by P X Duke
I couldn’t contain myself. I ran into the bedroom and yanked the covers off the bed. I hesitated, and took a good look at the naked woman sprawled on her back in our bed. I contemplated pulling the covers up and climbing in beside her.
Instead, common sense returned. There was no time for us to waste. I placed the radio on the bed, turned up the volume, and waited while Caitrin slowly woke up.
We were going to be heading south, down Mexico way. I just knew it. Already I could picture us together on a beach on the Baja Peninsula. My only question was, would it be the east side, or the west?
Caitrin’s arms reached for me.
—We don’t have to leave right this instant, do we?
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More by Peter Duke
Twisted Sisters
Detective Jim Nash has a problem. He has a murder victim in an alley and a dead woman in his bed. His own homicide division wants to charge him with murder. To say he’s got serious commitment problems would be an understatement. He's on the lookout for twins, but he doesn't want to date them. He wants to know who murdered them. A modern pulp short story.
Dreams Die Fast
Frank is headed home after spending a long winter on the Baja. When his motorcycle breaks down, he’s trapped in an old ghost town on the west side of the Salton Sea. A woman takes pity on Frank and invites him over for a home-cooked meal. Before he knows it, Frank is knee-deep in cartel drugs with a woman itching to pull the trigger on the gun she’s pointing at his back. Dreams Die #1.
Dreams Die Hard
Frank is back on the road with a reformed junkie on the run from a cartel hit squad riding bitch on the back of his motorcycle. When the duo end up working at a strip club, the seedy edge of the city finally catches up, forcing Frank to dig deep within to triumph over drugs, greed, arson and murder. Some adult content. Dreams Die #2.
Fast Food Slow Waitress
A biker hits all the high spots (or the low spots, depending on your point of view). These short stories find him at a peeler bar off the 15 in Montana; encountering a hitch-hiker off the 10 in New Mexico; being sweet-talked by his landlady; romancing a truck-driving sweetheart in a sleeper at a California truck stop; flirting with a waitress in a restaurant in the high desert. This is an updated and revised version of First Time and other stories previously published.
Dead Reckoning
During a well-deserved R&R on mainland Mexico, Harry picks up something he doesn’t own that forces him to flee across the Sea of Cortez to the Baja. While hiding out on an isolated beach, two mysterious gringas show up to complicate Harry’s life by attempting to implicate him in their own scheme, resulting in a mad dash up the Baja to escape the consequences of their actions. First short novel in the series.
Long Way Home
When Harry’s ex-wife, Sasha, and their daughter accompany her oil-company boyfriend on a working vacation to Africa, the trio goes missing. They get out a call for help that will lead Harry on an air and ground chase across the Horn of Africa to rescue his family before kidnappers can move them to their den on the Indian Ocean. Second short novel in the Dead Reckoning series.
Payback
Harry’s comfortable family life is turned upside down when he gets a phone call from a former comrade he thought long dead. When the second call comes in an hour later, the caller asks for his help. He knows his life will never be the same until he can learn what happened to the woman who launched a rescue mission to save his life after his plane was destroyed during a firefight on a bush landing strip in East Africa. Third short novel in the Dead Reckoning series.
About the Author
Aviator. Motorcycle rider. Vagabond. Drifter. Trouble-maker. Jack of all trades and master of none. Peter Duke has been riding and writing about the places he’s been and the people he’s seen for a few years now. Some of his writing is factual; some of it isn't. He leaves it up to his readers to decide for themselves which lies are the truth.
Contact the author: [email protected]
http://pxduke.com
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