Wildfire

My good friend Scott Bury has a new release coming out on March 22nd, and I'm delighted to be able to bring you a short extract from Wildfire to whet your appetite.

Passing the restaurant, she froze at the unmistakable sound of a door closing.

Shoving the phone into her pocket, she belted around the mansion. In the weak moonlight, she could see someone running toward the road and willed her legs to move faster, pumping her hands like her trainer had told her. 

“Stop!” Why the hell did I say that?

The figure in the dark did not stop, but turned right when he reached the road.

He’s going for a car. “No!” 

She caught up as the figure opened the door of a small car. He whirled, his arm extended and Tara jumped back as the tip of a long blade flashed past her midriff. She fell back on her butt on the road. Years of training took control and she rolled on her back, sprang to her feet, fists raised, knees bent, her left shoulder forward to present the narrowest possible target.

A short, broad man stood beside the open door of a hatchback, brandishing something toward her. “Stay away from me, you little bitch,” he hissed.

Is that a kitchen knife? “Donald?”

“Stay away. These are mine.” 

Tara shook her fists. When Donald flinched, she pivoted on her forward foot, sweeping her back foot around. Her toes smashed his wrist, Donald yelped and the knife dropped. 

He jumped into his car. Tara hesitated just long enough to allow Donald to start the engine. The headlights flared as Tara grabbed at the open door’s frame. The wheels squealed against the pavement and the car tore out of her grasp. Tara stumbled forward, but could only watch the taillights shrink with distance.

She used her smart phone’s light to look at the knife on the pavement. One of the restaurant’s ceramic chef’s knives. Donald did say they belonged to him when Alan fired him. 

She dialed 911. “This is Tara Rezeck of the Rocky Creek Winery. We’ve had a break-in at Cyrano’s Restaurant. Yes, I’m safe. He’s gone now. I know who it is. Yes, twenty-three-eighty-five Rocky Creek Road. Yes, I’ll wait. Please tell the officer to come to Cyrano’s, in the old mansion, not to the house. There’s no need for a siren or lights or anything. No, I won’t touch anything. Thank you.”

Tara sat on the bench on the mansion’s verandah to wait for the deputy, looking at the images on her phone. 

There was definitely someone on that dirt road. It’s too bad I can’t tell who it was, though. But does that mean there were two people sabotaging the winery? Was it Donald all along?

That doesn’t make sense. Alan was complaining about sabotage before he fired Donald. Why would Donald sabotage the place where he was gainfully employed?

Anyway, Donald isn’t fast enough to go through the vineyard, down to the main road and back to the restaurant in the time it took me to walk across the lot. I’ve seen him run. He’s not fast.

But that means there is still someone else sabotaging the winery. 

She did not like that conclusion.

The patrol car arrived within ten minutes, and Tara was relieved that the deputy used neither the lights nor siren. There’s no point waking Veronica. She definitely doesn’t need any more stress.

But do I?

Wildfire

Wildfires swept across California wine country in 2017, destroying thousands of homes and businesses, and killing dozens of people. Law school grad and single mother Tara Rezeck finds herself in the middle of the catastrophe. When she returns to her job at the most award-winning vineyard in Sonoma County, she finds her employer’s body in the ashes.

The question that challenges her brains and her legal training is: was it an accident? Or was his body burned to hide evidence of murder?

Now available for pre-order on on Amazon (for Kindle e-readers) and Smashwords (for Kobo, Nook and other e-readers).

You can read the first two chapters for free on Wattpad.

About the author

After a 30-year career as a journalist and editor, Scott Bury turned to writing fiction with a children’s story, Sam, the Strawb Part, and a story that bridged the genres of paranormal occult fiction and espionage thriller: Dark Clouds. Since then, he has published 12 novels and novellas without regard to staying in any one genre.

In 2012, he published his first novel, the historical magic realism bestseller The Bones of the Earth. His next book, One Shade of Red, was a satire of a bestseller with a similar title.

From 2014 to 2017, he published the Eastern Front Trilogy, the true story of a Canadian drafted into the Soviet Red Army in 1941, and how he survived the Second World War: Army of Worn Soles, Under the Nazi Heel and Walking Out of War.

Scott was invited to write for three Kindle Worlds, where authors base novellas on the fictional worlds of bestselling series. For Toby Neal’s Lei Crime Kindle World, he wrote Torn Roots, Palm Trees & Snowflakes, Dead Man Lying and Echoes.

For Russell Blake’s Jet Kindle World, he contributed Jet: Stealth, featuring the explosive duo of Van and LeBrun.

And for Emily Kimelman’s Sydney Rye Kindle World, he brought Van and LeBrun back for The Wife Line and The Three-Way.

Now, he is beginning a new mystery series with Wildfire, featuring the smart and passionate Tara Rezeck. Wildfire is currently available for pre-order on Amazon (for Kindle e-readers) and Smashwords (for Kobo, Nook and other e-readers).

Find out more about Scott and his writing on his website, ScottBuryAuthor.com.