Dan Decker Books

Lord of the Inferno - Chapter Two

This week’s episode features a chapter from Lord of the Inferno, Volume Two of War of the Fathers. War of the Fathers is available as a free ebook if you sign up for the Dan Decker Newsletter. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
A piece of gravel crunched under Adar Rahid's foot as he twisted and scanned the town square while looking for Hunwei through the smoky yellow haze that hung in the air. It was starting to dissipate in most places, but it was still dense where the Hunwei had been congregated before the tower had done its work and burned them to death.
Adar spotted a mound of Hunwei where they had collapsed on to some people. He looked away without examining it too closely. It wasn’t a pretty way to die and had likely been quite painful. He tried to avoid thinking about how many people had died in that spot but found he couldn’t help wonder if there had been children in the still burning mass.
He frowned, a low growl rumbling in his throat. He supposed he should have been glad for the people who had been saved by the tower, but it didn’t make the thought of those that had died any more palatable.
When the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, the smoky haze gave the area below it a brownish tint, causing him to squint. The burning mass wasn't the only such pile of Hunwei and humans.
Movement from a pile of dead Hunwei caught Adar’s attention. One of the dead Hunwei’s legs had moved. The body lay on the ground, but the leg had twitched.
Another Hunwei lay next to the first. It was easy to see by comparison that the first was considerably smaller.
Humans in Hunwei armor, Adar thought, I thought I was prepared for anything, but I never considered this. He didn't know what to call these humans, but he supposed they were as much Hunwei as those who were a couple of feet taller. Still, he wanted to distinguish between the two.
Turncoat was as good of a word as any. It was difficult to think of the turncoat humans as Hunwei, but he’d get used to it with time.
The implications of these turncoats were still beginning to dawn on him. He guessed these traitors to humanity were descendants of those whom the Hunwei had taken captive. A thousand years was enough time for the Hunwei to raise a whole society that had been turned to their side. He clenched his hands at the thought, wondering if any of his ancestors had been among those who were kidnapped.
The turncoats would likely have a hard time blending in with other people or even communicating. Their language had to have become corrupt during the intervening time, but he figured it was best to act as if they did know how to communicate until he knew otherwise.
In the area surrounding the turncoat, Adar saw other dead Hunwei. He could tell by the size of their helmets they weren’t human. He figured the Hunwei turncoat’s armor must have protected the turncoat from the flames of his fellow Hunwei as they had died.
The turncoat moved again, this time lifting up its head.

Lord of the Inferno - Chapter One

This week’s episode features a chapter from Lord of the Inferno, Volume Two of War of the Fathers. War of the Fathers is available as a free ebook if you sign up for the Dan Decker Newsletter. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
Neare Paler ducked behind a cart as thunder rolled through the sky. He could feel its reverberations in his chest and shook his head in confusion because there hadn’t been an accompanying flash of lightning. He didn’t normally feel thunder unless a lightning strike was close.
He doubted it had been caused by the storm and wondered if one of the Hunwei bombs had gone off while he’d been watching Thon pummel Jorad.
Neare tried yelling to get his son Erro’s attention, but it wasn’t a surprise the boy didn’t hear him over the din of the Hunwei invasion. It would have been too easy if Erro had heard him. Or better yet, just come to his senses and got off the open road.
It's not my fault, Neare thought as Jorad plunged a knife into Thon's chest. The sentiment didn’t help. The confounded bloody fight was happening because of him. The absurdity of the situation was almost enough to make him laugh except for his own son Erro stood close by as Jorad and Thon tried to kill each other.
Never mind all the Hunwei swarming around! Neare thought. Stare at them instead of running towards cover like any person with half their wits would do.
If it hadn't been for Erro, Neare wouldn't have moved. As it was, he was still hesitant to go out into the open and took his time to check the way was clear before leaving the temporary safety of the cart.
The full force of the wind hit him once he was in the open. He squinted, baring his teeth against the storm. It was better to face that than deal with the Hunwei, but not by much.
It is all too likely that I'll have to contend with both simultaneously soon enough.
The closest group of the hell-stricken monsters was several blocks away corralling a large number of people before them. As Neare approached, Jorad pushed Thon off.
Erro put his sword to Jorad's neck.

