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  Dark Avenger Series

  (Book 1 of 2)

  Mystery Ghost

  By Willow Morgan

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  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s

  imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 Willow Morgan – All Rights Reserved

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Other Titles by Willow Morgan

  LIVE FIRE SERIES

  The White Death (Free)

  Death Trap

  Lost

  Cataclysm

  The Outlaws

  Police Officer

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Free Exclusive Gift

  The Story Continues...

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Shots rang through the graveyard and bullets whistled over gravestones and ricocheted off monuments. Jo McGee huddled for cover behind a mausoleum. She transferred her service weapon to her left hand and wiped the sweat off her right palm before readjusting her grip.

  She stole a peek around the corner. Her husband and partner Nate Fricks caught her eye from a headstone not far away. He hunched behind it and shot her one of his crazy grins. Jo knew that expression only too well. It told her, Isn’t this fun?

  Jo didn’t think it was fun, especially not when more bullets struck the mausoleum and shattered rock dust in her eyes. She retreated around the corner, but she already knew she and Nate couldn’t stay here.

  Another female voice called through the foggy night. “They’re circling to flank you! Can you hear me, Jo? They’re heading for the road.”

  Jo recognized the unmistakable voice of her best friend Kat Ingram. Kat’s fiancé Blake Cartwright would be hiding with her somewhere out of sight. The two couples always worked together and spent nearly all their free time together, too. No one ever found one of them without the other three.

  Jo and Nate turned in unison toward the street south of the graveyard. Jo couldn’t see much through the fog and the dark, but if the assailants were heading that way, she and Nate had to move. They had to intercept the perpetrators before they got away.

  Jo jerked her chin at Nate and he dipped a nod back. They got up on their knees and took another stealthy look around their respective hiding places, but no more shots echoed in their direction.

  They hurried crouching to a row of crypts ten feet away, but when no one fired at them anymore, the two officers picked up speed. Jo braced her elbows sweeping her weapon from side to side, but she didn’t see anything. Could the targets really have gotten away?

  The road ahead slumbered a haze of fog hovered under the streetlights. When she and Nat got closer, she spotted a large moving van painted black. It idled under a streetlamp with its headlights on and its red tail lights blazing into the murk.

  All at once, an explosion of gunfire ruptured the silence and a posse of men rushed from the shadows. They broke from the graveyard and charged onto the street heading for the truck. They pivoted on the run to fire over their shoulders.

  Two figures charged between the graves, one female and one male. Kat dropped onto one knee and fired on the outlaws. A ferocious volley of bullets zinged back and forth.

  Jo didn’t take a second to think. She veered behind the nearest gravestone, planted her locked elbows on its granite top, and unloaded on the enemy. Nate took a wide stance behind her and they both fired as fast as they could. Jo emptied her clip dropping one target after another.

  She lost track of which ones she hit and which her friends shot down. Five perps flopped onto the pavement and didn’t move again. One of Kat’s bullets snapped a man’s knee and he buckled with a scream. He flipped over and started clawing toward the truck.

  The five others wheeled and fled. Someone opened the truck’s passenger door and waved the suspects inside. They dove through the opening, but one brave soul came back under a hail of fire to grab the wounded man. They hauled him aboard, too.

  Jo saw the crooks about to make their escape. She charged into the open and she and Nate advanced onto the road. Jo aimed for the truck’s tires and Nate pounded the last of his bullets into the passenger window. The glass shattered as the truck screeched away. The tire exploded, but the driver hit the gas and the vehicle peeled into the road.

  Jo squeezed her trigger one more time aiming for the broken passenger window, but nothing happened. The gun clicked in her hand. It was empty.

  She glanced over at Nate lowering his weapon to his side. Kat and Blake ran forward, but there was nothing anyone could do.

  “Did you get the license number?” Blake asked.

  “I got it.” Nate took out his phone and tapped the screen. In a second, he rotated away talking to the Soledad Police dispatcher and reading back the license number.

  Jo crossed to the wounded suspects sprawled across the ground. One had a bullet hole straight through his right eye, but the others all sustained injuries they would certainly survive. She got out her own phone and called the ambulance dispatcher.

  Kat migrated from one perp to the next collecting their weapons. She tied up the ones still capable of getting away with zip ties. She left them lying on the ground in their own blood. One of them screamed at her when she cinched the tie closed. “Hey, you filthy cop! Can’t you see I’m injured here?”

  “I can see your mouth isn’t injured—more’s the pity,” Kat muttered. “I’ll untie you when the ambulance gets here.” She dug his wallet out of his pocket and flipped it open. “Well, well, well. Julian Kingston as I live and breathe. I don’t think your father is gonna be too pleased about us catching you out here, Julian.” She clucked her tongue and gave an exaggerated sigh. “I just don’t know what’s becoming of today’s youth these days.”

