Benjamin Willcock's Silver Moon

I just want to give a quick mention to another blog novel that's kicking off this weekend. It's a science fiction thriller called Silver Moon and it's written by my DVDActive colleague and all round good bloke Benjamin Willcock.

It's going to be an exciting read and I'm sure you'll enjoy it if you've been following Rebirth.

Click the link below to visit his site:
http://www.benjaminwillcock.com/weblog/

Chapter 33: Successful Return

Commander North stood on the front steps of Hartley House, watching the sun go down behind the mountains in the distance. It had been a hard day but The Brotherhood had prevailed. They had successfully fought off meddling cops and one of them to rescue Doctor Owen and allow him to continue his noble work.

Doctor Forrest was still missing though. No one in the outside world had heard anything from him for several days, which meant that either he was dead or they were holding him captive for another reason. Commander North didn’t know which option was preferable for The Brotherhood or the doctor himself.

A squad of soldiers ran out of the door behind the commander and down the steps to a large clearing adjoining the drive in front of the house. They all checked their weapons and clicked the safety catches. They had to be prepared for every eventuality. Everyone was confident that the approaching helicopter carried Doctor Owen, Captain Stein and the surviving members of their squad but until they checked who was on board, they wouldn’t know for sure.

The helicopter glided over the grounds and touched down without incident. The soldiers lowered their weapons when they saw the passengers getting out of the helicopter and proceeding as expected. Most of the soldiers aboard the helicopter were bandaged in some way and did not appear to be seriously harmed but there should have been a few more of them.

A pair of soldiers escorted Doctor Owen, who was moving rather gingerly, up the front steps and into Hartley House. Commander North approached Captain Stein as he marched up the steps. They saluted each other as they met.

‘Congratulations,’ said Commander North, ‘I see the doctor has arrived in one piece.’

‘That’s correct sir, but we sustained losses during the extraction,’ said Captain Stein as he watched the soldiers start to unload the dead bodies from the helicopter.

Commander North didn’t bat an eyelid. ‘They were acceptable losses and you recovered the bodies,’ was his heartless reply, ‘the mission was completed successfully. How is the doctor?’

‘A bit shaken up but he’ll be okay. He didn’t say much on the flight over from the city.’

‘Does he have enough equipment to continue his work?’

‘Yes,’ said Captain Stein, ‘we have the basics and I believe there are enough samples here to allow him to catch up on the time he has lost in the last few days.’

‘Good. After the destruction of the lab last night, I expect him to be back on track by this time tomorrow. I’m going to return to regional HQ tonight once the helicopter has been refuelled so I’ll be in touch tomorrow. I expect you to present results the next time we see speak.’

‘Yes sir,’ said Captain Stein as they saluted each other before parting company.

Chapter 32: Dinner For Two

‘Sorry it’s not a candle-lit dinner for two,’ I said as we arrived at the hot dog stand around the corner from the hospital. The sun was lower in the sky and the humidity was starting to subside.

‘That’s okay,’ she said, ‘I haven’t eaten since breakfast and this is much better than the hospital canteen.’

‘Once we find the doctor and solve the murders, we’ll hit the town,’ I said speculatively.

‘Sounds good to me,’ she said. I wasn’t expecting her to reciprocate. I hoped she meant it.

I ordered and paid for two hot dogs: mustard and onions for me, ketchup and no onions for her. I took a bite and hoped it would stop the incessant rumbling in my stomach. I took the last bite of my hot dog and ordered a second before I’d finished off the first.

‘Pretty hungry, huh?’ she noticed.

‘I haven’t eaten all day either,’ I said, ‘Actually, I never really eat anything resembling food. If I have one more, it’ll be my first three course dinner in years.’ Agent Simpson laughed at that, which I wasn’t expecting. I had been hoping it would raise a smile though.

‘Someone needs to sort his life out, doesn’t he? Forgive me for being presumptuous but I’m guessing you’re not married. Am I right?’ Agent Simpson asked as she took a bite out of her hot dog. A spot of ketchup stuck in the corner of her mouth. Before I could decide whether to tell her or not, she licked it off. I must have stared at her for a second too long.

‘Well, am I right?’ she asked again.

‘What makes you say that?’ I asked sarcastically. She smiled again. God knows how, but I might actually be close to being charming here.

‘I was married,’ I said.

‘What happened?’

I decided to tell her. ‘She’s dead.’

Her face was suddenly filled with the look I always see when someone finds out about Sarah, a mixture of sympathy and wishing they’d never brought up the subject in the first place. Before she could say anything, I told her not to worry.

‘It was years ago. I’m over it now,’ I lied, ‘what about you?’

‘Never married. I’ve had a few near misses but I’ve got too much going on in my life. I don’t think I’ve got room for a man.’

‘A career woman, huh? Don’t you want kids? Part of me wants to have kids but another part of me knows that if I can’t even take good care of myself, the kids wouldn’t have a chance.’

‘I’m sure it’ll happen one day,’ she said, ‘there’s plenty of time left for both of us.’

