Part of Series
Staked out in the Anza-Borrego Desert in the dead of night, young photographer Lake Pawlak is awoken by a clandestine meeting, bearing witness to something she never should have seen. Barely escaping, she turns to the authorities for help, bouncing through the criminal justice system before landing on the doorstep of DEA Special Agent in Charge Mia Diaz. Not yet knowing what, or even who, it was that Pawlak saw, Diaz is forced to call in a favor to Hawk Tate, a man whose story had always served as a cautionary tale in the Administration. Six months before he had emerged from the shadows for the first time in half a decade, managing to simultaneously right a long dormant wrong and confirm that every story ever whispered about him was true. If anybody can keep the girl tucked away and safe long enough for the DEA to investigate, it has to be him. Standing opposite though is a conglomerate spanning from California to Ecuador, their interest aimed at eliminating Pawlak and protecting the empire they have worked so long to build, the breadth of it encompassing most of the greater Los Angeles area. Employing a network of aliases and informants, soldiers and spies, they aim their concentrated energies on finding the unlikely duo as they attempt to stay hidden.
Author
I originally hail from the midwest, growing up in the heart of farm country, and still consider it, along with West Tennessee, my co-home. Between the two, I have a firm belief that football is the greatest of all past-times, sweet tea is really the only acceptable beverage for any occasion, there is not an event on earth that either gym shorts or boots can't be worn to, and that Dairy Queen is the best restaurant on the planet. Further, southern accents are a highly likeable feature on most everybody, English bulldogs sit atop the critter hierarchy, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a Saturday night spent catfishing at the lake. Since leaving the midwest I've been to college in New England, grad school in the Rockies, and lived in over a dozen different cities ranging from DC to Honolulu along the way. Each and every one of these experiences has shaped who I am at this point, a fact I hope is expressed in my writing. I have developed enormous affinity for locales and people of every size and shape, and even if I never figure out a way to properly convey them on paper, I am very much grateful for their presence in my life. To sum it up, I asked a very good friend recently how they would describe me for something like this. Their response: "Plagued by realism and trained by experiences/education to be a pessimist, you somehow remain above all else an active dreamer." While I can't say those are the exact words I would choose, I can't say they're wrong. I travel, live in different places, try new foods, meet all kinds of different people, and above all else stay curious to a fault. Here's hoping it continues to provide us all with some pretty good stories...