Black Brick – Chapter Thirty Four

This week’s episode features Chapter Thirty Four of Black Brick. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
I turned up the volume on the television when I saw Peck’s face. He’d managed to strike an appropriate balance between mourning and confidence. He had just come from the funeral of Ronan Wright who—as I had suspected—had died in the explosion at Diggon tower.
Bruce Andrews. Jason Kurt, Lisa, and their parents. Lane Vargo. Ronan Wright.
Thor and Peck had a lot to answer for.
Peck had played the media magnificently. There had been a camera recording when I killed Larry and Beltran. The heavily edited footage had been seen by millions and, of course, didn’t come with audio. That would have caused too many questions.
“Mr. Peck,” the anchorwoman said. “Congratulations on your new promotion. How does it feel to go from being a college professor to the CEO of one of the largest and most influential corporations?”
“Well, as you can imagine,” Peck said, “it’s been quite a change. But I don’t want to talk about that today. There has been a lot of death and tragedy. My company has been the target of numerous terrorist attacks. I’d like to take this opportunity to announce a new partnership between Diggon and the federal government. We’re creating a citizen watch program called Spectrum.”
“And just what will Spectrum do?” the anchorwoman asked.
Peck help up his phone. “It’s an app that people can voluntarily run on their phone, tablet, or computer. The app will monitor what is going on around the user and report a live stream of data back to our servers. When alarming events take place, we’ve developed technology that will recognize what is happening so that local and federal authorities can be alerted.”
“I understand there is a unique feature to catch the person behind all these attacks on Diggon,” the reporter said. “Care to comment?”
“Yes,” Peck said. “We have programmed a special alert for Sam Chever. Or Jake Ramsey. Or whatever name he’s going by these days. Our system is designed to alert authorities the moment his face or voice pops up on the system.”

Black Brick – Chapter Thirty Three

This week’s episode features Chapter Thirty Two of Black Brick. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
Even though the sun was setting, there was still enough light to make out where Shannon stood several hundred yards away. She was in the open and slowly turned in a circle with her rifle up and ready to fire.
I took as much time as I dared to make my approach, keeping an eye out for Martinez and his men as well. By the time I had almost reached her, I decided they were gone. I didn’t know how they’d been able to disappear so quickly, but I figured that Martinez had used a hidden passageway somewhere on the grounds to make his escape. He seemed to know this place better than anybody else. 
In the distance, I spotted a lone figure that had his back to me and was walking away at a normal pace.
The light was getting dimmer by the minute, but by the height of the man and the back of his head, I would have bet money that it was Thor. I’d spent a lot of time hiding from him and had gotten pretty good at recognizing him from a distance. What was he doing here? I squinted, wishing for binoculars, and thought about going after him. Lisa’s screams haunted me as I remembered Martinez’s claim that Thor had been behind the death of the Kurt family. I decided against chasing after Thor because there would be time enough to deal with him later. 
“I was too slow,” Shannon said when I reached her.
“We can chase him another day,” I said, neglecting to mention my theory for Martinez’s escape. I didn’t want to spend the rest of the night while she went from exhibit to exhibit looking for hidden passageways.
We didn't speak as the sun set. I wanted to reach for her, to take her in my arms and comfort her, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.
“I’m sorry,” Shannon said at last. It was the first time I ever heard her apologize and it caught me off guard. “I shouldn’t have let Beltran convince me to break up with you.” It was hard to tell if she was sincere because it was dark and she was covered in shadow, but I suspected her words were genuine and I wanted to believe that she meant it.
“This isn’t really the time—”
“If we don’t get another,” Shannon said. “I wanted you to know.”
I didn't know how to respond.
“You guys trying to get caught?” Kris asked. I hadn’t noticed her approaching. “There's at least three corpses back there. We need to split.”

Black Brick – Chapter Thirty Two

This week’s episode features Chapter Thirty Two of Black Brick. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
When I awoke the first thing I saw was one of the expensive chandeliers in Diggon's lobby hanging directly over me. I must have taken quite a knock to the head because I thought that it was falling and going to hit me.
I tried to roll out of the way and ran into something—a person by the feel of it. Blinking, I looked back at the ceiling. After determining that it was my head that was spinning and not the chandelier falling, I tried to collect my wits. There was a huge lump on the back of my head, but other than that I was fine and I was surprised to find that my hands and legs were free.
After several labored breaths, I sat up and immediately wished that I hadn't because it made me dizzy.
“They're starting to wake.”
I didn't recognize the voice.
Shannon was beside me, and she was out cold. I might have thought she was asleep, except the gash on her head and the blood that had dripped down her face told a different story.
Kris lay to the other side of me. Cherry and Tom were nearby as well. They were all unconscious. Where was Beltran? There had been other people in the conference room, what had happened to them?
Martinez was with a group of people nearby. All of them had gas masks pulled onto the top of their heads. I did a double take when I recognized Ronan Wright among the men. He didn’t have a gas mask and was talking to Martinez while gesturing animatedly. They were too far away for me to make out what was being said.
What did Wright have to do with all of this? As he spoke, he became more agitated, and he started gesturing towards something I couldn’t identify because a lavish garden was in the way. 
I searched my pockets. They’d taken away my pistols and ammo magazines. I cautiously moved my leg and hid a sigh of relief. I was still armed with my subcompact pistol. It wouldn’t be much good against so many people, but it was comforting still the same.
“Don't move,” said a voice from behind.

