Harper Mane

Harper Mane | Assassin | Protagonist

Harper Mane is an assassin moonlighting as an investigator in this thriller. She is investigating the murder of an old friend. As the case develops, she’s surprised to find that an old nemesis may be involved in various crimes, including her friend’s murder. She also finds the case seems to morph in different directions daily.

Harper is a 32-year-old drop dead gorgeous woman who turns heads constantly. She has a reputation among colleagues for having a vicious and unforgiving disposition. She maintains her five foot six-inch frame to chiseled perfection. Harper is both visually impressive and uniquely intimidating. Provocative in a rustic sort of way, she has truly taken sexy intimidation to a whole other level.

A natural brunette, she prefers and keeps her hair in a short pixie with an undercut. She says it keeps things simple when peering down a high-powered rifle’s scope. She allowed a target to escape her shot earlier in her career. And while she didn’t blame her long hair, she went on a crusade to eliminate all excuses for the future.

Harper admittedly has anger issues, and sometimes it clouds her judgement, but she has learned how to use it to her advantage. Those who have been on the receiving end of that anger, however, rarely have the chance to warn others about it. Harper Mane is the real deal, at the top of her game, and feared by hard men and women the world over.

Rhonda Calegal | Assassin | Protagonist

Like Harper, I introduced Rhonda’s character in one of my previous novels, The Pursuit 2. She met Harper while she was on an assignment in her hometown. Harper told her she was a reporter in town researching a story. Rhonda assisted her by providing information that only a local would have knowledge of.

Rhonda was a quiet gal and shy, but Harper saw something in her she admired. Having an extremely inquisitive nature, Rhonda soon suspected Harper was not who she said she was, and eventually found out the truth. And it changed her world.

Having harbored an inner assassin for most of her life, she frequently fantasized about how it would be to actually live the role. The allure of having an actual assassin within her reach was too tempting to ignore. She confronted Harper about it one evening and begged her to teach her the ropes. Rhonda’s discovery left Harper with two choices: kill her or give in and teach her. She chose the latter.

Rhonda turned out to be a natural, preferring knife attacks. She was also proficient in MMA fighting, something Harper avoided like the plague. She was more of a traditional hand-to-hand military style combat fighter.

A natural redhead, she prefers and keeps her hair in a short half shaved punk look, sometimes with a hint of a black fade on top. She doesn’t mind the flap slightly covering one eye. Says she enjoys having to flip it out of the way from time-to-time. Rhonda is a couple of years younger than Harper, slightly shorter and a little lighter. They complement each other well. They formed a bond during Harper’s mission and have been taking out bad guys ever since.

I mentioned before you’d see her character again, and here she is in a leading role.

Samanta Pasternak | Antagonist

Samanta Yevdokiya Pasternak, A Ukranian born beauty, is our antagonist, and she’s one of my favorites. A wealthy and brilliant financier, she made a name for herself through multiple successful global projects yielding billions of dollars to her clients. But Samanta is complicated. She has a dark side, which has been scratching its way towards the surface for years. Her emotional state has declined by the time I introduce her and she brings some major twists to the plot.

She graduated college in Chicago and a couple of short stints at other companies, landed a role in the Financial District, which is where her career took off. Samanta reached her peak early, and it stifled her upward mobility. She became bored with work and bored with life. Her emotional state, which had affected her reasoning, was getting worse. Her doctor prescribed medication, but she had an on-again-off-again relationship with the routine he advised.

From childhood, violence found her. Her father taught her how to fight, shoot, stab, you name it. And she learned well. She could defend herself against the best of them. And yes, sometimes she was the aggressor. So much so that once in college, she even found herself in Harper’s rifle’s crosshairs. Harper was young as well and missed the shot, but she never forgot Samanta, nor the boot to the face her partner gave her for missing the shot.

Samanta brings a level of complication to the story that keeps readers attentive and wanting more. The cat-and-mouse game she plays with Harper keeps the story moving and engaging. Her ability to wreak havoc is amazing. She proves a worthy opponent to Harper. You’ll be excited to see who comes on top.

Zach Briley | Multiple Roles

Zach’s role takes multiple characters and contorts them all up into one. He is central to the plot and appears in nearly every scene. One minute, he provides comic relief, and the next he’s the gnat in the room that irritates everyone around him. Zach is not a dumb man, but he seems to relish his ability to make people think he is.

His claim to fame was his insistence on sporting the weirdest mullet known to man. That thing was atrocious, but it served its intended purpose, attracting the right type of women. Zach was a redneck, or so he’d have everyone believe. In reality, he was not, but he thought the facade would attract the attention of the nearby trailer park babes. It did not. The babes it did attract, to everyone’s utter disbelief, were prominent African American women. Go figure.

Zach fell hard for a woman that came to town to give a speech. She was a heart-stopping blonde from the Mid-west, Samanta Pasternak, a bigwig in the financial arena and absolutely loaded financially. She was so far out of his league it defied the laws of nature, as word got out that they were a thing. It was the weirdest relationship on the planet and got more interesting as the story developed.

Zach was definitely a different sort of character, but one for which I could not have written the story. I could write much more about him here, but his character is best digested a little at a time. You’ll see what I mean as you turn pages.

Journee Uju | General Role

Journee came on the scene in the pivotal chapter 17. She had a limited but critical role. A Nigerian beauty, she was a server in a small cafe in Las Vegas’ Historic Westside. Harper met her while in the area, seeking information about her friend and first victim, Marissa Logan. They sort of hit it off and became friendly. Journee caught Harper listening to nearby conversations and knew she was snooping for info about Marissa. Harper and Rhonda hadn’t been discreet about their reason for being in town, something that was part of their plan. Journee confronted her about it.

Once Harper found out that Journee not only knew Marissa, but she had started her own investigation into her murder before she was warned to back off. Harper asked her to join her and Rhonda’s investigation. She was apprehensive at first, but later agreed. It shocked Rhonda to see how much information Journee had accumulated.

It turned out that Journee could provide critical inside info on all the characters involved, especially Zach’s new love interest, Samanta Pasternak, and the organization she had recently taken over, The ‘H E R’ Foundation. The info she had on Samanta alone changed the direction of the entire investigation. Journee proved to be an invaluable asset to the team, and they all bonded and not only became very close friends, but well on their way to solving the investigation.

Like Zach, I could go on about Journee, but her role, though crucial to the investigation, remained limited. I think you’ll see her again.

Paperback: Coming Soon!

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