Witch brew, p.20
Witch Brew,
p.20
“Look, I just saved you. Why are you pointing that at me?”
“You shot at us.”
“I shot at what I hit. I saved you. You’re welcome.”
“If you’re hunting wolves, why were you looking at the house?”
Oh, shit.
I made the wrong choice.
I figured Jack would have friends who played by the book.
Soldier girl knows I saw her kill four men.
This bitch is going to shoot me.
The witch shifted her gaze, ever so slightly, to a spot over soldier girl’s right shoulder, and widened her eyes, like she was silently encouraging someone who was sneaking up behind her.
It was a risky ploy. Soldier girl obviously had enough training to not fall for it.
But she’s just fired her 9mm over a dozen times. Without ear protection.
That’s why she didn’t hear that wildman sneaking up on her.
Ringing in her ears.
So maybe she’d buy it one more—
Soldier girl glanced to her right and the witch struck, sidestepping the line of fire and throwing the knife edge of her hand at the woman’s neck, going for the carotid artery.
Known as the Okinawan slap, a direct hit would cause a sudden interruption of oxygen to the brain, and could knock a person down or even knock them out.
But soldier girl deflected the blow, bunching up a shoulder, and then dropped her own gun and kicked it away as the witch went for her wrist.
She knew I’d go for the gun, so she must have another weapon.
They both drew knives at the same time, soldier girl from a sheath on her hip, the witch from a sheath around her back.
Soldier girl had a straight-bladed Ka-Bar. The witch wielded a custom-designed karambit with a curved edge.
Both were fighting knives, meant to kill.
The witch found herself getting aroused.
“You’re fast,” the witch said, laughing and then running a tongue over her green and black colored lips. “You might be even faster than me.”
“Who are you?”
“Have you ever been in so much pain you wished you were dead?” the witch asked. “That’s who I am.”
“You’re holding your karambit wrong.”
“Am I?”
The witch glanced at her knife, soldier girl slashed, slicing through the witch’s ghillie suit at collarbone level, but not through the Kevlar underneath it, and the witch pressed the hidden button in the modified karambit handle, which she was holding correctly, and a small cloud of pepper spray shot out.
Soldier girl immediately backed away.
So did the witch, sprinting to the right, straddling her electric motorbike, camouflaged by ghillie, hitting the start button and holding on for her life as she went zero to sixty in four seconds and disappeared silently into the woods.
THE ARTIST
The Artist Bleeds.
The Artist Hurts.
The Artist Sits On The Edge Of The Property, Cold And Upset.
The Artist Wonders Where The Family Is.
The Family Is Supposed To Protect The Artist.
But The Family Never Comes.
The Police Come.
They Raid The Barn.
They Raid The Secret Art Room.
They Raid The House.
They Don’t Leave.
More And More People Keep Coming.
People With Guns.
People With Cameras.
The Artist Stays Hidden.
Cold. Upset.
Bleeding. Hurting.
Thirsty. Hungry.
Head Aching For The Paint Candy.
The Rain Comes.
The Night Comes.
Then Something Worse Comes.
Something That Smells The Blood.
The Wolf Pack Surrounds The Artist.
The Wolf Pack Attacks The Artist.
The Artist Is Pinned.
The Artist Is Gnawed.
The Artist Bleeds.
The Artist Remembers Long Ago, Telling The Family Stories.
Wendigo Stories.
Imaginary Stories.
The Wolf Pack Is Not Imaginary.
The Artist Watches As The Wolves Fight Amongst Themselves.
Fight Over Who Will Eat First.
The Artist Tries To Hold In His Insides.
The Artist Fails.
The Artist Screams And Screams And Screams.
The Artist Never Gets To See Which Wolf Eats First.
JACK
Destiny, Colorado
Two Weeks After Everything
When my phone rang, it said UNKNOWN CALLER.
I immediately picked up, no hesitation.
“Hey, buddy. What’s up?”
“Hi, Jack,” Chandler said. “I need to talk to you.”
“That’s fantastic. It’s good you called. I’m doing great. Want to know how great? Medusozoa! I got the noggin checked out. No problems.”
“I know. I downloaded your medical file after your neurologist visit. That’s not why I called.”
