Into the Light: Book Two: Vengeance

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

When Maverick decided to bring vengeance upon his mother's murderers, he must learn that revenge is not the right way, but can God get through to him in time?

Red is flustered when his sister suddenly disappears without a trace, but when he finds her, will the results be what he expects?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9798886440584

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Into the Light

Book Two: Vengeance

C.J. Askeland and B.C. Askeland

ISBN 979-8-88644-057-7 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88644-177-2 (Hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-88644-058-4 (Digital)

Copyright © 2022 C.J. Askeland and B.C. Askeland

All rights reserved

First Edition

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.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

Note to Readers

About the Authors

Acknowledgments

First of all, I would like to thank my little brother, Benjamin, for helping me with some of the ideas for this book. Second, I would like to thank my mom for all her help with the editing of this book. Third, I would like to thank my father for all of his support, without him none of this would have been possible. I would also like to thank everyone at Covenant Books for making all this happen. Without you, this book wouldn't be possible. Thank you very much.

And most importantly, I would like to thank my heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, for giving me this amazing gift. Without Him, there really would have been no book.

Also, thank you to everyone who buys this book.

Prologue

Dragon and the rest of the crowd watched as Prime's car hung up over the ravine. Prime was struggling with his seat belt, making the car shift back and forth. The magnet which was holding him up was very weak, and when Prime suddenly made a wrong move inside of the car, it fell off of the crane and sailed down the side of the ravine. Striking the bottom of the cliff, the car blew up sending pieces of the car into the air, some of them landing violently back onto the top of the ravine. Dragon watched as a man who had once been a great friend and a member of his own family blew into nothing more than a vapor. Dragon turned away from the crowd and sat down in his car. He had known Prime since they were children. Was he actually gone?

Dragon made arrangements for his friend to be buried. The casket which he was looking at would be empty, for there was no body to find in the car wreckage; the body had been completely disintegrated by the explosion. All that the police were able to find were a couple of Prime's teeth, hardly anything to bury. Dragon felt sorry for his friend even though he had done some very despicable things. They had been good friends ever since they were children. What had happened that had turned him so bad? Dragon could only think of one thing, that it was when Prime's sister was killed in a shooting. Prime had blamed himself all of those years. Violence then became a part of Prime's life; he was never the same. He carried an unseen burden, non-understandable to most people whom he knew. Dragon tried to see the best in Prime, but that didn't work either. Prime seemed to live in his own little world, where no one could seem to reach him.

At the funeral, Dragon paid his last respects to his old friend. Everyone gathered around as the preacher said what needed to be said. It hurt Dragon to hear the preacher talk about heaven, for he knew that that was not where Prime was headed.

As the casket lowered into the earth, Dragon bowed his head and prayed that somehow Prime had made a decision before he fell off that cliff. It was a hope really, but what else could he do but hope?

Dragon walked away from the crowd of people and went to sit in his car. His brother Coyote had not shown up. He was sure that he was going to. After all, Coyote was also a good friend of Prime's, probably a closer friend than Dragon. Where was he? Dragon looked around the cemetery, trying to catch a glimpse of him, but he couldn't. Dragon looked at his cell phone to see several missed calls from his brother. Dragon redialed the number. The phone rang several times before he heard his brother's voice.

Dragon, finally thank—

1

The Heist

Mr. Dune walked up to his bank doors and unlocked them. His employees would be arriving shortly, so he went and started a pot of coffee and set out some donuts for his clients to enjoy. One thing about Mr. Dune is that he loves to serve his guests as best as he can. The other employees came in and took their positions in their booths and got everything ready. One of their biggest clients ever was about to put a billion dollars into their bank, and they all dressed their best to greet him. There were a whole lot more guards today than there had ever been in the history of this bank, for the man that was coming needed a lot of protection. Mr. Clark, it is very nice to see you again! Welcome to the billion-dollar bank! Mr. Dune said jokingly.

Ha! That's a good one! Mr. Clark remarked, and many men came in hauling about twenty briefcases full of money.

Well, Mr. Clark, just come into my office and I will have you sign the papers, and you can be out of here with the flip of a pen, he told him.

Marvelous! exclaimed Mr. Clark, and went inside.

One of the employees, whose name was Carl, saw a very big black van that looked a lot like a SWAT van pull up in front of the bank, and about seven men jumped out and shot all of the security guards outside of the building.

Oh my goodness! he exclaimed and ran to press the button to call for the police, but just as he was about to touch it, a bullet struck his leg which stopped him in his tracks. A man with a black mask walked up to him and asked him through a voice changer where Mr. Clark was.

I'm not telling you! he screamed and reached for the button making the alarm go off.

Dang it! the man yelled and punched him in the face making him go unconscious.

What do we do now? yelled one of his men.

Where's Clark? the boss yelled back at him.

Who cares! We can stop him another day!

No, we're going to stop him right now! he said, hearing sirens blasting their way.

The boss of the seven walked up to the bank president's door just as it swung open, and who was coming out of it but Clark himself.

Hello, weasel, the boss said and slammed the door back on him making Clark flip over the president's desk.

Oh my gosh! What the heck is going on? yelled the president.

Revenge is what's happening, Mr. Dune, a long-awaited revenge! said the boss of the seven. And if I were you, I wouldn't touch this man's blood money! the man said and shot Clark in the chest right in front of Dune's eyes.

I'm sorry you had to witness this horrible sight, the man said and took the money.

