Agent Nick O’Malley and Det. Brandon Carr are back. Nick heads to Riverside, California, center of the Inland Empire and Brandon’s home turf. But every minute Nick’s in Riverside threatens to out Brandon. When events embroil Nick in one of Brandon’s investigations — gang hits, prostitution, illegal gambling and human trafficking – can they survive both?

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Prologue

Dark and broiling, a typical August smothered Riverside, California. David Huynh stood outside the Bang! PC Café, smoking a cigarette. At sixteen, he was too young to have bought them legally. At sixteen, he was too young to be in the café past the ten p.m. city curfew. Neither of those things bothered David much.

All he cared about was the lack of available computers. David wanted to be online, playing soldier and killing other kids playing terrorists. Interactive play was so much better than going against a machine. Usually, he was in place and surfing the net before the major crowd showed up. Tonight he’d worked late at his uncle’s convenience store and it set him behind. He pulled another drag. Sooner or later someone would run out of money and then David could take his spot.

A high-buffed Nissan pulled into the lot. Metallic gold paint along the hood melded into candy orange by the time it reached the aftermarket spoiler. Every window was tinted well past legal limits. A dragon crawled across the top of the windshield, almost undulating in time to low-level base that throbbed from God knew how many speakers. As the car screeched to a standstill, engraved chrome and 24-carat gold rims spun like whirligigs, and multicolored lights chased themselves across the hood. Hydraulics hissed as the Nissan’s body juddered downwards. (continue reading…)

Now available from MLR Press

Deputy Joe Peterson is Mormon and in the closet. Then ex-con Kabe Varghese lands in town on parole. When a tourist falls off the mountain, Joe finds he needs the help of this cliff climbing adrenaline junky to solve the case. Will Kabe tear him apart or does Joe need to fall hard before he can start living?
Read an Excerpt.