In The Eye Of The Hawk: The Hawk Series Book 1

By Rex Barton

Hawk used his patrol unit to do a pit maneuver on John Blood's GTO. At 65 to 70 mph on the narrow dirt road, Hawk drove his unit hard into the right rear bumper of the GTO, then backed off rapidly. Blood could not keep control any longer as the GTO spun first left then right, flipping over and over a hundred feet down the side of the cliff. Hawk

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hawk Tales Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Feb 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781957220413

Rex Barton

Rex Barton was born June 24, 1944, in Santa Barbara, California, USA. Raised by his loving grandparents on a walnut farm in Ventura, California, he learned to be an avid horseman and care for all animals big and small, from an elephant to a hummingbird.In the summer of 1962, he joined the United States Army and completed his basic and military occupational specialty (MOS) training at Fort Ord Army post on Monterey Bay in California. Subsequently, he was stationed in Berlin, Germany, a cold war zone, and assigned to the 287th Military Police Company as a Military Policeman (MP) for almost five years. The duties were to guard military and civilian train passengers through dangerous zones, conduct routine patrols in the sectors, boat patrol Wannsee Lake and surrounding waterways, and assist with working on cases in the Criminal Investigation Division (CID). His stories are captivating and intense.In March 1967, Rex became a Deputy Sheriff/Deputy Coroner with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department where he served over seven years until he retired in 1974 due to a service-related disability. He worked in numerous divisions, including patrol, detention, courts/civil, juvenile, and investigations. After relocating to the Channel Island area near Ventura, Rex became a licensed, independent Mortgage Broker/Realtor for many years.In 2013, Rex moved with his wife to the Pacific Northwest where he enjoys writing novels in various genres.

Book preview

ISBN 978-1-957220-40-6 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-957220-41-3 (digital)

Copyright Rex Barton

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be 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. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Hawk Tales Publishing, LLC

www.HawkTalesPublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Cover Illustration:

Pictured is a Red-tailed Hawk by the Author Rex Barton

The Hawk Series is a work of fiction by the author. Many of the incidents written about are real. The events, timelines, boundaries, borders, names and dates whether actual or not, and people – living or dead – are entirely coincidental.

Published by Hawk Tales Publishing LLC 10/25/2021

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author.

Scripture quotations are taken from the NIV (New International Version) of the King James Bible, New Testament in Modern English. Published by Tyndale House Publishers Inc, Wheaton, Illinois, and Zondervan Publishing House; Grand Rapids, Michigan, The Life Application Bible is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. and copyright: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991

Dedications

I dedicate In The Eye Of The Hawk to all the hard-working people in Law Enforcement, Fire Departments, Military, Coast Guard, and the Medical teams around the world who attempt to give life and freedom even when it may be temporarily gone. Thank you. God Bless each and everyone of YOU! It comes at a very steep cost. I know.

To Antoinette, my wife, your loving-kindness, continued encouragement, and first-round editing kept me going in times that were tough and fearful. My writing took on a life of its own and you allowed me the experience of finding my words and loving me, no matter what. I know how hard it must have been reading our life over on every page. Mattered not the pain, losses, tears, nights of fear, and crying for the wounded and broken parts. I love you and need you always. Thank You.

Julianna, your reading of each chapter prior to the publishers and editors gave me hope and encouragement to write the next chapter. You helped in research, and that was much appreciated. Love you Always.

Thank you to Jodi Pappas who helps make it all possible. I am truly grateful for all your time and effort navigating through the writing industry and seeing each novel through to completion. Your dedication and hard work inspire me to become a better writer.

Acknowledgements

Olympic Peninsula Equine Network-OPEN

251 Roupe Road

Sequim, WA 98382

[phone]

https://www.olypenequinenet.org/

https://www.facebook.com/Openolympicpeninsulaequinenetwork

My appreciation to Olympic Peninsula Equine Network – OPEN. Your dedication and labor of love for the animals in your care are truly inspirational. To all my readers, I encourage you to support your local animal shelters however you can.

Author’s Note

To all of you who have ever suffered with a broken spirit, I encourage you to keep the faith and don’t lose hope. You are not the only one. Reach out to others you trust. Communication is the key to getting better!

Resources:

• Veterans Crisis Line: 1-800-273-8255 and Press 1

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

• Mental Health Hotline: [phone]

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

(John 3:16) NIV

QUOTE

A good life is one that chooses the path your creator made especially for you and then follows it.

—Anonymous

Author Bio

Rex Barton was born June 24, 1944, in Santa Barbara, California, USA. Raised by his loving grandparents on a walnut farm in Ventura, California, he learned to be an avid horseman and care for all animals big and small, from an elephant to a hummingbird.

In the summer of 1962, he joined the United States Army and completed his basic and military occupational specialty (MOS) training at Fort Ord Army post on Monterey Bay in California. Subsequently, he was stationed in Berlin, Germany, a cold war zone, and assigned to the 287th Military Police Company as a Military Policeman (MP) for almost five years. The duties were to guard military and civilian train passengers through dangerous zones, conduct routine patrols in the sectors, boat patrol Wannsee Lake and surrounding waterways, and assist with working on cases in the Criminal Investigation Division (CID). His stories are captivating and intense.

