Into the Light: Book One

By C.J. Askeland and B.C. Askeland

When Dunkirk’s wife was murdered, he and his new friend, Charlotte, do some investigating and uncover an old enemy.

Doctor Doom thinks up of a device to destroy those who have wronged him. It’s up to Marco and his friends to stop him.

Jessica and her fiancé, Dragon, try to uncover the death of her parents and, in the meantime, find an unexpected enemy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638859345

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Murder

Dunkirk woke up around seven-thirty in the morning to his alarm ringing. Oh, shut up. He yawned and pulled his pillow over his head to drown out the noise. Oh, good grief! he cried and sat up. The sun hadn’t completely come over the peeks of the tall evergreens, but the sky’s colors were a beautiful mix of red, pink, and blue. This vacation was almost over. He had already been staying there for about two days; and in those two days, he had climbed up some steep mountains, found some amazing quartz rocks, which were his sister’s favorite, and even saw some elk. Tomorrow, he would have to go back to his home in Duluth, Minnesota. The place that he was renting for the weekend was a nicely built cabin with antique-looking furniture and windows. Almost everything in the cabin and even the walls looked antique.

Crap, still no phone service up here, he said, seeing zero bars of power on his phone screen. I’ll have to drive into town and check out some of the stores and maybe even get a souvenir, he said to himself. He started frying some eggs and bacon with French toast. Once he had gotten done eating, he went and got his clothes on and combed his nice blond hair, which took him around seven minutes because he had to get it just right. Dunkirk was in his later twenties and had a scar that ran down his left cheek from the time that he narrowly escaped a drug lord’s knife blade. The scar was a long scar that ran down the side of his eye down to the side of his jaw, which was kind of in the shape of a banana. Dunkirk liked to wear a lot of dress clothes and nice brown dress shoes.

*****

Mr. Pacific was one of the worst drug dealers on the Pacific Ocean. He was a distinguished-looking man with black hair and was about in his fifties. He had really no fear of anything except shipping his drugs through the city places where he has fear of the fifth amendment.

*****

As soon as Dunkirk drove into one of the closest towns, he stopped at one of the gas stations to put on some fuel and to grab some snacks for the drive home the next day. As he got back into the car, he saw that he had missed two phone calls: one from the police station and one from an unknown number. Dang, here goes my vacation, he thought to himself as he called the police station.

Hello, this is Lieutenant Combes from the Duluth Police Department. What’s your trouble?

This is Detective Grant. I need to speak to the chief.

I’m sorry, Detective, but he is not in right now. Can I take a message?

No, thanks anyway, he said and hung up. Well, I might as well call this unknown number and see what the heck they want, he said to himself. The phone rang several times before someone finally picked it up.

Hello, a deep staticky voice said.

Yes, this is Mr. Grant, returning a phone call that was made to me yesterday.

Oh yes, Mr. Grant. I called you yesterday to tell you that your wife has been murdered, and guess who did it? Ha ha ha! The voice screeched, and the line went dead.

As he headed to the airport in his rental car, he called his little sister and told her what had happened to Scarlett. Oh my gosh! she exclaimed. What can I do? she asked.

Just pray, he told her and hung up.

Chapter 2

Dan the Man

Dunkirk got back to Minnesota as soon as he could. It was almost midnight when he got to Duluth, and his place was still about another half an hour away, so he decided to just get a hotel room since the police station was only a block away. In the morning, he would go to the police station and find out what they knew about the murder. But first, he would get a good night’s sleep.

He woke up quite a bit later than he had wanted. Ah, man, he thought to himself and went downstairs to get some breakfast and a cup of coffee for him and the chief.

Dunkirk, come in, the chief said and set down the file that he had been looking at. What can I do for you today?

You haven’t heard anything about my wife yet, have you? he asked nervously.

Unfortunately, we have. I had two detectives go out there and search the place where she was found, but all they came up with was this. The chief handed him a note.

Where was she found, sir? he asked, shoving the note in his pocket.

She was found lying in the forest, but from what we could tell, she was not found there.

Why do you think that? he asked.

Well, for one reason. There was only one pair of foot tracks on the ground instead of two. So the person who killed her must have carried her from a car that had been parked at the old Emerson Ranch because that’s where the foot tracks came from.

