Books in series
#1
Spare Change
2017
NOTHING MORE THAN A WALK IN THE PARK...
It was supposed to have been a celebration. A night out among friends. A chance to celebrate the culmination of ten long years.
For the last decade, Kyle Clady has served as a Navy SEAL. He has endured sleepless nights, hellish environments, personal injury, strained relations. He has fought enemies foreign and domestic, and multiple continents.
At long last, it is over. He is free to return home to San Diego, to the wife that has endured by his side, to the plans they have made for the future.
Little does he know that waiting there for him is an eventuality far worse than anything he ever encountered in the military...
#2
Office Visit
2018
“You think this is about you?”
Just six simple words, they comprised the last sentence ever uttered by the man that killed Kyle Clady’s wife. A sentence that he is unable to get out of his head, the possibilities it contains keep him awake at night, spurring on his every movement.
But little does he know, he isn’t the only one being affected.
Across town, two meetings take place almost simultaneously as a result. The first involves the people that hired the hit, the action taken a part of a business decision that still needs to be seen through. Twenty miles away, a second takes place, held by the men that the shooter rode with, people considered closer than brothers, that would do anything to mete out their own form of justice.
Join Kyle as he begins to uncover that what started as a single, senseless act of violence has a reach and scope much wider than he’d have ever thought possible…
#3
Fair Trade
2018
“Who the hell are you two?”
Nothing in Kyle Clady’s world is as it should be. His wife is gone. He can’t bear to set foot in his home. He’s back sitting vigil at the hospital, hoping his brother-in-law will survive the night. His head aches and his hand hurts from his confrontation with members of The Wolves motorcycle gang just hours before.
All a result of trying to unravel the path leading away from his wife’s murder. A path that has now presented him before the diminutive Fran Ogo and her granddaughter Valerie, two women with little in common beyond their shared lineage.
Together, they seem even less sure of what is going on than Kyle, the only certainty that exists being that whatever started with the death of his wife is still a long way from being completed.
#4
Ships Passing
2019
“You’ve started something you can’t finish.”
Little more than a week ago, Kyle Clady’s life made sense. In the waning days of a decade spent as a Navy SEAL, he and his wife were about to embark on an adventure together. The details of it weren’t even complete yet, the two of them with an entire world to finally explore.
Now, she is gone. Not only in body, but every possession, every memento, every tangible memory he has, all consumed by the fire that turned his home to cinders.
A fire started by The Wolves, the motorcycle outfit responsible for his wife’s death.
A fire meant to serve as a direct challenge, drawing Kyle out into the open.
For ten solid days, Kyle has been in a race to catch up. To use the brief moments he has between bouts of overwhelming grief and anger to piece together what happened and why.
A search that continues, even in the face of these newest obstacles…
#5
Warning Shot
2020
“There was somebody else there tonight. They got at least two of the Wolves, and they also got the same thing I was after.”
In the wake of his most recent encounter with the Wolves, Kyle Clady decides a new tact is needed. For as satisfying as slowly extracting his revenge might be, it isn’t what his wife would want.
And it is getting him no closer to answering why she was targeted in the first place.
Going back to the last known point of emphasis he has, he begins to come at things from a new angle. He aligns himself with new allies, speaking with the local churches and politicians, all while trying to avoid the watchful eyes of the police, the Wolves, and a dangerous new adversary he never considered.
Taken together, it sends him down paths he never considered, taking him perilously close to place he never would have imagined…
#6
Battle Cry
2020
“Kyle Clady, you are under-”
The rest of his sentence never makes it out.
Or rather, if it does, I never hear it, the words drowned out by what I mistakenly thought was thunder.
On the south end of town, Detective Malcolm Marsh is called to a crime scene in the middle of the night. A quaint home on a bucolic neighborhood street, no part of him anticipates the macabre sight he’ll find...or the identity of the half-dozen victims it holds.
Along the coast, Sven sits in the sand. Staring out over the ocean, he uses the calming influence of the sea to steel his nerves as he grabs a pair of forceps and painfully removes the metal projectile scraping against his ribs and protruding from his flesh. A remnant of the very same incident Marsh is now investigating.
