make it tough to learn the ropes.”
“What ropes?”
Ogio’s thin lips pressed together. “The ones Officer Murphy said
you were learning from Mr. Logan.”
“A bit. We done here? I want to go to the hospital.”
“Why do you think Mr. Logan’s office was trashed?”
“Somebody was looking for something.” Jake hoped the detective
caught his sarcasm. He laid it on pretty thick.
“You think? Maybe you should be a detective.”
“Maybe you should too.”
Ogio grinned. He clearly had a good nature. “He say anything to
you about anyone being after him?”
“He said he did a lot of divorce cases. Maybe someone looked for
photos of their cheating wife.”
“Always possible,” the detective said. He handed Jake his
card—Thomas Ogio.
“Where are they taking Logan?”
“Truman Medical Center,” Ogio answered, flipping his notebook
shut. “You got my number. Call me if you think of anything else. Stay
reachable.”
Ogio headed toward Logan’s office to join his partner. Jake strode
out the door, down the steps, and out into the early March evening. He stood on
the sidewalk wondering what to do. Did Logan meet with his contact that would
lead them to Voleski? Did the contact do this to him? Was this about another
case? Somebody wanted something up there and it wasn’t divorce photos. What did
Logan say? The less you know on this one, the better.
Jake rubbed his hand over the day’s growth on his face. The one
person who could answer his questions and give him a direction to go was Logan.
Jake jumped in his truck and headed toward Truman Medical Center.
Author Info
James L Weaver is the
Kansas City author of the Jake Caldwell series featuring IAN Thriller of the Year
finalist Poor Boy Road and soon to be released Ares Road from Lakewater Press.
He makes his home in Olathe, Kansas with his wife of 19 years and two children.
His previous publishing credits include a six part story called “The Nuts” and
his 5-star rated debut novel Jack & Diane which is available on Amazon.com.
Author note: a handful of the raters are actually not related to him.
Author
Links:
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