Hiding

by N. M. Catalano

  Shit, what the hell is wrong with you, get a grip.

  “Miles Davis,” he answered it. A pause. His eyes dart to me, his expression shocked. “Yes, Mr. Black, of course.” Another pause, his eyes widen. “Yes sir.” He hangs up. He blinks once. Then again. “Come in tomorrow morning at nine. Tonight you’ll take your first case home with you. Familiarize yourself with the details and be prepared to present how you think we should proceed with it.” He blinks again seeming stunned.

  The familiar adrenaline courses through my system that fuels me each time I begin a new case, preparing me for the kill. It’s always a hunt with me, and I always catch my prey. This time is going to be different as I have to do the legwork, but I find I’m looking forward to it, invigorated by it even. I was back!

  “Absolutely,” I almost purr.

  “Ms. Trudeau.”

  I turn my head to the man standing behind me. From the sound of his voice, he is British, Wales probably, and wearing a bowtie, khakis and a cardigan. His clothes are perfectly pressed.

  “Welcome to Black Inc. I’m Simon, Mr. Black’s assistant. Please follow me, I’ll show you to your desk.”

  “Certainly, thank you.” I rise from my seat in front of Davis and glance back at him. He still has a look of surprise on his face.

  “I’ll bring you the file,” he mutters noncommittally.

  “Thank you, Mr. Davis, I look forward to working with you, I appreciate the opportunity.” I know I have to kiss this guy’s ass even though it hadn’t been his decision to hire me. But if I want to make things pleasant it has to be done. I still can’t help but wonder what Black’s angle is for doing it though, the lawyer in me is sure it’s not only my impressive history. A man didn’t achieve what Black has before the age of forty with playing only one hand in the game.

  I glance at Alexander Black’s office as I follow Simon to a desk in a cubicle that is slightly separate from the others offering it some privacy. The glass has gone smoky making it impossible to see inside his office. In my mind the details beyond the glass spring to life; the modern black polished desk with the wall of windows behind it overlooking Fifth Avenue, the tufted black leather sofas with chrome legs, the matching black polished bar on the side wall with cut crystal decanters on top, a huge conference table with tufted black leather chairs surrounding it, and televisions along the top of the wall facing his desk above the glass. Black’s inner sanctum, where he rules the world.

  Even though I can’t see inside, I know he’s watching me, I can feel him. The sensation makes my heart pound and my palms sweat. A fact which completely throws me off-balance. I never get frazzled.

  But there isn’t anyone like Alexander Black.

  Get BLACK INK right here on Amazon.

  There’s still more…

  NEXT AND FINAL BOOK IN THE STRANGER SERIES

  SUSPICIOUS

  SCOTT

  Another day in paradise.

  Placing the cup of black coffee down on my desk, I turn on the computer and prepare for the newest round of bad guys waiting for me.

  Degenerates.

  Scumbags.

  Lowlifes.

  Killers.

  I’ve been surrounded by them for more than half my life.

  First it had been the Army, doing missions that should have killed me. Going into a compound filled with beasts that had only one purpose; to kill all of us in the most gruesome way possible, and make a show of it while they did it. That wasn’t about me. It was about saving people from torture, stopping them from getting burned alive or having their heads cut off on camera for a goddam YouTube video. Or shot by a ten-year-old kid.

  Ten-fucking-year-olds. What is wrong with this world?

  I was done, I got out. Only to join the police force, the DEA, the Drug Enforcement Administration. The addresses might have been different, the accents and languages might have changed, but it was still filth. Corruption. Death and torture.

  I’ve done bust’s where there had been rooms piled with chopped up bodies stuffed in plastic bags. The degradation I’ve been witness to knows no bounds, has no morals, ethics never existed there.

  I’ve seen living proof that hell has no boundaries, no restrictions, no preference to color, race, religion, or nationality.

  It was alive and well, and more powerful than you ever could have imagined.

  It seduced, promised, and fought dirty in the most beautiful ways.

  I thought I could get out. I thought I’d had enough and I could walk away, and never go back.

  The Prodigal Son returned, Scott Edwards.

  It wasn’t for me.

  Or maybe it was.

  Maybe there’s something wrong with me that I need to do this. Maybe I’m just as bad as the criminals. What kind of normal person would get off on the hunt of sick motherfuckers every day, made my heart pound wildly with the thrill of the chase?

  I’m not blind not to know that only someone with the same tastes, the same understandings, could know what makes our kind tick.

  Feel it deep inside them.

  It takes one to know one.

  I sip my coffee at my nice new desk in the office area of the police precinct and check my emails. There are the usual reminders of the Monday morning Bull Pen meetings, announcements of firearms qualification.