“You thinking another girls’ trip? I’d be up for it, but to Lake Flatwood again. You know they found over seventy statues? Can we invite Val this time? Maybe if we tag team her we can convince her to—”
“Jack,” Chandler interrupted. “This isn’t a social call. I’m in Pyongyang and—”
“North Korea?” My turn to interrupt. “You’re in North Korea? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. That’s not why I’m calling. That sniper, the one who shot the crazy guy in Lake Flatwood. The one I had the confrontation with. She had camo makeup on, which made it harder for me to do a facial reconstruction for the database.”
“Chandler, I told you not to worry about it. You ran into some weirdo in the woods.”
“Will you listen to me? This woman scared me. She’s almost as frightening as my sister, Hammett. She’s trained and deadly and I knew she had to be in someone’s digital files somewhere. But I wasn’t getting hits, and I thought I got her bone structure wrong. But that wasn’t it.”
“Chandler, don’t you think—”
“Shut up and listen to me. I wasn’t getting anything because this woman has been dead for over a decade.”
My good mood seeped away as I felt my stomach sink to my shoes. “Who is it?”
“That’s the thing. You said you killed her. I saw her death certificate.”
“Chandler. Who. Is. It.”
I held my breath, fearing the worst, knowing that the worst couldn’t be possible. Hoping that it couldn’t be.
“Jack, the woman with the sniper rifle. The woman I fought with…”
“Chandler, for crissakes say her name.”
“It’s Alex Kork.”
THE END
JACK Daniels and friends will return in
PINK LADY by J.A. Konrath
Here’s a sneak peek on the next page…
DR. MORDECAI PLINCER
Medical literature abounds with incredible stories of human survival, even under the worst conditions. Even after suffering the worst traumas.
Plincer had inflicted trauma. He’d also endured trauma.
Unimaginable pain.
Disfigurement.
Hypovolemic shock.
Myocardial infarction.
Death.
But death was not the end of him.
Science doesn’t truly understand what it means to die. After all, what is death?
Does death happen when the heart stops?
When respiration stops?
When brain activity ceases?
When cells begin to die?
Some cells die within minutes of being starved of oxygen.
Some take hours.
Some take days. Or longer.
Gene transcription actually increases after heart and brain death.
Digestion continues.
The microbiome continues to grow, increasing neural communications.
Death is a process of small steps. And small steps are easy to stop.
They can even be reversed.
Dr. Mordecai Plincer came back from death. Perhaps due to residual effects from his previous scientific experiments.
Perhaps because fate dictated it wasn’t his time.
He mused about the many horror films he’d seen in his youth. Classic monsters such as Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy. They died at the end of every movie. But they always came back.
Immolation. Electrocution. Even beheading. No death was permanent.
Evil seemed to always find a way to come back to torment the world.
Plincer lived.
So he would help others to live.
He would help evil live.
Which was why he brought three particularly wicked forms of evil back from the brink of complete death.
Alex Kork. Serial killer with an impressive body count. Shot in the head by Lieutenant Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels.
At the time, Jack thought Alex was dead. She thought she’d waited long enough to ensure that fact, before calling the authorities.
Jack Daniels was wrong.
Ann Steinhoffer. Known professionally as The Cowboy. Freelance torturer hired to do interrogations. Buried under debris at the mansion of Harry McGlade.
Yet another time Jack Daniels screwed up.
Lester Paks. One of Plincer’s own experiments. A cannibal whose teeth were filed down to sharp points, to better emulate a flesh-eating ghoul.
The witch.
The paladin.
The golem.
And the mastermind behind their resurrections… the wizard.
The monsters always had help from a mad scientist.
Dr. Mordecai Plincer was as mad as a person could get.
