Serial (9 page)

The carriage picked up speed, scared horses hauling the rig at a full gallop. The wagon rocked back and forth on the uneven terrain as it plunged into the desert nocturne. Whistler could still hear the howling, but they seemed to be moving away from it. All he heard were the sounds of the wooden wheels on the rocks, the squeaking of the chassis suspension and the loud pounding of the hooves. He looked across from him in the tight, trembling quarters to see the hooker frozen in the leather seat a few feet away, pale fragile face staring out the open window of the stagecoach, eyes bugging out.
 

“Hurry, hurry…” she murmured.
 

The big wolves bayed.

And gave chase.

The bounty hunter drew both pistols and gripped them in his fists, looking out the other window. The moon was waxen. Vague jagged landscape and blurred rock formations rushed past in near total darkness. The wagon was picking up speed, hurtling recklessly now, shuddering carriage violently jarred by the broken trail. It hit a big rock and rose off its wheels, slamming down on its suspension so hard it tossed him and the woman to and fro. She screamed again and held onto the leather hand straps for dear life. The bounty hunter leaned up against the window, pistols at ready and looked out, thinking he caught glimpses of big, bounding black forms keeping pace with the speeding stagecoach.

The loud dull report of a shotgun blast sounded from the roof.

Then another.

Something hit the other side of the stagecoach like a boulder, knocking the wagon into a veering fishtail.
 

The old man released a horrible high-pitched scream of agony as his body was dragged off the roof seat and smashed against the door in a blur of cloth and red flesh with a bone-snapping
thud bang crack
.

The hooker saw the driver torn from the carriage and was screaming hysterically now. Whistler had to slap her silly to shut her up as he crawled across the seat to look out the other window. He fired two shots blind into the blackness, hopefully at least wounding a few of the things.

With a terrible crash, something landed on the roof so heavy it cracked the wooden ceiling.

Serial

Tim Marquitz

Two serial killers in a battle…to the death!

Murder is business as usual for Homicide Detective Isaac Grant, but when he’s called to examine a body, he realizes an uncomfortable truth: There’s a serial killer on the prowl in the dusty, southwest city of El Paso…a second one.

With two killers dueling for territory, it’s only a few days before there’s another murder, the battle waged through the media. And as the killings escalate, each more horrific and daring than the last, Isaac is caught in the middle. No matter who wins, blood will be shed.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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Serial

Copyright © 2013 by Tim Marquitz

ISBN: 978-1-61921-621-1

Edited by Don D’Auria

Cover by Scott Carpenter

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: November 2013

www.samhainpublishing.com