  Give me a break. I could put a bullet right in the middle of some douchebags forehead from two hundred feet.

  There’s a new case.

  I click open the file and read the preliminaries.

  Well, this is not the usual scenario.

  Case: #BZ00005469

  Prescription Drug Trafficking/Embezzlement

  Suspect: Thomas Jordan

  Suspect thought to be responsible for illegal prescription drug trafficking throughout the United States. Operation has affiliations with organized crime.

  Another dirty business man, or is he a doctor?

  I open the other suspect’s file.

  Case: #BZ00005469

  Prescription Drug Trafficking

  Suspect: Janie Simmons

  What the hell?!!

  Suspect thought to be prime runner for illegal prescription drug trafficking.

  “JANIE?!”

  MY JANIE?!

  Keep going, there’s more…

  ‘

  A NOTE FROM ME

  I freakin’ LOVE Rico!

  He was such a dick initially in KINK, wasn’t he? Then we got a glimpse of who he really is in BLACK INK.

  Because he was perceived to be a dick in KINK, and although we got to know him just a little bit more in PERFECT, something just wouldn’t let me write his story yet.

  So I decided to write BLACK INK instead.

  When that story began to formulate, I knew Rico would be an integral part of it.

  Small world, right?

  Right now, as I sit here tying the bow around this story, and as the smoke dissipates from the final book coming to life in my mind in the STRANGER Series, SUSPICIOUS, I breathe out a heavy breath, WHEW!

  Sometimes the story just pours out of my fingertips, (I literally wrote the first part of BLACK INK in a week), other times, I have to drag it out of me.

  It was a little bit of both with this one.

  Let me tell you why:

  I started the STRANGER series, this is the fifth book in that series, about two and a half years ago. I’ve written a stand-alone, I’ve started another stand-alone, and another series, BLACK INK. Each of those are different in tone than the STRANGER series.

  Although I knew what this story was going to be about, I had to get back into that mindset.

  It kicked my ass at times, lol.

  I couldn’t be happier with it. I hope you are too.

  I’ve been told that each of my stories have a message. Yes, I guess that’s correct. But I think that there is one constant in all of them: Survival.

  And in this story, unless you’ve been living under a rock or in a cave the past fifteen years, I talked abo
ut the dangers that pretty much every society faces today. Terrorism.

  I cloaked it in gangs in HIDING, but every single one of us have seen the different masks they hide behind. It’s very real.

  I’m not politically adept, nor do I claim to be. I can only say in my own opinion it’s a factor of our lives.

  The next things you should be expecting from me is CANVAS, SUSPICIOUS (the final book in the STRANGER Series), HAWK (remember him from BLACK INK?), and I’ll be beginning another series, SANCTUARY (if you missed the free short-story on my blog, you can find it here, (make sure you click follow while you’re there so you don’t miss anything else). There are a few other things I’m planning which I’ll tell you about next time.

  Thank you so much for taking this journey with me, see you at my readers group, on Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, Instagram, and all the other places you can find me at the links below.

  ~ Nadine/N.M.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  N.M. Catalano is an Amazon best-selling, multi-published author. She spent many years in the corporate world, and owned several businesses. Having been fortunate to have such varied exposures, she had many opportunities to be exposed to different societies and cultures. After years of studying people and lifestyles, her fascination comes to life in the pages of her stories.

  "I am just a woman, like many of you, who has lived through beauty and ugliness, happiness, (sometimes extreme), and sadness, (sometimes heart wrenching), and have grown to love life and myself even more. I write because I love the characters, I am madly and hopelessly in love with them and want to share them with the world. Life is beautiful and is meant to be enjoyed day by day, sometimes you have to pick out the good stuff with a magnifying glass like a needle in a haystack, but enjoyed none the less. The stories that I put on paper, I think, help us to find that enjoyment a little bit more.

  I am just a woman who is in love with love…………<3"

  Connect with her at:

  Blog where you’ll find free short-stories: https://nmcatalanoauthor.wordpress.com/

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nmcatalanowriter

  Join my private readers group on Facebook to get news first and special nowhere else giveaways: http://bit.ly/2kKBu8O

  Twitter: @nmcatalanowriter

  Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/catalanoauthor/

  Newsletter, (to receive notices of giveaways, and chapters of upcoming releases nowhere else available): http://eepurl.com/bpEW9X

  Still more…

  OTHER WORKS

  One Night With A STRANGER Book 1 In The STRANGER Series

  I thought I was fine. My scars were healing, my dirty little secret was safely buried, and I was living an almost normal life. Then a stranger came along and blew the doors off the prison I had built around myself. After one night of erotic abandon, all I wanted to do was give myself to Marco in any way he wanted me, over and over again. I surrendered to him and it was more than I could have hoped for.