  Blake laughed, but at that moment, a piercing screech echoed out of the graveyard. All four officers whipped around, but they couldn’t see anything through the fog collecting thicker under the trees. No one could see a thing in this weather.

  Nate sliced his finger through the air. “You two stay here and babysit our friends. Come on, Jo.”

  Jo set off running at his side. They plunged into the shadows once again. “Do you have an extra clip?” she whispered on the fly. “I’m empty.”

  He handed her one without a word. She ejected her empty magazine and crammed in the new one. Her chest tightened passing her sights right and left for any sign of trouble.

  A choking noise attracted the pair to the right. She and Nate wheeled that way. The sound of voices got louder through the murk. Jo tightened her fingers around
her trigger grip. They burst into an open place. There on the ground, an old lady lay tied up all over with stout rope. Her silver hair trailed in the dirt and her wild eyes skipped in all directions.

  Squatted over her, a man in a black bodysuit gripped the shoulders of her hand knitted cardigan with two gloved hands. He was in the act of picking her up when Jo and Nate exploded out of the trees with guns drawn.

  “Get your hands up! Soledad Police.” Nate bellowed. He menaced the stranger with his gun in one hand and flashed his badge with the other. “You’re under arrest! Get down on the ground and put your hands over your head. Don’t worry, Ma’am, you’re safe.”

  The woman started screaming gibberish. The noise grated on Jo’s nerves. She did her best to block the woman’s words out of her head and concentrated everything on keeping the strange man in her sights.

  A black ski mask concealed his head and left a pair of ice-blue eyes glaring out at her and Nate. He flexed his arms and legs to attack.

  Nate advanced one step at a time. The stranger backed away to keep a distance between them. “Get down on the ground!” Nate boomed. “I won’t tell you again. Get down on the ground or we’ll open fire.”

  The guy looked over his shoulder, not toward the road, but deeper into the trees. He cast one more hesitant glance toward Jo and Nate. Then, with a powerful bend of his knees, he launched straight up into the trees. He landed balanced on a thick branch.

  Jo swept her gun upward, but in the blink of an eye, the guy sprang into the dense foliage overhead. The dark swallowed him where no one could see him. The leaves rustled moving away.

  Nate rushed forward. “Stay with him, Jo!”

  The two officers raced through the graveyard only barely keeping pace with the mysterious figure. Swishing leaves overhead gave the only indication of his position.

  Jo jerked her weapon from one direction to the other, only to hear another revealing crackle several yards away. How could anyone move that fast through the treetops?

  She looked behind her once. The old lady lay shrieked her head off in the same place. She wasn’t going anywhere. Just for a second, Jo wondered if she or Nate should stay with her. What if the attacker came back for her? He wasn’t moving toward the old lady, though. He was heading across the graveyard toward the river.

  Nate inched sideways. “I’ll flank him. Keep driving him from behind.”

  Jo didn’t have time to reply before she spotted the bare dirt road separating the graveyard from the river. Two headlights blasted through the dark. The stranger had a car waiting for him. He was going to get away, too.

  She pushed herself forward and fired into the branches. The instant the bullets punctured the canopy, the guy dropped right in front of her. He spun on his heel and charged onto the road heading straight for those headlights.

  “Nate!” she cried out. “He’s....”

  She never finished. She lunged to intercept the man and her throat stopped when she saw a sleek black Lamborghini parked right there on the dirt road. Its wing door pointed up with the driver’s compartment cast in shadow.

  The stranger dove for the car, hunkered into the seat, and hit the accelerator. Even before the door descended to close, the car lurched backward with a ferocious spinning of its wheels. It skidded across the road and fishtailed into a tree. The rear bumper crumpled before the driver slammed it into first gear and burned rubber plowing forward.

  Jo lifted her weapon, but the car was already too far away. Its wheels kicked up a huge dust cloud that obscured the car. She couldn’t get a shot at it.

  Nate ran to her side. “What the hell was that?”

  “A black Lamborghini,” she panted. “He had it waiting for him.”

  “Did you get the license number?”

  She shook her head. “It was covered up.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Nate turned back to scan the graveyard. “The only person around Soledad who drives a car like that is Wesley Falkner.”

  Jo nodded, but she didn’t respond. Her heart hammered in her neck and her head swam. Too many ideas and impressions crowded her mind.

  She migrated back to the graveyard and found the old lady still raving in the same place. “Is he all right? Is he dead? Is he hurt? Where is he?”

  “Is who all right?” Nate bent down to untie her. “No one is going to hurt you. You’re safe.”

  “Where is he?” She rolled her head around trying to catch sight of something. “Where is he?”

  “She’s in shock,” Jo murmured. “She needs an ambulance of her own.”

  “He burst out of nowhere!” the lady screeched. “They never saw him coming. He scared them all away. Where is he? I never got a chance to thank him.”

