Dan Decker Books

The Dan Decker Books Podcast is back, featuring a sneak peek at The Fixer!

On today's show: a writing update, an inspirational thought, and a first look at The Fixer!

Blood Games - Episode 25

This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
THE REST OF THE drive passed slowly, with Kris making several more attempts to talk me out of my plan.
“You don’t have to come,” I said on the third try. “It’s better if you don’t.”
I wished I would have thought to look through Gary’s wallet when I’d searched him and the woman back in the alley. If I’d have known about his keycard, I would have gagged the two of them and made sure they wouldn’t be found for hours.
It was too little too late now, but I had an opportunity I could not afford to pass up, if we hurried and made it to the DataRader headquarters before they were found.
“You can’t do this alone and I’m all the help you have right now,” Kris said. “Unless you think Shannon is going to help.” There was something strange in her voice when she mentioned Shannon, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.
Her words rubbed me raw, so I took several seconds to calm down before responding. She didn’t know Shannon was the last person I wanted to think about right now, it wasn’t her fault.
“I can handle myself,” I said through clenched teeth.
“That’s part of the problem. You’re out of control. How many people died at Reed’s place? Or was all that blood from men who walked away?” She took my silence as an affirmation that her guess was close to the mark. “You need to stop before you do something you won’t be able to live with. I know you, Jake. This isn’t you.”
I thought of how I’d almost killed Gary Walker back at the alley. I’d been prepared to do it. It was because the woman had caved that he still had his life. Kris’ words were having more of an effect on me than I would have liked. She must have taken my lack of response as evidence she was getting through to me because she continued talking. 
“All the people you killed, they deserved it, right? That’s what you’re telling yourself. Are you certain they’re part of Reed’s supposed criminal enterprise? How do you know they weren’t just his security guards?”
“You’ve seen the videos--” I began, but she cut me off.
 

Blood Games - Episode 24

This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
I ALMOST DROVE RIGHT past the mall and kept going. It would have been better for Kris if I did. She was way too involved as it was. But I thought of the kids, and that was what kept me going forward. 
I needed additional resources if I was going to track them down. Besides, I needed to ditch the car anyway because the drone had recorded everything that had happened and was following me. I’d turned my driver’s side mirror up to spot it but so far hadn’t had any luck.
I drove around the mall one time before I pulled into a parking garage. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to Kris. But I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t rescue the children. It was simple math, two lives against one.
My burner phone beeped as I pulled into the underground parking. Once I had parked, I saw I’d received a text from a number I didn’t recognize. It just said one word. Sorry.
I assumed it was Shannon texting me from a phone Diggon knew nothing about. Even though she’d made it obvious what she was doing, I didn’t know what to make of her apology.
The wound was too fresh. I supposed I should have been grateful she’d warned me but I wasn’t in the mood to think that way. Maybe once things had calmed down, I’d feel differently, but I was still trying to work my way out of the mess that she’d created for me.
Not bothering to respond, I left my car window unrolled and placed the keys on the dashboard. With a little luck, somebody would swipe the vehicle and throw DataRader off my scent for a few hours.

Blood Games - Episode 23

  
This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
I CAME TO A halt as soon as I turned. It was a dead end. Muttering a curse, I flipped around and saw the car had pulled up right outside the alleyway and that the front doors were opening. 
Rushing towards the driver I grabbed him by the arm, yanking him all the way out and ramming him up against the car while putting my pistol to the side of his head.
“Back away if you want him to live,” I said to the woman getting out of the other side of the car. 
Because it was Diggon chasing me, I had expected to recognize them from my time with Black Brick, but I did not.
The man I held at gunpoint looked familiar, but I was having a difficult time placing him. He hadn’t worked at Black Brick, I was certain of that, but I couldn’t say how I knew him.
“Back off,” the man said to the woman with a frown on his face that didn’t show much fear. He looked me in the eyes. “It doesn’t have to go this way.”
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“Easy,” said the dark-haired woman as she moved to come around from the other side of the car, thinking she was gaining something by getting closer to me. She had her hand at her side as if it rested on a holstered pistol. “Just calm down.” Her voice sounded familiar, so I took a closer look while jabbing my gun into the man’s neck.
“You’re the woman who almost chased me down.” She’d had blonde hair back then. The darker color suited her far better. The blonde had looked fake, and while she’d been attractive before, she was now stunning. It was a struggle to take my eyes off her even while she glared at me.

