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Here is a sneak peek of the second book in A Town of Murderers series called The Second Plan.


After breaking into a morgue to steal evidence linking him to a murder, Ricardo Leon kills the witnesses and sets fire to the building to cover his tracks. He knows he’ll get away with it because he has a mole in the police station.


Ace Cankey vows to bring the notorious gang leader Ricardo to justice. He will use any means necessary to get his man, including planting evidence. An easy task as the new Treble County Coroner. Can one man bring down a ruthless gang of killers? Or will Ace let his ego and ambition be his ruin?


***Warning this book contains graphic content.***




Ricardo

“Don’t show your faces,” Ricardo Leon said before covering his face with a black ski mask. Only his mouth and eyes were visible.

He waited until the three guys with him were hidden, too. He tested the door handle, but it wouldn’t turn. His heart pounded, and his mouth ran dry. He needed to get into this room now because his future depended on it.

The access pad on the wall needed a badge. He didn’t have one, so he knocked instead. The lack of a window on the door might work in his favor if someone was dumb enough to open it without checking who was there first. He glanced at his gun’s safety to make sure it was off.

“Did you forget your pass again Tony? I’m coming. Give me a minute.” A guy in a white coat opened the heavy, wooden door. When he saw the weapons, his mouth fell open.

“Where’s everyone?” Ricardo asked.

“In the morgue,” the medical examiner said.

“Where?”

The ME pointed to the first door on the left.

“Get your ass on the ground.” Ricardo pushed the muzzle of his gun into the other man’s fat belly. When the guy didn’t comply, he hit him in the back of the head with the butt of his 9mm.

“Please don’t hurt me. I have a wife and a family. My youngest son turned three last week.” The ME fell to his knees. The wound on the top of his head bled and he brought his hands up to cover it.

“The boss says to get on the ground. If you don’t, I’ll kill you,” Juan Gonzalez said, his steady tone let everyone know he would do it. He lifted his gun, pointing it at the man. This wouldn’t be his first murder.

Tears formed in the ME’s eyes. He lay on the gray tiled floor, and a whimper escaped from his lips.

“Lock your fingers together on the back of your head. Who else is in the room with you?” Ricardo asked, once his hostage complied with his demand.

“Just my apprentice and the guard,” the ME answered, fear etched in his voice.

Ricardo motioned with his head for Juan to enter the morgue first. He took the second position while one of his men followed behind them. The other stayed inside the doorframe AS the look out. They needed to move fast.

The moment he walked into the morgue, Juan demanded, “Get your hands up and step away from the dead body.”

Ricardo followed his man inside with his weapon drawn in front of him. The attendant was the only worker.

Where was the guard? The three separate, autopsy tables were big enough for a person. They had a sink at the head of each one and were open, not a place anyone could hide. A man was cut open on one. The lower half of his body was covered by a white sheet.

The scared attendant stepped away and raised his hands. He was wearing plastic gloves. The scalpel he had clattered to the ground. The pants he wore slowly became wet in the crouch. He peed himself. Some of the urine leaked down his blue scrubs to the floor and on his shoes. The stench filled the air, smelling worse than cat pee. The room already stunk like rotten meat and antiseptic.

“Did you see what I made him do? The chicken pissed himself,” Juan said. A loud and high laugh, like a hyena, burst through his mouth. He earned the animal nickname for this reason, and, the fact, he was a scavenger. He ate almost anything.

“Juan, you badass,” Pablo Nuestra said, he sounded impressed.

“Shut up dumbass. The boss said no names.” Juan pushed his friend into the metal table near the young ME.

“Man, you made me touch a dead body. I just touched a dead body.” Pablo smiled at something. The guy had to be high. Ricardo told him last night to not take a hit this morning. If Pablo messed this up, he’d be taught a lesson later. He lifted the hand on the guy on the slab and waved it. He giggled afterward.

“Where’s the guard?” Ricardo asked the worker after he decided to ignore the two clowns. His posse wasn’t the brightest. He wouldn’t have brought them if he wasn’t desperate. The worse part was they were the smartest inside his gang now. Some of his guys were in prison. Others were dead. His lieutenant went to jail for unpaid child support. He’d be out in a few days, but not in enough time to complete this mission. If Ricardo failed here, he’d be inside the big house for years or get the needle.

“Burt’s in the bathroom,” the ME said.

“Where?”

The ME pointed to one of the closed doors at the back of the room. The other might be a supply closet.

Ricardo couldn’t tell what it was from where he stood. He said to Juan, “Go get him.”

The big man lumbered over to the door. He pounded on it with a beefy fist, and when the guard didn’t respond, he shook the handle. Juan was six-foot-tall and built like a furnace. He was dumb like a heater, too. He was a good lackey, always doing what he was told.

“Get your ass out of there before I kill your friend,” he said.

The door unlocked with a click.

Juan kicked it, and the handle busted away from the frame. He grabbed a hold of the rent-a-cop, yanking him out of the restroom and tossing him onto the ground.

“I did what you want.” The guard rolled onto his back and put his hands in the air.