Who are you guys? the bank president asked.

We are the Revengers! he exclaimed and ran through the door.

*****

Lieutenant Red Grant sat in the Duluth police station beside his desk looking at some x-rays of his finger that he had broken while he had been running up the steep path to Lookout Mountain near Grand Marais, Minnesota. He was first cousin to Dunkirk, Lily, Marco, and Jessica. His father owned an old saw mill that was out of town a ways, and his mother worked as an archeologist for the museum. Red and Dunkirk work at the same police station, but he has worked for them for about ten years longer than his cousin. Red is about forty-seven, around five-foot-ten, and about two hundred pounds. He usually wears black jeans and a black T-shirt. His parents named him Red because of his exotic bright red hair. His sister, Claire, works for a secret organization in Washington, DC, that keeps an eye on criminals and watches for any criminal activity. She is two years older than her brother and much more smarter, at least according to her, and has reddish-blond hair and always wears bright red lipstick. She had been knocked off radar for two months now, and he hadn't heard any new news about her. He was extremely worried that she had been killed or something, but he tried to get that out of his mind.

Hey, Lieutenant, the chief wants to see you, one of the sergeants bellowed.

Okay, thanks, he said, and went to see the chief.

Ah, Red, thanks for coming in. I need you to take some detectives and go to the bank on the east end of town. There has been a robbery over there. I've already heard that the SWAT have been there, but they need some detectives to look around.

Okay, I'll take some men down there right away then, he replied and went out.

2

The Investigation

Eve Hilton is a kind lady in her midthirties. She used to live in Wisconsin, but after her divorce was finalized, she moved to a small cabin near Duluth, Minnesota. Her teenage daughter, Zoe, also moved up with her. Zoe had a very hard time with her parents' divorce, but her father was a very mean man. He would beat her mother all the time, and sometimes he would beat her also. Finally she got strong enough that she turned the tables on him, and when he tried to beat her, she would beat him harder. Then one day her mother took her, and they went to her grandmother's house, and she filed for a divorce. It took some time, but once it went through, they moved up to Duluth and have lived there for about a year. Their little cabin sits over a small cliff with a walkway down to a small sand beach. The water was quite warm this morning, so Eve went out for a short refreshing swim while her daughter slept until she had to go to school. As she was swimming, she saw a big black van drive by and throw a very big bag into the water. What on earth? she thought to herself and swam out to it. After she pulled it up to the shore, what she saw inside the bag almost made her choke, for there was money galore inside!

Eve was a beautiful woman. She has chocolate-brown hair and wears mostly black blouses. Zoe is a cute girl in her later teens, about sixteen years of age, and has black silk hair. She usually wears shorts and T-shirts and sometimes tank tops.

*****

Red got to the bank with the other detectives about an hour after the robbery. He had done business with the bank president before, so he knew the man right away. Mr. Dune, how are you? he asked and shook his hand.

Well, I'm doing okay, he said and led him to the dead body. They murdered this man right in front of my eyes.

Do you have any idea why? asked Red.

The man who killed him told me that he was getting revenge on Mr. Clark and that I shouldn't touch his blood money.

Where is the money now? asked Red.

They took it.

Did they take anything else?

No, answered Mr. Dune.

As he was about to leave, he remembered something. Uh, Mr. Dune, did you notice anything unusual about his appearance, did he wear anything that stood out?

No, he just wore a black mask and black gloves. Actually, his whole suit that he was wearing was black, and he used a voice changer, he told him.

And did he kill anyone else?

No, he only wounded one of my employees who was reaching for the police button.

Thank you for your time, Mr. Dune, he said and went to check on his other detectives. Have you guys found anything?

Nothing yet, Lieutenant, they said.

Red looked around outside and found out that the guards that had been posted outside had all been shot with a thirty-minute knockout dart. They told him that a black van that looked a lot like a SWAT van had pulled up in front of them, and before they were shot, one of them saw the license plate number and told him that it said REVENGE32.

Red was pretty sure that they had made their own license plate, but he sent it to the department to check it out. Since it would take a while, he went down to his house to check if he had gotten any mail from his sister, but there was still no word from her. He walked inside of his house and went through the mail, but something seemed off. It felt as if someone else was inside the house with him. The feeling sent shivers up his spine, and then he remembered that he had left his gun in his car. Dang it! he thought to himself, and then felt someone put a hand over his mouth and nose; he went unconscious.

3

Maverick

Zoe had gotten a C on one of her most important subjects at school and was very upset. She was kind of worried that her mom would freak out since she hadn't gotten bad grades for a long time. She tried to think of a way to explain it to her, but her brain just couldn't think very well today. She couldn't stop thinking about how her father was doing. She hadn't seen him in over a year, and she was wondering if he had changed at all. She walked through the trails of the forests on her way home and took her time since she knew that her mom didn't expect to see her home until five thirty, so she knew that she had about an hour of walking up and down hills in the forests and walking trails. She hiked up one of the most beautiful spots in Duluth called Hartley Nature Center. The hiking trails there were amazing. Most of the hiking trails were pretty flat, whereas other places were higher. On her way up the trail, she saw a guy that had to be around her age. He was wearing a black leather jacket, and he had dark hair that went down to his shoulders. Hi, she said, walking up to him since he was a little ways ahead of her.

Hello, miss, how are you doing on this lovely day? he asked.

I'm doing good, she answered. How is the hiking trail?

Amazing, he told her. "Do you mind if I