My mind turned to the case. ‘So what the hell are we going to do? How can we compete with those guys today? You know more about this case than I do. Have you got any idea who they were?’

‘No idea at all,’ she replied almost instantly. She was a bit too quick to answer. I tried to push my suspicions to the back of my mind. ‘Whoever they are, they’re obviously well funded.’

‘And well trained. I thought they were military until they started killing cops. The problem now is that we’ve got nothing to go on. We’ve hit a dead end.’

‘Don’t lose heart. We’ll get a break. Silver bullets, remember? There can’t be many places that make silver bullets in this area. And we’ve still got Doctor Forrest to find.’

‘The best lead we’ve got is the doctor’s wife but now that he’s been taken again, it’s unlikely that she’ll be able to give us anything that will lead us to him now. I’ve been doing this for years but I still hate all the waiting around.’

‘Because you like to be in control? You don’t want to have to depend on other people,’ she speculated.

I looked at her.

‘Takes one to know one,’ she said and we both smiled.

We both leaned against the wall outside the hospital and shared a moment of peace, lost in our own thoughts as we finished our hot dogs. A cool breeze blew past us as the sun went down.

Chapter 31: Autopsy Number Two

For the second time in a matter of hours I was leaning over a dead body, only this time it was someone I knew. The naked body of Officer Myers lay on the operating table in front of me. His skin was pale. Most of his blood had soaked into the carpet on Doctor Forrest’s landing.

Only a few hours earlier, he had been a high-achieving officer who could have been my next partner. Now the only way he could help me was for his body to give us a clue to aid us in the search for Doctor Owen and his captors.

Doctor Schreiber was closely examining the wound in his neck and Agent Simpson was watching with a concerned look on her face. It crossed my mind that she probably hadn’t told me everything she knew about this case and I started to question whether she was purposely hiding something from me.

‘Well you’re certainly keeping me busy today, Tom,’ said Doctor Schreiber in his perpetually upbeat tone, ‘This is very interesting. It looks like this wound was caused by an animal bite.’

‘An animal bite? That’s not possible, Doc. There were no animals in the house,’ I said.

‘I’m only telling it like I see it, Detective. I’ve seen a wound like this before.’

‘When?’ asked Agent Simpson.

‘Two years ago, when a young man fell into the lion pen at the zoo. Poor guy.’

‘You’re saying he was bitten by a lion?’ I asked.

Doctor Schreiber shrugged his shoulders. ‘It’s the only time I’ve ever seen a wound like this and even then, it was a much bigger bite mark than this. I’ve found something else weird as well.’ He picked up a petri dish containing small silver pellets. ‘These are the bullets I pulled out of his back.’

I picked one up with a pair of metal tongs and held it up in the light. It was very shiny and felt heavier than a regular bullet. ‘What are they made of? Platinum? Silver?’

‘Something like that. Your shooter’s obviously not short of a few pennies. Like I said: very weird. I believe it was the gunshots that killed him, not the wound to the neck. Obviously he would have eventually died from blood loss but it was the gunshots that sent him on his way. At least you’ve made visual contact with the killers.’

‘Great. All I’ve got to do is find them, stop them blowing my brains out, arrest them and bring back the doctor. Simple as that, eh?’ Not a hint of sarcasm in my voice as I rolled my eyes.

I turned to Agent Simpson. ‘Why are you so interested in all of this? Shouldn’t you be back at Mantek helping to tidy up?’

She fired a look at me that told me I was over-stepping the mark.

‘Sorry,’ I conceded, ‘it’s been a long day. I should have been at home tucked up in bed today. Instead, here we are.’

‘Forget it,’ she said, ‘This isn’t exactly my idea of a good time either but the reason I’m here is the same reason you’re here. The whole case depends on us finding Doctor Owen. You have to find him to solve the murder. I have to find him to allow him to continue his work.’

Doctor Schreiber piped up. ‘Look, I’ve still got some work to do here so why don’t you go and wait outside?’

This was our best lead and we had to just sit outside and wait for Doctor Schreiber to finish cutting him up. My face must have betrayed my feelings because the doctor commented immediately after looking me in the eye.

‘Okay Detective, if you want to stay here and help, be my guest but like you say, it’s been a long day. I think you can be forgiven for taking a few minutes off. I promise to tell you as soon as I find out anything at all.’

He’s got a point, I thought.

‘Sounds good to me,’ I said, relaxing slightly and turned to Agent Simpson, realising how long it had been since I’d eaten. ‘Can I buy you dinner?’

She nodded with a smile.

Rebirth now available in print at Lulu.com

Rebirth is now available in print at www.lulu.com
The 240-page paperback contains all 94 chapters that will be posted on this blog so if you can't wait to find out what happens, you can pick up a copy for just £7.99 + p&p



Distribution via Amazon is in the works but for now, if you have any problems ordering from lulu.com, send an email to s.a.mckenzie@gmail.com and I will send you a copy.

Please note that all chapters will be posted on this blog... I won't leave a cliffhanger and force you to buy the book to find out what happens!