Juan raised his gun and squeezed the trigger. His weapon made a firecracker sound when it went off. The bullet left the chamber, crashing into the guard’s skull. The silencer on the end didn’t prevent the big bang. Anyone in this four-story building and a few blocks away could hear the noise.

“Why the hell did you kill him?” Ricardo asked, pissed off. His temper rose, and he fought to keep it in check. He wanted to kill the witness after he stole the evidence. Any gunshots would bring the cops here. The fastest they could get here was ten minutes unless a squad car was nearby.

“The cops will be here soon. The guard made a phone call. I figured you want to deal with one less person,” Juan answered.

“Shit, we better hurry. The timetable has moved up to eight minutes.” Ricardo glanced at the man on the autopsy table. His skin would’ve been dark if he was still alive. He wasn’t the person Ricardo came here for.

Ricardo raised his gun to the attendant’s face, grabbing onto the guy’s shirt and lifting him off the ground by three inches.

“Where the hell is the dead gang banger?” he asked.

“He’s…he’s in the freezer,” the ME said with a stutter.

“Which one?”

“The third door on the left in the hallway.”

“Show me.” Ricardo released his hostage and pushed him to stand in front of him.

They walked into the hallway, stepping over the ME.

The guy was alive for now.

“What should we do boss?” his man at the door asked.

“Clean up the mess in here and check for any evidence.” Ricardo glanced at the ceiling. Two dome cameras covered the entrance and the hallway. “Don’t forget the video feed. We don’t want the cops finding us.”

“You alright?” His guy nodded at the prisoner with Ricardo as they left the room.

“I got this. We have seven minutes remaining.” Ricardo pushed the young man forward. “Move.”

“Why should I? You’ll kill me.” The ME stumbled and caught himself from falling on the ground.

“If you don’t, I’ll gun down your family.” Ricardo searched the guy’s back pocket, pulling out a wallet. He opened it and read the name on the license. A wedding photo, pictures of two kids, and a family portrait were in the plastic credit card holders. “Donald Thatcher lives at 3618 Terrace Drive. Is your wife at home? She doesn’t want a visit from me. Trust me. You have cute kids.”

“Please don’t hurt them. I’ll do anything,” David said.

“Show me where the dead gang member is.”

“Who? We haven’t autopsied several victims in a drive by shooting.”

“Jeremy Camp,” Ricardo said.

“Did you kill him?” Donald asked.

“Does it matter if I did?”

Donald shook his head and shuffled down the hallway.

Last man walking. The other guy knew he was on death row. If he was any trouble, his family would be dead, too. A few beats of the march song strummed in the Ricardo’s head. He tried to contain the smirk from forming on his face. He didn’t try hard.

“Mr. Camp’s body should be in here.” Donald stopped outside a door.

“What do you mean by ‘should be’?” Ricardo asked, suspicious. His gaze narrowed on the worker.

“We haven’t identified some of the bodies yet.”

“Open the door.” The entrance was made of wood. The freezer must be somewhere inside the room. He doubted his hostage would mess with him.

Donald fumbled with the keys he took out of his pocket. Selecting one, he stuck it into the lock. The bolt unlatched, and the door swung open.

“Everyone is in the freezer at the back,” Donald said.

“I don’t care who you have in there. Show me the punk, Jeremy,” Ricardo said.

“I’ll need your help finding him. I don’t know what body bag he’s inside.” Donald opened the freezer door, entering the little space. He went over to the first black, human-sized pouch. He unzipped it and checked the name on the paper on the dead girl’s chest.

“Hurry up and skip the bodies in the shape of a chick or a kid.”

“Some of these bodies haven’t been identified yet.” Donald checked his fifth cadaver bag. There wasn’t any identification on this one. “Is this him?”

“That’s the punk, Jeremy. Have you removed the bullet?”

“The autopsy hasn’t been done yet. We’re behind because the county coroner is leaving,” Donald said, after reading the sheet.

“Grab the bullet,” Ricardo said.

Jeremy didn’t have an incision on his chest.

“You want me to go inside him and retrieve it?” Donald’s voice was filled with confusion or disbelief. His eyes widened.

“Yeah, I need it. Get your skinny hand inside the corpse and get me the damn bullet. Quit stalling.”

“How can I remove it without any tools?”

“Use your fucking fingers. If that don’t work, I’ll cut a bigger hole,” Ricardo said.

After Donald placed two fingers inside the wound on the dead body and dug around for a minute, he said, “I’ll need a bigger cut.”

“Move.” Ricardo stuck his gun in the waist of his jeans.

The ME’s gaze stayed on it.

Pulling out a switch blade from his pocket, he pressed the button and the blade slid out. “Do you think you can take me?” Ricardo asked.

“I…I can’t. You’ll…You’ll need to cut lower,” the ME stammered.

Ricardo stabbed Jeremy right below the rib cage. He used two hands to slice the flesh there until the cut was wider. Once he was done, he wiped the blood off his knife and onto the body bag.

