Deadly Victory: An Airton Paredes Episode

By R. A. Meenan

Airton Parades is a leading driver and competitor in the Formula Cross Championship, a top level motorsport racing known for speed, prestige. . . and death. No one pretends the sport is safe, with its powerful, unstable racecars, its dangerous tracks, and its lead CEO, Basile Thieery, actively fighting against drivers advocating for safer racing conditions.

But Airton harbors a secret. He is one of the Weredrivers, a driver gifted with the inner spirit of a beast designed to protect racers from unsafe conditions. Airton’s beast, Dragão, provides Airton with the hardened armor of a mythical dragon and the heightened senses of a wild creature, giving him supernatural driving skills.

But when a fellow driver dies, Airton glimpses ghostly specters swarming the crash site – and Basile may control the deadly creatures. Now Airton and Dragão must stop Basile and his track gremlins. . . before more drivers fall to Basile’s dangerous game.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R. A. Meenan
• Release date: Mar 2, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370393381

R. A. Meenan

R. A. Meenan was born in London during the golden age of science fiction, but somehow time traveled to the Modern Era (some say a mad man with a blue box was involved). She was dropped on the doorstep of a house owned by anthropomorphic cats and though they were disappointed she didn’t have furry ears and a tail, they took her in to teach her the ways of elemental magic. After setting fire to her furry cat friends’ tails one too many times (final score – fire: 2612, cat’s tails: 0) they called an exterminator and sent her out on her way.Now an adult (physically, not mentally), she ride-hops intergalactic military spacecraft, combing the outer reaches of space and time, writing science fiction and urban fantasy stories based on her experiences. She’s also hoping to find the perfect cup of coffee and a better way to grow dinosaurs. Humans kind of look at her funny, but she’s managed to make herself an honorary ambassador for furry and anthropomorphic aliens and space dragons.She carefully feeds and brushes her wonderful husband Joe and the pair have four furry children (which are really cats, but don’t tell them that) and one small child named after a video game. She also spends her spare time teaching essay-writing haters, molding them into people resembling Actual Students and Lovers of English.She may not win the hearts of stiff military men or students who want good grades for no effort, but she certainly captures the spirit and imagination of time travelers, magic users, nerds, Students-In-Training, and fantasy lovers. Welcome to her nonsensical world. We hope you like it here.

Book preview

Weredriver: Deadly Victory

An Airton Paredes Episode

R. A. Meenan

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Starcrest Fox Press

Copyright © 2016 by R. A. Meenan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator at the email address below.

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Cover art by R. A. Meenan. See her art on Instagram

@sammieauburn

Logo and Chapter Headings by Omni Jacala. See his art on Twitter

@artsyomni

This book was lovingly created by a human, not generated by A.I.

The scanning, uploading, copying, or distribution of this book without permission, as well as the processing of this contents to train A.I., is strictly prohibited and considered theft of the author’s intellectual property. Thank you for the support of the author’s rights.

Contents

Discover more titles by R. A. Meenan

Content Warning

1.One

2.Two

3.Three

4.Four

5.Five

6.Six

7.Seven

8.Eight

9.Nine

About the Author

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Facets of Color: Vol 1

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Content Warning

This book contains: Physical and mental abuse, violent deaths, mild swearing, mental health denial, and violent injuries. Please take care of your mental health if you find yourself struggling with the contents of this book.

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One

Airton stood next to the back wall in the driver's briefing room. He didn't trust himself to sit. He didn't trust himself to relax.

Dragão, the beast his body harbored, pressed against his consciousness with irritated, angry growls. Airton breathed in the dragon's frustration and let it surge through his system. Normally Airton would insist the beast stay back and allow him full use over his body, but today he needed his partner's anger. He couldn't keep silent anymore. Today, Dragão would be his strength.

If only the Formula Cross Championship chief executive would rear his ugly head. Oh, Airton and Dragão had words for him.

Twenty-three other drivers occupied the other seats, with a smattering of team bosses and principals, a handful of reserve drivers, and a few designers. The room bore an uncommon air of sobriety. Normally drivers would be chatty, talking about post-race plans or discussing the excitement of the upcoming event, but today people only spoke in hushed whispers, if they dared to speak at all. It was hard to ignore the empty seat in Centurion Racing's section of the room.

Yesterday during qualifying, Gale Gottfried had died.

It had been pouring rain during qualifying. The Stone River Circuit was dangerous enough in the dry, but it turned deadly in the wet. Even the most experienced drivers had been calling for qualifying to be canceled.

But the CEO, Basile Thieery, had insisted they run.

During Q2, the second qualifying run, Gale had hit a deep puddle, hydroplaned, and crashed into a solid safety wall. The front aerodynamic wing of his open wheeled racer snapped, slid up the front nose, and took Gale's head clean off.

Airton shuddered at the memory. Dragão purred comforting thoughts through his mind and his nerves calmed a bit.

His death was ghastly. Unforgiveable. And worse still, preventable. It should never have happened.

It was all Basile's fault.

A rustle of coveralls echoed through the room and every voice fell silent. Airton lifted his head.

Basile walked into the room, followed by two race stewards. He took his seat at the front of the room, folded his hands on the table, and breathed deeply. His wrinkled face barely hid a scowl and his thin gray hair had been