  Jo and Nate froze. They exchanged glances before Jo turned back to stare at the woman. “Who are you talking about? That guy in the black—he scared away who?”

  “That man!” the lady cried out. “Those guys attacked me. They hit me over the head and tied me up. They were going to kill me. They said so. They were going to put me in their truck and drive me to the pier. They were going to throw me in the river. They were standing around laughing at me when he just appeared out of nowhere. He beat them up and drove them off. They were going to run away, but the shooting started and they had to take cover. If you cops hadn’t showed up and started shooting at them, they would have been long gone.”

  Jo stared at the woman with her mouth open. “Are you serious? That.... that guy in the black.....How did he know they were here?”

  “I don’t know, but I have to thank him. I would have been dead without him.” The woman craned her neck around one more time. “Where is he?”

  Jo and Nate looked at each other again. Then Jo let out a shaky breath. “He isn’t here, but I think we better get you to the hospital. Come on.”

  She helped the lady to her feet. Nate coiled up the rope while Jo helped the woman to the road. Half a dozen ambulances parked under the streetlights loading up the cuffed attackers. Jo delivered the old lady to the paramedics and retreated.

  She and Nate met Kat and Blake under the trees. “What do you make of that?” Nate asked. “She thinks that Masked Man of Mystery is some kind of superhero.”

  “I don’t know about a superhero,” Jo replied, “but I do know that we’re gonna be filling out paperwork on tonight for the next six months.”

  Chapter 2

  Jo dropped into the chair behind her desk. “This is crazy! The plot just keeps getting thicker and thicker.”

  Kat pointed a pen at her from across the aisle where her desk butted against Blake’s. From here, Kat and Blake could talk to Jo and Nate all day, which they usually did when the four of them weren’t out doing casework together. “Let me get this straight. The attackers—whom I think we can assume worked for Gabriel Kingston—attacked a poor, weak little old lady in the graveyard at one o’clock in the morning. They beat her senseless, tied her up and gagged her, and then when she regained consciousness, they threatened to kill her and throw her in the river.”

  “Right so far,” Jo replied.

  “Then our Dark Avenger guy springs out of nowhere, kicks all their asses, and is on the verge of chasing them all away when the four of us show up and start firing. Kingston’s men get caught in a firefight with us. While we’re all distracted by them trying to escape, the Dark Avenger sneaks around to the old lady and is in the act of freeing her when you two come along and interfere again. How am I doing so far?”

  Jo rolled her eyes to Heaven. “Please, God, tell me we’re not going to start calling him the Dark Avenger. He’s not some kind of Bruce Wayne superhero Batman character. He’s a vigilante.”

  “Yeah, but if he’s doing all that, he must be on our side,” Blake pointed out. “From what you say, he didn’t do anything illegal last night.”

  “The fact that he’s out there attacking people without the mandate from the law means he’s not on our side,” Jo countered. “Even if he was a new version of Batman, i
t would be our sworn duty to stop him.”

  “He’s not Batman,” Nate interjected. “Whoever he is, he’s just a regular dude like the rest of us.”

  “No regular dude like the rest of us could make that jump,” Jo argued. “Did you see him? He shot straight up into the trees without hardly bending his knees. I don’t know anybody who could do that, let alone swing through the trees like he did.”

  “He swung through the trees?” Kat repeated. “You mean like Tarzan?”

  Blake burst out laughing. “Good one, babe.”

  “It’s not funny,” Jo barked. “Whoever the guy is, he must be one of the strongest, most agile, skilled fighters on the planet. I don’t know anybody like that. Do you?”

  “He got away in a black Lamborghini,” Nate added, “and we know Wesley Falkner drives a black Lamborghini. He’s the only person around Soledad with the money to afford a car like that. It could have been him.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Jo returned. “Wesley Falkner is seventy years old. Okay, I’ll admit he’s in good shape for his age, but seriously. No seventy-year-old could make that jump.”

  “The Lamborghini crashed into a tree before the guy got away,” Nate reminded her. “We can go ask him to see the car. If it has been damaged, we’ll know it was his car.”

  Jo stared at her desk. “Maybe.”

  “You okay?” Kat asked across the aisle. “You don’t usually let cases like this bother you.”

  Jo looked up. Three of her favorite people in the world stared back at her. Their eyes reflected interest and concern. “Something isn’t right with this case. We got an anonymous tip last night that a drug deal was going down in the graveyard at one o’clock this morning. Turns out it wasn’t a drug deal at all. It was a kidnapping and attempted murder of an old lady who didn’t have any business in the graveyard at that time of night, either. What was she doing there? If we’re assuming those were Gabriel Kingston’s men and the deal was important enough for him to send his precious firstborn son to oversee it, what was.....? What’s her name?”