SWIFTY AND THE WIFE KILLER

Book excerpt: "You . . . beeelong to us now, bitch!" The giant's voice boomed across the windswept beach. "Get out here . . . now!" The retched gargoyle bounded onto the porch, snorting through the wood-and-thatch walls of the cabin. "We are gonna cutcha and gutcha after we play with ya!" he roared. "Get out here, bitch!" The giant belched his commands, staggering from the porch and bellowing from the windblown sand. Dan searched frantically for a weapon. His rifle had been in the skiff, and they had it. His .45 was on the porch . . . someplace. He couldn't make a fight of it . . . there were too many. They might shoot him and get to Claire. Dan rifled the kitchen drawers and chucked all the cutlery onto the floor. Sorting through it, he found a big carving knife. At least he could take one of them down as he died. "Give it up, slug. We told ya, the money or the bitch. No money . . . well, she gets us! Haaaaaaaaaa! Yeaaaaaaah! Give it up!" The redheaded ogre was wild with rage! As the wind whistled through the eaves of the cabin, Dan felt fear beyond anything he ever felt, even when Saigon was overrun in '75. The pounding grew louder, and the splintering of the walls made it clear they had only minutes, maybe seconds. Then the firebomb hit the door. They had closed and locked the storm windows, the heavy boards that protected glass in case a typhoon struck. Though a major storm would blow the walls away, it would leave windows, roof, and footing alone. It seldom happened, but Dan was attempting to be prepared. But there was no way to prepare for this.