Decisive Sunset

By Jack Kregas

Joey Moretti watches the sunset from his beach home with Mira and his new daughter. His life is now settled until he receives news that his uncle has been assaulted while in the hospital. The Moretti group of companies are under an attack by unknown sources. Then unexpectedly Mira and his new baby are the target of violence. It has become personal.

Who is behind these actions? Who can be trusted? How to protect himself and his family?

Joey and a friend follow leads from Aruba to New York trying to uncover the answers to these questions. The deeper they dig, the more shocking the information they find.

Betrayal, torture, and revenge are old friends of Joey. He adjusts to surprises and pain in order to deal with an unforeseen ending of this latest challenge.

If he survives he promises himself he will no longer watch the sunsets but make a decisive decision.

Decisive Sunset is the fourth novel in the Joey Moretti series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Kregas
• Release date: Jun 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463765678

Jack Kregas

Jack Kregas was born in New England in the north east of the United States. After a stint in the US Army, he was discharged in Europe and the next forty years were spent skiing and living life to the max as well as creating several successful businesses.Winters in the Alps and summers windsurfing on Maui, Jack departed Switzerland for Maui full time with his Australian wife and small daughter. After five years he moved the family to Australia and became an Australian citizen.Jack now lives in Brisbane and plays golf and tournament poker. After having published his first book in 2015, an autobiography, It's All About Me and a few others of his adventurous life, he has written another thirteen books the latest being THE VEGAS TRANSACTIONS published in July 2021 and How to lose at Texas Holdem in September 2121.

Book preview

Jack Kregas was born in New England in the north east of the United States. After a stint in the US Army, he was discharged in Europe and the next forty years were spent skiing and living life to the max as well as creating several successful businesses.

After many winters in the Alps and summers windsurfing on Maui, Jack departed Switzerland for Maui full-time with his Australian wife and small daughter. Five years later, he moved to Australia with his family and became an Australian citizen.

Jack now lives in Brisbane and plays golf and tournament poker. After publishing his first book in 2015, an autobiography of his adventurous life, he has written another seven books.

OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Fiction

Joey Moretti Thrillers

Mystical Glasses

Innocent Retribution

Contested Ransom

Other Fiction

Choice Cruise Lines

Tall Tales – a Collection of Short Stories

Non-fiction

It’s All About Me and a few others

It’s Not Only About Me

DECISIVE SUNSET

by

JACK KREGAS

The fourth novel

in the Joey Moretti Series

Publishing Details

Decisive Sunset

© Jack Kregas

The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright restrictions above, no part of the production may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

1st Edition 2017

Copyright: Jack Kregas 2017

This book is copyright

Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission.

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters in this book are fabricated from the imagination of the author. Some places and locations maybe real, others are not. Any similarity to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

This book is dedicated to my brother Jim and to my cousins Carol, John, and Harry, and those I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting

Many thanks again to my editors Susan and Megan, who enjoy finding the errors I leave for them to correct.

Chapter 1

Mira turned her SUV into the Costco parking lot. She glanced at her watch. The store would open in ten minutes allowing her to do her shopping before the crowds arrived. She drove as close as possible to the entrance finding a parking space. At this time of day the lot was about a third full.

As she got out and moved to the rear of her vehicle, Mira noticed a black van approach with the side door slightly open. A car passed between her and the van. The side door of the van closed and the van continued as if looking for a place to park in a lot where there were plenty of spaces.

Mira unloaded the stroller from the SUV, placing the baby things she needed to have with her, into it. She then closed the back and opened the door behind the driver’s seat to unbuckle her four-month-old daughter to place her in the stroller. Her daughter was asleep so Mira handled her gently. Mira was aware the van had turned and was now coming back towards her. Many years ago, Joey had taught her to be aware of her surroundings at all times.

There are a lot of crazies everywhere. It pays to be prepared and cautious.

The van quickly pulled in two spaces from her. Two hooded men jumped from the side door, both armed. Mira knelt beside the stroller reaching under the blanket where her daughter slept and retrieved a Glock 19 nine millimeter. She took a deep breath. Muscle memory kicked in. Hundreds of rounds fired in the desert with Joey had trained her well.

She gripped the weapon with her right hand, her trigger finger extended outside the trigger housing on the right side. Her left hand jacked a round into the chamber then found its place in position on the grip. In one motion, she rose into a fighting stance square to the target. Both eyes were open with the right one concentrating on the sights.

The trigger finger gently squeezed off a round hitting the first man in the head. He dropped to the ground. The second man raised an Uzi. Two shots caught him in the chest before he could think about using it.

Mira moved slowly forward towards the van while holding the weapon in both hands firing five shots into the van. The van jumped forward and crashed into a car then careered into a light pole. Mira walked to the van. The driver was slumped over the wheel bleeding and trying to speak. Mira shot him in the head.

She walked back to the stroller. The baby was still asleep. Mira sat beside the stroller and placed the Glock on the ground away from her. She reached for her phone and dialed. Sirens wailed in the distance.

Chapter 2

Thirteen months before….

Joey rubbed Mira’s stomach. At two months, there was no pronounced baby bump.

It’s growing and before long there will be many changes in this house. Maybe you won’t like me fat and tired.

That thought had never entered Joey’s mind. They had been together for over three years. It had been good between them from the first casual meeting in a coffee shop, strengthening with the unexpected dangers they had dealt with concerning Mira’s crazed, and now deceased husband. Now they were a loved-up, devoted couple expecting a child neither had planned.