  I should have known my past would rear its ugly head and annihilate my chance for happiness once again. I couldn’t let my problems destroy the man I was coming to love more than life itself. The only way to save him was to give him up.

  Made To SWITCH Book 2 In The STRANGER Series

  Betrayal. Just like that everything I had built, my entire life, was falling apart. My world threatened to collapse beneath me, and it looked as if there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it. But the worst part was I was going to lose Elizabeth. She loved being dominated, and she was beautiful in her submission, passionate under my control. But she found my secrets. My past fell open at her feet. I’d do whatever it took to keep her, even give up control.

  KINK Book 3 In The STRANGER Series

  She’s a damaged girl, hiding behind a tough façade and a razor sharp tongue, afraid to open up to him and trust him. Her wounds are deep, the scars are many, some are visible, and others cannot be seen.

  He thinks he doesn’t deserve her, that he doesn’t deserve to be happy. The demons he fights are loud and strong, some are real, while others are not. But he wants her. And he’ll have her.

  He’ll share her. They’ll plunge her into the most erotic oblivion she’s ever experienced.

  **Warning, this book contains very strong sexual content, BDSM, menage, and a scene or two which could be a trigger containing sexual assault/rape. 18+

  PERFECT Book 4 In The STRANGER Series

  Brian Daniels has life by the balls. He’s gorgeous, so much so, it hurts so good to look at him. And his dominant sexual skills leave the women he’s with in a state of complete erotic delirium for days, knowing exactly how to bring her the most pleasure. The dark and dangerous beast inside him, the one that was born in the Marines, is released in the cage when he fights, and in the bedroom when the women are tied and begging for more. He is absolutely perfect. But he’s miserable, empty, and hollow, wondering if this is all there is to life.

  Everything about Brooke stops traffic. Her perfect body and face have men following behind her like a trail of whimpering little puppy dogs. And she hates everything about herself, because it destroyed her. She lives with its curse every day, one that will never allow a man to get close to her heart. She’s a brilliant Marine Biologist fighting against the clock amid brutal shark attacks, trying to find a way to stop the animal before it strikes again. But she’s defenseless against the monster inside her.

  When Brian and Brooke collide, it’s an erotic war zone, one that Brian will not lose.

  Can he save her from her demons? Can she finally submit and let Brian free her from her hell? Or will tragedy strike first and rip Brian from her, destroying any chance they have at love?

  HIDING Book 5 In The STRANGER Series

  Warning: It is passionate, it is suspenseful, it'll blow your mind. There is darkness, you have been warned, enter at your own risk...

  Secrets, they entice you, they bind you, they hold you captive. A challenge whispered to you luring you closer. Will you delve into their darkness? Would you go? Or would you hide...

  I had rules. They protected the fortress of my darkness.

  My secrets.

  I allowed myself certain distractions, but nothing permanent.

  It wasn’t allowed.

  If I slipped, then I’d fall.

  That was one thing I couldn’t afford.

  Until her.

  She was secrets wrapped up in a challenge. Tied with a big bow of sensuality.

  I was about to take the biggest fall of my life.

  I’d found complacency in my nightmare.

  A comfort in normalcy.

  I was surviving.

  It sucked, but I was safe.

  Until he crashed into my world.

  He had secrets.

  Lots of them.

  He wasn’t the good guy, not by far.

  But was he what I needed?

  She's hiding from her future.

  He's running from his past.

  When they collide it's explosive.

  Danger is a persistent predator.

  It seeks until it finds.

  There is no past, and no future.

  There is only now, and right now danger is coming.

  You can run, but you can never hide.

  The Rooster Club, The Best Cocks In Town

  We all have that first true love, the one we never forget, the one that makes our heart hurt, even today.

  This is their story. It spans decades.

  This is his story….

  All wrapped up in the decadence of the ‘80’s:

  Sex (lots of it).

  Drugs (almost as much).

  Discos (where it all happened).

  How it all crashed in the 90’s.

  And today, how it found her once again…

  Black Ink, Part I, Black Ink, Part II, Black Ink Part III

  Seduction, Possession, Revenge…

  The BLACK INK Trilogy

  In Part I we met the man,<
br />
  Alexander Black

  Ruthless. Powerful. A prick.

  Intoxicating, intriguing.

  He took, he claimed, he possessed.

  In Part II,

  He owned.

  I a world of seduction,

  Danger,

  Darkness.

  In Part III,

  The beast is unleashed.

  In a deadly race against time,

  The only thing he wants is

  Blood,

  Revenge,

  Annihilation.