Black Brick – Chapter Thirty One

This week’s episode features Chapter Thirty One of Black Brick. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
Kris and I parked in the closest parking garage for the new Diggon headquarters. It was almost a ten-minute walk from there to the main building. As we passed the grizzly bear exhibit, I examined it, trying to decide where Martinez had come from the other day. If there were secret passageways here, it would be useful to know about them. There were several doors into the enclosure, but I couldn’t tell just by looking at them which one he had used.
A few minutes later, we walked by a crowd of people that were looking down into a lion habitat. I shook my head, wondering if there was another corporate headquarters in the world with its own zoo and aquarium.
Kris gasped when we entered the building, and I did my best to keep my jaw from dropping. It was hard not to gawk. The lobby was six stories high and lavishly decorated. Chandeliers that were several stories tall hung from impossibly small cables. It was the most ostentatious display of wealth I’d ever seen.
I remembered reading that Diggon employed a full-time staff of over two hundred people to take care of the aquarium and the zoo.
The aquarium circled the reception area and in the middle of the room was an alligator display with bridges crossing over to where security officers waited to clear all employees and visitors. A modern-day moat. I would have snorted with laughter at the petty imperial symbolism, but it didn’t feel like a joke, especially with Peck positioning to become CEO. 

Black Brick – Chapter Thirty

This week’s episode features Chapter Thirty of Black Brick. Here is an excerpt from the show:
I heaved a small sigh of relief a few moments later when I opened the door exiting the George Washington building and spotted the rental car where I’d left it. As we crossed the parking lot, I surveyed the area looking for any sign of the police and came up with nothing. The whole exchange with Shannon and Peck had taken less than ten minutes, and I figured we still had another five before things would start to be locked down.
Taking a deep breath of the warm afternoon air and ignoring the desire to be somewhere outside enjoying myself, I led Kris to the vehicle. When I’d offered her a ride, she’d readily accepted.
We were a few blocks away from campus when the first police cars started to pass us. Ignoring my desire to speed up, we continued at a normal pace.
“You know Shannon has a point.” Kris had been silent for most of the trip. Her voice had an edge to it earlier when we’d left the classroom, but it was gone now.
“What do you mean?”
“At the end, she said that it wasn’t supposed to be like this. I think you were close to the mark when you were grilling Peck about whether or not this whole thing was your final test. You could probably go back to them, even now.”
I snorted. “I’m going to destroy them.”

Black Brick – Chapter Twenty Nine

This week’s episode features Chapter Twenty Nine of Black Brick. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
Taking a deep breath, I let it out and checked the hidden camera on the pen in my shirt pocket. I was outside of Peck’s class, and my insides were churning with fear and trepidation. Shannon would be on the other side, playing the part of my shell-shocked ex-girlfriend Jessica.
I touched the fire alarm panel.
Kris would be there as well. She was so confident that I would do her bidding. Hopefully, today would disabuse her of that notion. Thor would probably be in attendance too, I still didn’t know if he somehow fit into all of this or not. I just wanted to make sure he had left before I went in.
Looking around to make sure the way was clear; I broke the glass that protected the fire alarm with my elbow and pulled down on the lever. A moment later, the alarm sounded, and lights started flashing. It took several seconds before students began to empty out of the classroom doors.
Leaning up against the wall by the door, I kept my eyes peeled for whoever would come through the exit first. Depending on who it was, I’d have to react quickly if they recognized me.
My guess was that Kris or Thor would be the first person I’d spot as the students evacuated the classroom. Shannon sat in the back and would be coming out last, and I was counting on Peck waiting to make sure the room cleared successfully.
As people began to file out, I pulled the ball cap that I was wearing down a little lower. In all the confusion, nobody seemed to notice me. 
I was relieved when Thor walked out the door, chatting amiably with another girl from the class. He looked my way, but his eyes went right on past. One day, I’d have to solve the puzzle he posed, but not today.
When Kris came out, I ducked my head a little and hoped that she wouldn’t notice me. One of the major flaws in my plan was the fact that she’d seen me since I’d changed appearances. That’s why I was sporting a ball cap today.
Despite my efforts, she noticed me right away.