In March 1967, Rex became a Deputy Sheriff/Deputy Coroner with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department where he served over seven years until he retired in 1974 due to a service-related disability. He worked in numerous divisions, including patrol, detention, courts/civil, juvenile, and investigations. After relocating to the Channel Island area near Ventura, Rex became a licensed, independent Mortgage Broker/Realtor for many years.

In 2013, Rex moved with his wife to the Pacific Northwest where he enjoys writing novels in various genres.

Contents

Chapter 1 The Blood Assassin

Chapter 2 A New Sergeant in Town

Chapter 3 Formula not for Babies

Chapter 4 Dumped by Mistake

Chapter 5 Glock Time

Chapter 6 Secrets can Kill

Chapter 7 Contempt

Chapter 8 Vengeance is Mine

CHAPTER 1

The Blood Assassin

Circa 1969

Any month on the Central Coast is a good month. The sun always seems to shine; the smell of fresh sea air blowing in from the Pacific Ocean is refreshing, and many different flowers are still in bloom in the freeway median. That’s how it was in October of 1969. The other thing that was high was Hawk’s adrenaline because, on this day, he was involved in a high-speed chase northbound on the 101 Freeway at speeds over a hundred miles per hour. He was in the pursuit of his life after one of the FBI’s most-wanted killers. Hawk’s patrol unit was running with red lights and siren. Ahead of him was a silver 1969 Pontiac GTO.

The driver was a Larry Blood, a known assassin with a long rap sheet of kills, everything from pet dogs to horses, husbands wanting partners or wives killed, police officers, firefighters, known criminals, and politicians. It mattered little to Larry Blood. If you were on his list, you were already dead. The money for the kill was already in his offshore bank account, just waiting for his pick-up time. These were not Hawk’s words, but Agent Kevin King’s of the FBI, who had alerted Hawk’s team at their briefing the previous afternoon. Blood was in their area, and if they spotted him, they were to immediately notify the FBI of his location and stand down. The FBI did not want any more murders on their watch.

Blood had an appropriate last name for one of the world’s most wanted and deadliest killers ever known. How did he make it this long without being detected and brought to justice? Why didn’t our government, or any government for that matter, put this sick dog out of his misery? Hawk thought. And now, here he was, chasing one of the most-wanted killers on HWY 101 through his town, Santa Barbara, California.

After the morning briefing, Hawk checked his patrol unit for an assault rifle, ammo, flack-jacket, first aid, and emergency gear, and then he checked the radio. The last thing on his list, but one of the most important, was checking the tires and fluids of the patrol unit. Having been a sports car driver and racer in Europe while in the military, Hawk was keenly aware of the importance of safety. Too many patrol cars were rendered useless and out of service because of the lack of simple checks.

As a deputy sheriff in his county of over 150,000 people, it was critical that he, or any law enforcement officer, be where needed if called for help. There was nothing worse than a call back to dispatch that Unit 7 was out of service due to a flat tire, low oil, the engine light being on, or the car not starting. Lives were at stake, and straightforward solutions like checking the obvious were critically necessary, though often forgotten. Hawk couldn’t live with himself if he had to tell someone who’d just lost a family member or a home in a fire, Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner, but my car wasn’t running very well.

At the briefing, Hawk was given a notification to go south to the Ventura-Santa Barbara County line and take a report of an attempted burglary from earlier in the day. He left the county garage after checking his unit out thoroughly and headed south to the caller’s residence.

The unit in the field at the time was busy with a traffic fatality and was unable to make contact and take the burglary report. An attempted burglary was not the same as a burglary in progress, so there was no real urgency to take the report.

After pulling up to the address, Hawk got out of the patrol car and walked up to the front door. As he did, he heard some muffled noises inside and decided to knock reasonably hard on the door. The voices he heard were a man telling someone to shut up and a woman saying, Please, no, and then crying. Hawk knocked two times more and listened. The next sound was somewhat familiar to him: a crack, like someone’s neck being twisted around or a stick broken. Then a heavy object dropped to the floor. Next, he heard the back door opening and the screen door slamming shut. Hawk knew something wasn’t right, so he strode to the side of the house where a dog was barking in an enclosed fenced side yard, and then he heard the deep, throaty sounds of a muscle car starting up. The dog was safe enough, and Hawk pulled his service revolver out of his holster and carefully looked through a tall hibiscus plant toward the sounds of a car burning rubber. It was a newer silver GTO.

Taking a compulsory look through the kitchen window, Hawk saw the naked body of a young woman lying on the floor. Opening the gate and then the back-kitchen door, he ran to the victim’s side to check for a pulse on her neck and wrist. Nothing. She was dead, mostly from a broken neck. Her head was twisted grotesquely to one side. That was the hideous crack that Hawk had heard while standing at the front door. Looking down at the naked body of this young girl, Hawk could not help but notice how beautiful she was, and now her body was lifeless.