With all that we’ve experienced together, I don’t see how a bit of body fat that we can work off or even a screaming baby will change anything. We have been tested more than once, more than anyone could imagine, and here we are! You’re not too tired now, are you?

Mira knew what that meant and turned towards him.

Joey was fifty-seven-years old. He kept in very good shape by watching what he ate and riding many miles on his mountain bike. His hair was graying, giving him an air of authority. At 6’1, he could afford the few pounds that constantly tried to sneak up on his waistline. He blamed Mira’s cooking even though the real reason was that he loved to eat. The house they lived in was located on a hill overlooking the beach in Southern California. They had been there over a year and had made it their home. Now changes were imminent to accommodate the baby’s arrival.

One of the spare bedrooms was to be the baby’s room. Joey had been shocked when Mira announced she was pregnant. They had never considered having a child as both thought they were too old. Mira thought she couldn’t get pregnant but it happened. Mira was forty-four-years old but looked thirty-five or less. Dark hair with dark eyes were only part of her Mexican ancestry. She had beautiful skin and her body was well toned from surfing.

Secretly she had always wanted a child. It didn’t happen in her disastrous marriage and since her time with Joey, it had never been discussed. She was with a man she loved, a man she knew adored her and had been willing to risk his life for her more than once. Joey was not perfect but he was perfect for her. They both were very excited about the unexpected addition to their family.

Joey Moretti was far from perfect. He was a combination of many people or personalities. He didn’t suffer from a multiple personality disorder although at times in his past he might have admitted he was. Looking back on his life, Joey often thought he was doomed from birth. Born in the lower East Side of New York City, his family was involved in one of the traditional Italian businesses, the mafia. His uncle was the man in charge. His father was killed in a shootout with police. His cousin Stefano was one of his few friends while growing up.

Joey was smart, enrolling in law school and on the road to becoming a lawyer as well as working part time for Stefano who was fully involved in the family business. Joey had no desire to become involved and distanced himself as best he could. Then at twenty, his world blew up. The love of his life overdosed, or was she murdered? His uncle was shot gangland style. Stefano took over the Moretti family. It was all in the papers. There were books about it. Joey left New York and disappeared.

Stefano continued to support Joey, placing money into a bank account for him without ever knowing where he was or what he was doing. Joey was a traveler. First around Europe, then years hitchhiking around the western US and Canada doing odd jobs, never staying in one place for too long.

While hitching on a long road to nowhere in the Californian desert, Joey picked up a ride with a Native American, Coyote who invited him to his home. He became friends with Coyote and his family. Joey had found a home on a reservation, secluded from the norms of everyday life. He became a teacher and was a counsel for the tribe advising them on their entry into the growth of casino gambling on Indian Reservations.

Life was good for Joey. He had found his place. His hair was long and his body, strong and tanned. He could ride bareback with the best of them. He admired Coyote and the ability and honesty he had in managing the differences within his tribe. He fell in love and married Coyote’s sister. They had a family. Devastating circumstances beyond his control upset this existence.

Joey became the face of innocent retribution and disappeared, becoming a nomadic wanderer again.

He eventually took a part-time job as a dealer in a Reno casino and learned to play Texas Hold’em Poker. Realizing he had poker skills, Joey moved to Vegas to play in more tournaments. Vegas became too intense so he moved to Redondo Beach, California where he could play poker in the Indian Casinos located nearby while having a far quieter life than Vegas. It was there he met Mira.

One of the mysteries of life is how two people from different backgrounds can meet by chance and click. So it was for Joey and Mira with instant attraction on many levels. The timing was right for both as it led to a meaningful relationship. It also became deadly as shortly after meeting Mira, her ex-husband was released from prison with a plan to stalk and kill her. Joey was committed to protecting Mira and himself by devising an elaborate plan to put an end to the threat to their lives.

In doing so, he was compelled to reach out to Stefano for help. That was the first contact he had had with any member of the Moretti family in many, many years. Stefano had the connections. Joey incorporated them with his skills to bring an unforeseen end to the menace that had dogged them for months.

In one of the surprise outcomes, Mira came into an inheritance that afforded them to buy the home they now occupied. Mira surfed and Joey played occasional poker tournaments, settling into a life together and bringing them closer as a couple. They were private, having few friends by choice, keeping to themselves and doing as they pleased. The ideal life with a loving couple until they were tested again.

The Moretti name was never far from trouble. Joey had spent his life avoiding it. Somehow, it always seemed to find him. A phone call in the middle of the night from a frantic Stefano informed him that Stefano’s adopted daughter, Petra, had been kidnapped in Mexico. He was asking Joey to help. Family is family and Stefano had helped Joey. He had no choice but to agree to see what he could do.

Mira was not one to be put off and stay at home. She spoke Spanish, looked the part and knew she could help. Joey had trained her in self-defense and the use of a pistol when they had taken precautions in regards to the ex-husband. She was going to Mexico with Joey. Once in Mexico, they realized it was far more complicated than Stefano had described. Ransom demands, death threats, cartel connections, and very bad characters stood between them and safely rescuing Petra. In intensely dangerous circumstances, Mira saw first-hand, a side of Joey she had not known.

It was the fourth time in his life that Joey had to become that other Joey who dwelt within him. The one who got the necessary result regardless of the conditions and who was compromised. The Joey took charge of a military-like operation with the most unlikely of allies. Contest the ransom, rescue Petra, and escape with their lives was the goal. A traumatized Petra was flown out