[Note from Steve:  Here is an excerpt from Aristocrats and Assassins, Copyright 2014, by Steven M. Moore.  Detective Castilblanco and the American Mossad agent Epstein, who pretends to be a reporter, are searching a house in the Munich suburbs, looking for Castilblanco’s wife, who has been kidnapped.  The ebook will be released in the first quarter of 2014.]

***

I hammered on the door with a doorknocker that reminded me of Dickens’ The Christmas Carol—I expected Marley’s ghost to open the heavy oak door or filter like fog through the wood.  Two steps led up from the pavers.  Except for our dress and a VW that negotiated the bumpy streets, we could have time-traveled back to the eighteen hundreds.

“Check the address,” I said to Epstein.

“I don’t need to,” she said.  “We’re in the right place.  You don’t expect the terrorists to come to the door and invite us in for tea, do you?”

“No, I expect the terrorists to be long gone, but hope we can find some clues.”

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[Note from Steve: This novel will complete the “Clones and Mutants Series,” making it into a trilogy.  Although it’s the sequel to Full Medical and Evil Agenda, it’s a stand-alone, just like all my novels.  For those who read the first two books, though, you will also find here Kalidas Metropolis and friends, the genetically enhanced super-soldier Sirena, and others, as well as your favorite evildoer, Vladimir Kalinin aka Rupert Snyder aka Sergio Battaglia.  But the latter also battles wits with a new villain….  Look for No Amber Waves of Grain, coming soon this fall!]

Chapter Eleven

Seoul, Korea

Gerard Fuchs didn’t like the East.  He knew many languages, but not one from the region.  His least favorite country was China, although he guessed their brand of fascist capitalism would soon become the standard world model—China Inc, his colleagues called it.  Korea was bad boy number two.  It was becoming almost as bad as China.  His favorite was Japan, which now was much tamer.

“You look jet-lagged, Mr. Fuchs.”  Kim Mun-Hee seemed sympathetic.  Interpol had assigned him to Fuchs.  Although a successful Interpol agent in his own right, the man from Lyon considered the Korean to be little more than a translator.

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With Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder, I continue the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.”  The sleuths of The Midas Bomb and Angels Need Not Apply will embroil you in action and suspense yet again.  As a mystery novel (my first), it is a dark probing into the nexus the crime underworld sometimes enjoys with the rich and powerful.  Chen is arrested for the murder of a senator in circumstances that seem to leave no doubt of her guilt, but Castilblanco helps prove her innocence.  With this new crime novel, I continue the saga of your two favorite detectives as they and their companions fight the corrupting influence of the illegal weapons trade.  Available soon.  Here is an excerpt:

***

“That’s one mixed-up kid,” said Chen as we tried to flag a taxi.

“Maybe you were the only sane one who went to bed with the bastard,” I said.

“You manage to praise me and insult my choices at the same time, Rollie.  That’s very efficient of you.”

A taxi stopped, she climbed in, and slid to the street side of the seat.  I followed her.  The cabby took Central Park North to Fifth.

“I’m assuming it wasn’t his power or money, so I’m at a loss.  But I’ll apologize.”  I raised my hands in defeat.  “I don’t think she did it.”

“I know you like Drach for the murder.  He does seem to be key.  Unless it was the hot dog vendor.”  The slight smile meant she accepted my apology.  “I take it you don’t like any of the ex-wives or girlfriends.  Besides Drach, who else could it be?”

“Well, there’s Kingsman and the old lady.  And how ‘bout Grasso?”

“I think Grasso leads to Drach.  Maybe we should determine who told him to put out the contract on me.”

A motorcycle pulled parallel with us.  Single rider dressed as messenger.  Not carrying packages, though.

“Down!”

Safety glass shattered as bullets slammed into the car.  The driver slumped, the car spun and rolled, we flipped twice, slid upside-down into a crowd, and ended by destroying a hydrant on Fifth between 92^nd and 93^rd.

My window was intact, so I used my Glock to break it.  I decided on second thought I would never fit through it.  I pushed down the door handle and gave the door a kick with both feet.  After the third time, it popped open.  We crawled out.

The driver was dead.  Chen was cut by flying glass.  I was OK but pissed.  We backed away when the gas tank exploded.

Two uniforms came running.  We flashed our badges.

“Didn’t happen to see anything, did you?” I said.

“Heard the shots,” said one.  “I think it was a guy on a cycle.  Delivery guy, maybe?”

“Call it in—backup, EMTs, coroner, the whole nine yards.  Then do some crowd control and start finding witnesses.  I want a license number and description.  The guy didn’t have a helmet.”

“That’s against the law now,” said the younger cop.

Maybe New York’s finest but not the brightest?  My expression wasn’t sympathetic.  Chen smiled.

***

 In libris libertas….

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Summary:

The sci-fi thriller Come Dance a Cumbia…with Stars in your Hand! completes “The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy,” a vision of the future that is troubling, inspiring, and astounding.  Survivors of the Chaos, the first book in the series, starts in dystopia and ends with hope for a new future on a planet in the 82 Eridani system.  In Sing a Samba Galactica, the second book, humans find friendly ETs there and battle unfriendly ones on another colony and Earth, but if you thought they and their ET friends would live happily in the Galaxy’s near-Earth space after the Singer saved the Swarm, you were wrong.

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