What Hawk saw made him emotionally sick and angry. All the signs were there that she had been beaten, tied up, and violated in the worst way. It was also apparent that she hadn’t given in to the abuse that easily. There was blood under her fingernails, and some of her nails were broken off. Her legs were bruised, as were her face and arms. Numerous lacerations were apparent everywhere. She had struggled to live until the final moment when the perpetrator had snapped her neck and run out the back door. Was this the Larry Blood that the FBI was talking about? Every sign pointed to that, including the silver GTO speeding off down the driveway.

Hawk holstered his weapon while running to the front door. He and his team had been told in a briefing by the FBI not to engage this guy, but he had a new murder on his hands, and he determined this was going to be this dude’s last. Hawk wasn’t thinking of killing him yet, but those thoughts did become paramount in his mind as he watched Blood’s GTO careening off cars while speeding north on the 101, attempting to escape yet another murder, this one a beautiful young woman who’d had her entire life ahead of her.

Next to her body had lain a bath towel with blood on it, and before jumping up and running out the front door, Hawk had taken a moment to cover her nude body. Even though she was dead, she deserved respect. This was a primary crime scene now, and many people would be walking in and out of the residence. A question crossed Hawk’s mind as he ran to his patrol unit: How did dispatch get this so wrong? Attempted burglary? He would ascertain the answer later.

Hawk opened the patrol car driver door, fastened the seat belt, started the engine, and turned on the red lights and siren. He shifted into reverse and backed out of the driveway with his rear tires smoking. At the appropriate moment, Hawk pulled the automatic shifter down to drive with his foot still on the accelerator and turned the wheel. He was now headed out the drive and onto the two-lane road in pursuit of the GTO.

Hawk’s tires were as hot as lava, and he was up to speeds of eighty miles per hour on a little two-lane road just inside the Rincon, Ventura County, line. He could see the aftermath of the silver GTO’s direction. Several cars had been sideswiped while the driver maneuvered around them, cutting the angles a little too close. As Hawk sped by, he looked for injuries and radioed for assistance. He told dispatch to send units to the accident scenes and alerted the Highway Patrol of his 10-20 (location), northbound on the 101, in pursuit of the silver GTO wanted by the FBI.

Ten-four, Unit 7, stand by! was Hawk’s new order. Not this time. They didn’t have all the facts yet. Hawk’s foot pushed to the floorboard, causing the speedometer needle to hit the stop post hard.

Dispatch, this guy is driving like a maniac, bouncing off cars and the median cement retaining wall. Tell the Highway Patrol to follow, not to barricade at this time. Too much traffic heading north.

Ten-Four, Unit 7. Stand by, please, for the WC (watch commander).

A few seconds later, Hawk listened over the radio and heard the following message: Unit 7, back it off right now. It was Numbnuts, of course, Hawk’s watch commander.

Then Hawk heard another very familiar voice, that of the undersheriff, on the dispatch radio: Unit 7, turn your radio settings to 1410.

This was a private radio frequency that allowed dispatch to talk with any patrolman without interfering with other emergency traffic calls or civilian ears.

Hawk: Unit 7, standing by on 1410 now.

Dispatch: Hawk, this is the undersheriff.

Hawk: Yes, sir.

Dispatch: Can you safely affect a stop or not?

Hawk: Yes, sir, I can once this guy is above El Capitan and on the open highway. Minimal traffic today northbound above Goleta. Right now, it would be impossible.

Dispatch: What is your speed, Hawk?

Hawk: Over 110 miles per hour, sir. If this guy bounces one more time off any more cars or trucks, he is done. His front end is hanging on by a screw, and I don’t know what is keeping his doors shut. The GTO looks like a total wreck right now. However, I can shut him down, sir. Slowing down will not slow him down. He just killed another victim, a young girl back at the address I was sent to for the burglary report.

Dispatch: Watch yourself, Hawk.

Hawk: Ten-four. Switching back to standard.

Three minutes later, which seemed like an eternity, Hawk radioed dispatch, Unit 7 approaching El Cap turn-off now, light traffic. Three minutes at speeds over a hundred miles per hour was an eternity, and Hawk knew the entire sheriff’s department was sitting on pins and needles.

Hawk: Ten-four, Unit 7.

Dispatch asked a couple of minutes later: Unit 7, 1020 now?

Hawk: Still at 110 plus, approaching Refugio.

Dispatch: Ten-four, Unit 7. FBI is here and wants you to shut it down.

Hawk: With all due respect, dispatch, tell the FBI … you know what … Click-click.

At the dispatch office, Sheriff Lamb and Agent King were having the following conversation.

This officer is the best there is, Agent King. He is a marksman with honors and FBI-trained. He has prior race-car training and nerves of steel, and he’s more than capable of taking your guy down, Sheriff Lamb said.

"Sheriff, I understand, but we will have a chopper in the air any minute now, and I will take over. Stand your man down