In Mira Mesa, Byrdie is summoned by the newly installed leader of the Wolves. An olive branch, extended to one of the longest-tenured members, even in the wake of all that recently happened. And at the center of it all, Kyle Clady, his frantic search for what happened to his wife continuing, even as the various players around him begin to converge.
All of them looking for their own answers, with absolutely no qualms in extracting them by any means necessary…
#7
Steel Trap
2021
Seven dead Wolves. A detective fighting for his life. A host of associated players all fighting to make sense of what happened and how they can move forward.
Kyle Clady, continually pushing forward, knowing there is no way he can possibly stop. Not now. Not with the answers he so desperately needs just starting to round into view.
In the wake of the battle at the Valley View Inn and Suites, everybody in the greater San Diego area is reeling. Detective Marsh retreated to the Parkside Hospital to sit vigil over his partner, praying the young man will pull through. The scattered members of the Wolves gathered in secret, attempting to patch together what remains of their once-proud organization. Hired gun Sven rises with the sun to pack up his van and relocate, sensing the end is near and he will need to be far away when it comes.
Moving in concert with them all is Kyle, a man accustomed to battle. He’s seen more skirmishes, like the one the night before, than most people can fathom. Knows the effect they have on the mind and body. The best ways to stave off the lingering effects they can produce, working to get ahead while the opportunity presents itself.
An opportunity so long in coming, he is not about to let food, sleep, or physical discomfort keep him from it…
#8
Iron Men
2021
“I take it you’ve been looking for me?” I open.
The man’s hands curl upward into fists. His eyes flick to the side and back. A reflexive movement that answers my question without him saying a word.
“Not you,” he adds, betraying the slightest hint of an accent.
Adrenaline seeps into my system. The taste of copper finds my tongue as anticipation builds.
“Same difference.”
Each moment propels Kyle Clady further in the search for the people and motives behind the senseless murder of his wife. A journey that forced the paths of those involved to converge, the precious closure he’s seeking rounding into view.
In the desert beyond the edge of greater San Diego, Kyle and his friends stare down at the man identified by his vest as Byrdie—someone with information they need. Someone Kyle encountered a couple of times in recent weeks, this time promising to be the last.
Unbeknownst to any of them, fifteen miles away, the wreckage of a mobile home lies smoldering—the final remains of the Wolves organization Byrdie rides for. A heinous act carried out in the dead of night.
In the opposite direction, Detective Malcolm Marsh watches over his partner, praying the man’s improving status will translate into a full recovery. A rare bit of good news as he sifts through the growing number of crime scenes and fends off increasing pressure from the brass downtown.
Along the coast, Elsa Teller puts the last few details into place, final acts to fully insulate herself and her employer from blowback on a scheme far wider than ever imagined.
A scheme fast coming to a close, the only remaining question being, what form will it take?
#9
Until Death
2021
Two weeks, Kyle Clady has been propelling himself forward. Fourteen days of trying to unravel the people and reasons behind the senseless murder of his wife in Balboa Park.
A desperate search that pushed him harder and farther than any he experienced as a Navy SEAL.
A journey that finally ends tonight.
Rising with the sun, Kyle finds himself in a newly formed alliance. A shared venture with someone he was facing off against just hours before, each recognizing a kindred spirit in the other. A fellow fighter with a shared enemy. A man with goals parallel to his own, each needing something from the other.
A trust Kyle is willing to extend to finally give himself and his wife both the peace they deserve.
Across town at that very moment, Detective Marsh is on the backend of another long night. A desperate search in the face of mounting pressures and dwindling time, his entire focus on uncovering the identity of the woman alluded to by the last surviving associate of the Wolves.
A woman that is already busy with her own list of tasks. Final threads to be snipped clean, allowing her and her employer to move forward.
Four individuals serving as a subset of the many affected by the events of the last couple of weeks. People continually pushing onward in search of the conclusion they’ve been chasing for so long…
Author
Dustin Stevens
Author · 63 books
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...
