Today’s #1lineWed theme is rather apropos for the crazy that is 2020 so far. We’re almost halfway through the year and it feels like it should be 2022 already! Anyway, over on Twiter, folks are posting lines about **DOOM, GLOOM or BOOM.” When anything goes boom, I immediately thinik of Sean “Boomer” Donaldson from the Moonstruck series. He LIKES to blow stuff up. And with Black Root in the pictures, the Wolves and their mates have a lot of doom and gloom. Me, being the over-achiever that I am, I didn’t rest on my laurels. Nope. I wrote a rather long snippet incorporating all three prompts. Also, it let me start to play with my two new Cajun cop characters. Okay, technically, they are deputies but y’all know what I mean. Anyway, grab yourself a Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane, sit for a spell, and enjoy…
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“Don’t pout.”
“I’m not poutin’.”
Luc Bergeron glanced over at his partner, his eye roll hidden behind the dark aviator-style sunglasses he wore. “Yeah, you are.”
“I don’t pout.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“How come you always get to drive?” Beau LeBlanc swiveled in the passenger seat of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office SUV to stare.
“Because I’m not the one who wrecked our last two vehicles.”
“Neither of those accidents was my fault.”
“Bossman said I drive until further notice.”
Under his breath, Beau carried on a muttered conversation with himself. They’d been partners for ten years and friends for life. Luc was used to this whole moping attitude, which always made him want to scratch his head. Beau was big, goofy, and had an unnatural love affai with Hawaiian-style shirts. Beau was flamboyant, generous to a fault, and tended to wear his heart on his sleeve. He, on the other hand, was most often described as “tall, dark, and broody.” But never to his face. If anyone should be muttering about doom and gloom, it’d be him.
Their radios crackled and Dispatch spat out a long string of information. Armed robbery. Small silver sedan, possibly a Honda with damage to the left rear bumper. Two men. No description, but both armed. Yada. Yada.
Rolling to a smooth stop at the traffic light, Beau and Luc exchanged a look after a small silver car, possibly a Honda, occupied two times and with damage to the bumper flew through the intersection right as the lights changed. Luc hit the buttons for lights and sirens, Beau called their location into Dispatch. The chase was on.
“Don’t lose ’em.”
“I won’t.”
“I wouldn’t lose ’em, you know, if I was drivin’.”
“Yes you would.”
“No I wouldn’t,” Beau insisted.
Luc chanced a side-ways glance. “Two wrecks, Beau. And two perps that got away.”
“You would bring that up.”
Rolling his eyes again, Luc concentrated on the traffic, the car they pursued and… “Shit. Driver tossed something out the window.” He recognized the pineapple-shaped object just in time to jerk the wheel to the right to avoid it, The SUV bucked as the grenade exploded.
“BOOM!” Beau yelled, his eyes gleaming with something dark and feral. “Those ol’ boys are playin’ for keeps.” Then he dutifully reported the explosion to Dispatch.
Fully focused on the chase, Luc cursed as the smaller car braked hard and cut through a parking lot onto a narrow street. He whipped the big SUV into the turn by sheer force of will. Beau continued broadcasting their position, all while keeping up a running commentary with Luc.
“You’re gonna lose ’em!”
Luc answered with a growl.
“Shit, Luc! Buuuuummp!”
The SUV went airborne but it was built with stronger shocks and a higher frame than the silver car. The smaller vehicle bottomed out when it landed, sending out a shower of sparks and a puff of smoke.
“Flat tire. They blew a tire back there. Watch out. Debris. Runnin’ on d’rim now.” Beau glanced at Luc. “Dis gonna be good.” His Cajun accent had a tendency to come out when his adrenaline spiked. Smoke poured from the muffler and from under the hood of the car. It made one more, shuddering turn—into a cul-de-sac. Beau had his seatbelt off and the door partially open as the driver and passenger flung themselves out of the still moving car and took off running.
“We be havin’ some real fun now, boys!” Beau yelled as he jumped out and took off after the passenger.
Luc took just enough time to pin the still-running getaway car to the curb with the SUV and then he was out and in pursuit of the driver. He stayed close on the man’s trail, which wasn’t hard to follow. Adrenaline, sweat, fear—the cloud of mixed scents left a trail so potent even a full human could follow it. Or not. Luc was not human. He was a Wolf. And once he and Beau had the scents of their prey, they might as well have been Royal Canadian Mounties. They always got their man. Or woman.
A hair-raising howl split the air. Beau had caught his. Luc stopped. The scent trail had changed. Oh yeah, his prey was close—too close to duck out of the way of the shots fired. Three peppered his bullet-proof vest, the fourth burned across Luc’s neck. Motherfuckin’ perp had to be luckiest bastard in the world. And now Luc was pissed.
“Drop your weapon and come out here now. If I have to come after you, I’ll rip out your fuckin’ throat when I catch you.” His eyes had gone to that of his wolf’s so he wasn’t surprised when the perp tossed out a gun and followed it with his hands in the air.
“What the hell are you?” the man asked. The scent of ammonia permeated the air. He’d pissed himself.
“I’m your worst nightmare,” Luc snarled in reply.
****
Welpers, that’s a lot longer snippet than y’all usually get. I hope you enjoyed this peek at the new characters. Writers, do you have any doom, gloom, or boom words to share? Readers, want to toss out some ideas for types of heroines for these guys? I have some ideas but I’m always looking for suggestions. 😉
Books have always been my refuge. Whenever things got tough, I could open a book and get lost in someone else’s world. As a kid, it was the Black Stallion, or Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, even Tom Swift. Then I moved on to Mary Stewart and Andre Norton, Louis L’Amour, and others. I’d read a book and then I’d find a quiet place and pretend I was IN the book, having adventures that I made up in my own imagination. Eventually, I learned to create my own worlds and my own characters. And finally, I started writing the stories I made up down. And yes, I did split that infinitive. Or something. Whatever. I’m a published author. I get to make up my own rules, don’cha know! 😉 Anyway, 2020 is a year that everyone I know wants to hide from. We each have our own way of coping. When the Universe tossed this my direction, I was like…🤦♀️
