The Fixer: The Killing Kind - Exclusive First Look!
June 21, 2016
Hi Everyone!Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather (finally!). I am hard at work on copyedits and grammar checks but I thought it would be fun to give you all an exclusive sneak peek at The Fixer: The Killing Kind.
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Chapter 1
“Again?” Katerina asked as a whipping wind whistled around the parked car. “This is the fourth time.”
“There’s been a delay,” Jasmine said.
A few weeks earlier, Jasmine, MJM Consulting’s “Iron Maiden” gatekeeper, had called late at night. Thomas Gallagher, one of New York’s billionaire one percent, needed an assistant. Except he probably didn’t. Katerina Mills had already learned the first rule of a fixer. The job is never the job.
“Does he want a consultant or not?” Kat asked, her mouth overruling her mind.
Careful Katerina. Don’t antagonize. You have to stay in. It’s too dangerous to be on the outside on your own. Not after the last assignment....
“Yes,” Jasmine said. “Any other questions?”
Katerina answered by clicking off the cell phone. Burrowing deeper into her coat, the heavy bangs of her short, blonde wig brushed her eyebrows as she focused on the apartment building diagonally across the street.
“Bad news?” came a voice behind her.
Katerina didn’t bother turning around. On the floor of the backseat, her current client, Lester Callahan, rearranged himself, kicking the back of Kat’s seat. She sighed.
“I hear you,” Lester said. “It’s tough. People are no good, you know? They give their word, it don’t mean shit.”
Katerina assumed Lester spoke from experience.
A pretty woman, swathed in a fur coat, exited the building and hustled to the corner, her hand in the air to hail a cab.
“Is that her?” Kat asked.
Rustling from the back seat. “Nope.”
Katerina crushed herself further into her coat. She didn’t want the work but she had to keep her hand in this world, to protect herself. And I need the money. Instead of a windfall of cash, the jobs had been few and far between. Lester needed an item retrieved: except she didn’t know what the item was. From his babbled tale of rambling half-truths, Kat pieced together a picture: Lester had dangerous connections, something had gone wrong, and he needed to disappear. He was about to board a Greyhound bus when he realized he had forgotten something.
“You know it’s not easy to get lost.”
“So you said,” Kat answered.
“Yeah, people don’t understand how big their digital footprint is, you know? Take you for instance. You’re a young girl. You on social media?”
“No.”
“Dating sites? Not that you need one.”
“No.”
Lester shifted again. Kat’s seat lurched forward again. She sighed.
“You’re smart, you know. There’s a lot involved. I hired a professional to help me. Rebel One, he calls himself.”
“Yup,” Kat said, glossing over the sound of Lester’s voice. Am I smart or did it just work out that way? She reflected on her training by her first boss, shady lawyer and ex-lover, Philip Castle. Stay away from the computer unless it can’t be helped. Nothing on paper. Never leave a trail. Katerina realized Lester was still talking.
“It’s a stupid name but I didn’t say nothin’. I didn’t want hurt the kid’s feelings. Anyway, he’s really good. He makes you disappear. You don’t realize. You do a thousand things every day and it leaves clues how to find you: the phone, the credit card, the bank account, your magazine subscription to Cosmo. Everything.”
“I don’t read Cosmo.” My college transcript. My library card. Could I get away clean if I needed to?
They sat in silence.
“You have a family?” Kat asked.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah? And you’re just taking off?”
“It’s okay, I made arrangements, you know? I left some cash, told the wife we’d get a condo when I got settled.”
“Is that what you told your girlfriend?” Kat mumbled.
“I’m sensing judgment coming from the front seat. I don’t think you’re supposed to do that.”
“Sorry,” Kat said.
As they fell back into silence, her thoughts turned to her father, William Mills. Katerina had plenty of judgment for him. After walking out on her mother weeks earlier and breezing through the Big Apple with his new bimbo, where was he now? Had he left a digital footprint? Could he be found?
Her father wasn’t the only one to pull a Houdini. Where was Lisa, who had brought Kat into this life as a “fixer”? Where had she vanished to? And then there was Alexander Winter. If it hadn’t been for him....
She relived the robbery in her mind; Winter taking her by the hand, leading her through the B and E to retrieve the client’s requested item. He had schooled her, protected her, and brought her home safely. Where was he now? Kat realized there had not been a day since the break-in that she hadn’t thought about him.
A young woman, rock star groupie attractive, wearing a winter-white fur coat over black pants and leopard Ugg boots, exited the apartment building.
“Is that her?” Kat asked.
Rustling from the back seat. “Yeah, yeah, that’s her.”
Katerina shook her head. This anemic, two-bit hustler was hooked up with the jailbait leaving the building. “Let me guess. You bonded over shared interests.”
“You know, sarcasm is not attractive in a woman. It shows a lack of trust.”
Said the man hiding on the floor of the back seat. “Uh-huh.”
You got the code, the key, and the phone, right?”
“Yes,” she said, her heart racing like she was on the track, waiting for the flag to come down. She slipped on her sunglasses, fussed over the wig hiding her long, chestnut-colored hair, and shrugged a large black bag onto her shoulder.
“Call me as soon as you’re in the apartment,” Lester said.
Katerina cracked the car door, checking for oncoming traffic. Getting out, she slammed the door and crossed the street. Punching the numbers on the keypad, she slipped into the building.
Remember, keep your head down; there are cameras everywhere. She made a mental note to change out her coat afterwards. The elevator chimed, the doors opened, and Kat ducked inside.
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Okay, I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek. If you haven't had a chance yet to pick up your Kindle copy of Book 1, The Fixer: The Naked Man, it's only $0.99.
https://www.amazon.com/Fixer-Naked-Katerina-Mills-Book-ebook/dp/B00ZV0AFUO/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1466561723&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Fixer%3A+The+Naked+Man
If you like what you read, I would appreciate it if you would leave a review and recommend it to friends and family. I will have another sneak peek soon!
Take care,
Jill