Handoff (Dark Reflections)

By Dean Murray

Adam thought the job was going to be easy. Overwatch while some rich eccentric took care of a straightforward transfer of merchandise. It hardly justified the presence of a one mercenary let alone a squad backed up by two very skilled snipers.

Adam had seen action on two separate continents and thought he’d seen everything. He’s about to get a glimpse into a world more dangerous than any he’d previously imagined.

Author’s note: Handoff is part of the Dark Reflection’s series of stories. Dark Reflections explores an alternate timeline with many of the same characters from the Reflections books. Handoff is a 4,700 word short story.

Praise for Broken and Torn:
"Couldn't put it down...I planned to read for a couple of hours...I literally could not stop as planned. It was 2:00 AM the next morning when I finished the book and was able to stumble off to bed." –LCM

"Torn by Dean Murray was a fantastic and refreshing twist on Shape-shifters...phenomenally executed. Those who love a good werewolf/shape-shifter story will tear Torn apart, and those who love their romance with a bite will fall in love with Torn. I'm confident that it will appeal to both boys and girls...I would absolutely recommend this." -Shana (California)

"Seriously, I had to remind myself that Adriana wasn't real and I couldn't help her! I could feel her pain and confusion. What a wonderful gift author Dean Murray has for creating and penning such likable characters." -Dr. Deb (Colorado)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Firshan Publishing
• Release date: Nov 22, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465768759

Dean Murray

Dean started reading seriously in the second grade due to a competition and has spent most of the subsequent three decades lost in other people's worlds. After reading several local libraries more or less dry of sci-fi and fantasy, he started spending more time wandering around worlds of his own creation to avoid the boredom of the 'real' world.Things worsened, or improved depending on your point of view, when he first started experimenting with writing while finishing up his accounting degree. These days Dean has a wonderful wife and daughter to keep him rather more grounded, but the idea of bringing others along with him as he meets interesting new people in universes nobody else has ever seen tends to drag him back to his computer on a fairly regular basis.

Book preview

Handoff

by Dean Murray

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 by Dean Murray

If this goes on much longer, I'm going to have to kill someone just so we can see some real action.

Pitch looked like he wanted to cuff Mouth, but even Pitch had to think twice before getting physical with Mouth. It wasn't Mouth's appearance. Compared to some of the merc's that routinely worked for the Lieutenant, Mouth was practically a choir boy. Blond hair, blue eyes and a square jaw that had been known to lure in girls who really should have known better.

It wasn't ever the surface that tipped people off about Mouth, it was all the stuff just under the skin. Adam was pretty sure Mouth was ex-military, but if so he'd never made it through his tour to be honorably discharged. Anyone who'd spent time at the front knew you could get away with a lot when it was just you and your unit stuck in the middle of some forsaken bit of swamp, but Adam had never been in any unit that would have let Mouth pursue his more exotic vices, and Mouth wasn't known for his self-restraint.

Pitch, an ex-sergeant from the Marines, apparently decided he couldn't let the comment pass without at least making motions to rein Mouth in.

Quiet. You're supposed to be pretending to be a hole in the night.

Whatever, Pitchy. This is just another milk run. I signed on to get stuck in, not babysit abandoned train yards.

I don't care what you signed on for, you signed on. That means until the Lieutenant says otherwise, you'll babysit whatever I tell you to babysit, or you'll be out on your ass again looking for work.