Helicopter pilot Ed Kline doesn’t pay much attention to the nut-case militias that sometimes shoot up odd targets in the forests around his firebase in Washington state. He has enough challenge trying to rein in the reckless tendencies of the helitack crew’s first-year foreman. But overall, life is sweet. A female firefighter has amped their friendship to a new level, and the loneliness he has endured after a divorce is finally coming to an end.
Then he receives a text from a number he’s never seen:
Bad thg 1 wk
I leve I die
Cops evry1 dies
Help L 47033012
Could the L mean his adult son Lewis? You’re a hero, Lewis wrote to him before disappearing a year ago, but the country you fought for doesn’t exist. Then a bad thg happens. A group calling itself the PUMAs—Patriots United Militia of America—assassinates two Washington State senators the same day it perpetrates a deadly armored truck robbery. Unnerved, Ed jeopardizes his new relationship, his career, and his sanity while trying to rescue a son who might be one of the killers, trying to escape them, or both.
Vengeance Burns Hot delves into the mindset of extremist right-wing militias while telling a story sure to keep you reading beyond your bedtime. It is scheduled for publication in mid 2019 by Unsolicited Press.
Rick E. George 