Blood Games - Episode 22

 
This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show: 
IT WASN’T UNTIL AFTER I’d walked several blocks that I realized I’d never done anything about the wound on my arm. I hadn’t even thought about the possibility I might have left blood in the Suburban.
Cursing, I punched the brick wall of a store I was passing, which of course made things worse. After examining my hand, I determined I was lucky to not have broken any fingers. Several of my knuckles were bleeding, but that was a small price to pay for such a loss of control.
I was on edge and I knew it.
I wasn’t prone to such outbursts, but this was the second time in just a few minutes. Perhaps it was a good thing I hadn’t returned to Reed’s place, who knows what other mistakes I might have made? The pain helped cut through the thickness I felt in my mind.
Maybe I had at least slowed down the police by wiping away my fingerprints, but the possibility of leaving behind DNA was a serious oversight.
Growling to myself I put it from my mind as I ducked into a McDonald's bathroom. My makeup was almost gone, so I washed off what little was left and went into a stall so I could work on my new disguise without interruption.
My smartphone rang. It was Kris, but I didn’t answer. Perhaps I would never take a call from her again. That would be for the best. She and Maxine might think they have things together, but when Maxine had split from her former partner, any degree of operational competence had gone with him.
It would be reckless for me to allow them to be part of this. Without me pushing they would remain on the outside of the action. And that was where they belonged.

Blood Games - Episode 21

 
This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show:  
MY HEART BEAT IN my ears and my head hurt as the final image of the man I’d shot hung in front of my eyes, threatening to distract me from the road. My hands would have been shaking if it hadn't been for the way I clung to the steering wheel.
His hand had moved for his pistol while he begged. He’d been about to kill me, hadn’t he?
I replayed the event in my mind, wondering if there’d been another way out of the situation. His face had changed right before I’d fired, when he’d brought up his gun and thought that he’d had the upper hand. He’d thought he’d played on my emotions.
But I couldn’t get the image of what the bullet had done to him from my mind. It was a struggle to keep my focus on the road. Each breath was a battle.
He’d meant to kill me. I’d known it and had shot first. It had been my only option.
When I reached an intersection, I took the corner faster than I should have. The wheels on one side left the ground and I was afraid the vehicle was about to roll. In my hurry to leave I hadn’t put on my seatbelt, so I gripped the steering wheel even harder and jammed my feet up under the pedals, hoping I would survive.
When the tires slammed back onto the road, I exhaled. I pushed my foot onto the gas pedal, making the tires squeal. The potential accident had distracted me from my thoughts, but now that it was over, they came swirling back like a hurricane, threatening to uproot my sense of self and reality.
It had been him or me. I knew it. He had known it. If he’d put his hands in the air and surrendered he would still be alive. But knowing that didn’t make it any better.

Blood Games - Episode 20

This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show:  
I BIT MY LIP to keep from swearing aloud as I looked at my watch. It was time to cut my losses and get out of here.
How long before Reed’s men showed up? Five minutes, maybe ten?
This place would soon be crawling with them. It was frustrating to be so close but not have the time necessary to get to them.
The silence stretched on while I considered my options and adjusted to my disappointment.
I was so close.
The door would stop my bullets. The metal my knife had scraped along the inside wall reminded me of sheet metal, something I could shoot through. The kids were probably with him, so I couldn’t risk it.
Reed had taken a foolish risk by taunting me. If it hadn’t been for that, I would have checked this room, seen it was empty, assumed the doors were closets, and gone on my way. Maybe I would have stopped if I’d have noticed the deadbolt, but I wouldn’t have given it much time, assuming it was a locked utility closet.
I bit my lip, trying to figure out if this was something he’d done on a whim, thinking I wouldn’t find him so fast or if he had another angle. Probably the latter, considering how he’d been acting for the children.
I ground my teeth as I wished for the briefest opportunity to shoot him. One moment with him in my sights and this would all be over.
This terrible game of his—how else could he think of it? —had cost too much blood. I wasn’t so far from my roots to think so much death was a trivial thing.
Even I still had some limits. If not so much in what I did but in my ways of perceiving a situation.

Blood Games - Episode 19

This week’s episode features a chapter from Blood Games, Jake Ramsey Book #3, the first book Black Brick is available as a free ebook from most ebook vendors. Here is an excerpt from the show:  
AS I WALKED THROUGH the door, I was coiled like a snake ready to strike, doing my best to leave all thoughts of the men I’d killed outside.
I was zeroing in on my prey.
Reed was here and had known I was coming. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent his men out to deal with me so quickly. The timing of their response confirmed my suspicions that he’d been aware of Kris and had taken advantage of that knowledge to lead me here.
He couldn’t have known I would be so willing to slaughter his men. Based on everything he’d seen me do--except shooting Sam--he’d still believed I was the same person who had escaped from Black Brick.
Nothing could have been further from the truth.
The few seconds I’d had before I’d decided to shoot Sam had changed my life forever. A deadened killer like Reed wouldn’t have understood. He was so far past feeling empathy he hadn’t recognized the ramifications of Sam’s death.
It might have been avoidable for another person but not for me. He had needed to die. I’d fought Peck and Reed using moral methods, and it had got me nowhere. I’d given Sam many opportunities to rethink his decisions, but he’d still come at me, putting me in a position where I’d been forced to kill him.
It was only in the days afterward that I fully came to understand what I’d instinctively known when I’d pulled the trigger.
To stop Peck and Reed, I had to sink to their level.