Well, thanks, Chief. Let me know what happens. In the meantime, I’m going to check out the Emerson Ranch.

Good luck! yelled the chief and got back to work.

It was around ten o’clock when Dunkirk arrived at the old ranch. There was a lot of yellow tape surrounding the ranch house and signs that read farm under investigation. He hadn’t been at this old farm since he was a kid, but this was no time for memories. He had to find out who had killed his wife and why! First, he walked over to the spot where they had found her body but didn’t see anything that they had missed, so he walked over to where the barn was. The old latch had rusted off quite some time ago, so it opened with a slight push. When he walked inside, he saw a slight movement out of the corner of his eye as he was tackled to the ground.

Move and you’re dead, punk, a strong muscular man said, holding an auto knife to his throat. Who are you? And what are you doing here?

I’m not telling you anything, Dunkirk snorted.

Well, have it your way then. The man and began raising the knife.

Okay, wait! Wait! Please wait! Dunkirk screamed. I’m a detective. Once he said that, he felt the man’s hold loosen.

Well, why didn’t you just say so. The man got up.

As they started talking, Dunkirk found out that the man’s name was Dan Porter, and he was at the farm for pretty much the same reason as he was.

So what’s your connection with Scarlett? Dunkirk asked curiously.

Well, we were friends for a long time until she went off into the world and married some young dumb whippersnapper, and that pretty much ended our relationship. Because you see, before she went off into the world, we had fallen in love, and we were supposed to be married when she came back, which never happened. Dunkirk knew who he was talking about, and he didn’t want to say anything to upset Dan, so he decided to just keep his mouth shut. Dan was in his early thirties and was a military man to the core, but he wasn’t from Minnesota. He was from the busy city of Fort Worth, Texas. He was a very fastidious person. He liked everything just right. He always sported a military haircut with very nice military clothing. Even though he wasn’t in the military anymore, he still tried to look like one.

*****

Coyote had the two guys in the sights of his double-barrel .223. The boss wanted him to only kill Dan because of what he had stolen from his organization, which he himself couldn’t care less about, but the twenty thousand dollars the man had offered him spoke louder than the organization.

*****

So how well do you know Scarlett? Dan asked.

Well, I oh, crap! Dunkirk yelled and tackled Dan to the ground as bullets started flying.

Are you okay, Dan? he asked as he was cautiously getting up, but as soon as his head came a little bit over the side of the opening, he was hit right in the head with a bullet.

Chapter 3

The Coyote

Dunkirk had been in the hospital for two days already and still had not woke up. His little sister Lily and older brother would sit by his bedside until he would wake up out of his coma. As his little sister was sitting there, she prayed, Dear God, please don’t take my brother yet because I still need him. I promise that I will be there for him at all times even to the ends of the earth, but even if You do, I will always love You. In Jesus’s name, amen.

*****

Coyote came to the Rusty Nail Cafe around three-thirty. The boss would be arriving shortly, so he ordered them both the special and a Mountain Dew. The Rusty Nail Cafe was best known for its amazing soda and amazing service. It was the best choice in town except for the Black Swan, which was a more luxurious restaurant in their serving of a nice big prime rib steak and potatoes on Fridays, and they also had amazing soda.

The boss sat down at the table with an ill-favored look.

I can’t believe that you shot the very man that I told you not to shoot! shouted the boss angrily.

Look, I’m sorry, boss, but I couldn’t tell whose head was coming over the opening. I thought that it was Dan’s, Coyote said as fear was slowly clenching his heart.

Well, all I can tell you, Coyote, is that you’re fired! With an immediate effect! the boss yelled in rage and stormed out of the cafe.

*****

It wasn’t until about the fourth day at around two in the afternoon that Dunkirk finally woke up. What’s going on? he asked with a horrible headache.

Well, you are in the hospital. I didn’t think that you were going to make it, her little sister answered with tears in her eyes.

Well, it’s a good thing I’m tough, he remarked jokingly, squeezing her hand.

Marco would have been here too, but his boss called him, so he had to leave, said Lily, happy that he was awake. The reason his mom and dad weren’t there was that, about ten years back, they were both instantly killed after colliding with a semi.

Dunkirk got better every day, but he had lost a lot of blood from his nasty head wound, so the doctors kept him a few extra days to make sure that he was all