JOE KONRATH’S
COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHY
CLICK HERE FOR A FREE J.A. KONRATH READING CHECKLIST
JACQUELINE “JACK” DANIELS THRILLERS
WHISKEY SOUR (Book 1)
BLOODY MARY (Book 2)
RUSTY NAIL (Book 3)
DIRTY MARTINI (Book 4)
SHOT OF TEQUILA (Book 5)
FUZZY NAVEL (Book 6)
CHERRY BOMB (Book 7)
DEAD ON MY FEET (Book 8)
SERIAL KILLERS UNCUT with Blake Crouch (Book 9)
SHAKEN (Book 10)
STIRRED with Blake Crouch (Book 11)
DYING BREATH (Book 12)
EVERYBODY DIES (Book 13)
RUM RUNNER (Book 14)
LAST CALL (Book 15)
WHITE RUSSIAN (Book 16)
SHOT GIRL (Book 17)
CHASER (Book 18)
OLD FASHIONED (Book 19)
BITE FORCE (Book 20)
JACK ROSE (Book 21)
WITCH BREW (Book 22)
PINK LADY (Book 23)
BOURBON HAMMER (Book 24)
MOSCOW MULE (Book 25)
LADY 52 with Jude Hardin (Book 2.5)
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 1 (Novella Collection)
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 2 (Novella Collection)
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 3 (Novella Collection)
JACK DANIELS STORIES VOL. 4 (Novella Collection)
BANANA HAMMOCK (Novella Collection)
KONRATH DARK THRILLER COLLECTIVE
THE LIST (Book 1)
ORIGIN (Book 2)
AFRAID (Book 3)
TRAPPED (Book 4)
ENDURANCE (Book 5)
HAUNTED HOUSE (Book 6)
WEBCAM (Book 7)
DISTURB (Book 8)
WHAT HAPPENED TO LORI (Book 9)
THE NINE (Book 10)
SECOND COMING (Book 11)
CLOSE YOUR EYES (Book 12)
ENRAGED (Book 13)
HOLES IN THE GROUND with Iain Rob Wright (Book 4.5)
DRACULAS with Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand, F. Paul Wilson (Book 5.5)
GRANDMA? with Talon Konrath (Book 6.5)
STOP A MURDER PUZZLE BOOKS
STOP A MURDER – HOW: PUZZLES 1 – 12 (Book 1)
STOP A MURDER – WHERE: PUZZLES 13 – 24 (Book 2)
STOP A MURDER – WHY: PUZZLES 25 – 36 (Book 3)
STOP A MURDER – WHO: PUZZLES 37 – 48 (Book 4)
STOP A MURDER – WHEN: PUZZLES 49 – 60 (Book 5)
STOP A MURDER – ANSWERS (Book 6)
STOP A MURDER COMPLETE CASES (Books 1-5)
CODENAME: CHANDLER
(PETERSON & KONRATH)
FLEE (Book 1)
SPREE (Book 2)
THREE (Book 3)
HIT (Book 4)
EXPOSED (Book 5)
NAUGHTY (Book 6)
FIX with F. Paul Wilson (Book 7)
RESCUE (Book 8)
FREE (Book 9)
TIMECASTER SERIES
TIMECASTER (Book 1)
TIMECASTER SUPERSYMMETRY (Book 2)
TIMECASTER STEAMPUNK (Book 3)
EROTICA
(WRITING AS MELINDA DUCHAMP)
Make Me Blush series
KINKY SECRETS OF MISTER KINK (Book 1)
KINKY SECRETS OF WITCHES (Book 2)
KINKY SECRETS OF SIX & CANDY (Book 3)
Alice series
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Book 1)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (Book 2)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE AT THE HELLFIRE CLUB (Book 3)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE VS DRACULA (Book 4)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE VS DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (Book 5)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE VS FRANKENSTEIN (Book 6)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE'S CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (Book 7)
KINKY SECRETS OF ALICE'S NEW YEAR BALL (Book 8)
Jezebel series
KINKY SECRETS OF JEZEBEL AND THE BEANSTALK (Book 1)
KINKY SECRETS OF PUSS IN BOOTS (Book 2)
KINKY SECRETS OF GOLDILOCKS (Book 3)
Sexperts series
THE SEXPERTS – KINKY GRADES OF SHAY (Book 1)
THE SEXPERTS – KINKY SECRETS OF THE PEARL NECKLACE (Book 2)
THE SEXPERTS – KINKY SECRETS OF THE ALIEN (Book 3)
MISCELLANEOUS
65 PROOF – COLLECTED SHORT STORIES
THE GLOBS OF USE-A-LOT 3 (with Dan Maderak)
A NEWBIES GUIDE TO PUBLISHING
SIGN UP FOR THE J.A. KONRATH NEWSLETTER FOR SALES, DEALS, AND NEW RELEASES
WITCH BREW
Copyright © 2023 by Joe Konrath
Cover art copyright © 2023 by Lynne Hansen
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the authors.
December 2023
J.A. Konrath, Witch Brew