Donald closed his eyes and stuck his hand inside the body. Once he found something inside the chest cavity, he pulled his arm and it out.

“This looks like the slug of a 9mm. I’d need to run some tests to be sure. Did it come from your gun?” Donald held the slug up and rotated it between his thumb and pointer finger in the low light.

“Yes, the one right here. Give the bullet to me.” Ricardo waved his gun. He held out his hand. The weapon he carried now wasn’t the one he used to kill the rival gang member. He owned that one. He didn’t get a chance to hide the body before the cops came. Once he had the slug, the state attorney would have a hard time pinning the death on him.

“Promise me you won’t hurt my family.”

“I won’t.”

Donald stared at him for a moment and then dropped the slug into the outstretched hand. The guy didn’t grovel and for that Ricardo admired him for it.

Ricardo didn’t have a high enough regard for the ME to spare his life. He’d at least keep his word. He pulled out his gun, aimed, and fired.

The bullet slammed into Donald’s head, right in an eye and came out the back of his head. His body fell back first and then to the ground with a loud thump when he tried to move away.

“Are we good here? The rest of us are finished. We have two minutes left,” Juan said, at the door.

“I need some gasoline. Do you have any?” Ricardo asked.

Juan shook the halfway full container. He walked into the freezer and dumped it on Jeremy along with the floor and a few other cadavers. He tossed the red gas can aside when he finished after wiping it down.

Ricardo pulled out a lighter, dropping it into a small pile of gasoline. The liquid ignited, and the blue flame streaked across the floor. Once it hit a pool of gas, a fire burst out. A thick cloud of smoke filled the air, forcing the people alive in the room to cough. The blaze started Jeremy on fire or at least his black bag.

“Let’s get out of here,” Ricardo said satisfied.


https://getBook.at/TSP


-K.A.

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Hello, I forgot to tell you about A Town of Murderers Book 2: The Second Plan release back in March 2020.



After breaking into a morgue to steal evidence linking him to a murder, Ricardo Leon kills the witnesses and sets fire to the building to cover his tracks. He knows he’ll get away with it because he has a mole in the police station.


Ace Cankey vows to bring the notorious gang leader Ricardo to justice. He will use any means necessary to get his man, including planting evidence. An easy task as the new Treble County Coroner. Can one man bring down a ruthless gang of killers? Or will Ace let his ego and ambition be his ruin?


***Warning this book contains graphic content.***


https://getBook.at/TSP


-K.A.


0 views0 comments

One thing that has always helped me is setting a goal. A goal is anything you want to achieve. I will be discussing 2 of the goals I'm working on. A personal goal and a writing goal. I have no special training. This is what I do. I'm not as stressed so hopefully some of the tips I have will help you. Let's begin. I've been doing this since I was little for well over 20 years.


Step 1: Decide on one goal.

Choose only one goal. You can add more goals as you're working through goal planning, but do only one goal for now. Be specific on that goal. You need to be able to measure the goal.


Have you heard of the SMART goals?

S - is for Specific (Step 1)

M - is for Measurable (Step 1)

A - is for Achievable (Step 1) (and I'll add Accountability (Step 2))

R - is for Realistic (Step 2)

T - is for Timey (Step 2)


My writing goal is to edit book 3 in my book series, Superior Species. My other goal is to get a massive tree cut down in my yard. It is leaning and needs to go.


Here is the tree:



Step 2: Breakdown your goal.

Here is where we get specific and how you can achieve it? What is your action plan?


Some tips:

  1. Be realistic. You can't write 50,000 words in a day.

  2. What are the outside factors? Anything that you can't control.

  3. Let life happen! This is a big one. Life gets in the way, let it. But don't let it take over. It might and you might have to let it. Acknowledge it and then get back to your goals when life is less hectic.

Okay to edit my Superior Species Book 3, I need to edit 2-3 chapters a day. I edit Monday to Friday 2 chapters and on the weekend 3 chapters. Book 3 has 31 chapters. So I need less than 2 weeks for this edit.


For the tree, I called and found out it will cost $1,000 to remove my tree. My outside factor is I have to set money aside so I need to budget.


Here is where we break everything down more and add in our action plan:


Start with the most important goal. The thing you need to get done first.


For example, with my book, I started editing it in December. My plan was to let life happen and be done by January 10th, 2023. I planned on skipping days I was busy. Life will happen. It will get in the way. Let it. But don't let it take over.


I also have to admit this was the easier edit. I had an editor for this book. You'll see my editing process later.


For the tree, I'm saving $100 a paycheck. I was able to save this amount for this goal by cutting out fast food and watching what I spend. For example for meals, I check what I own and then buy the remaining ingredients. Less food waste too!


How will you make your goal? What is your action plan?


This is where I plan my whole year for writing. I break everything down. I'm not specific. I do quarterly and then breakdown to monthly. YOU decide what you want to do. If you can only handle a daily goal, do daily. Only a monthly goal, do monthly. Only one goal at a time, do that one goal. You can tell your limits when you're getting stressed. Or if there is something you can't control. My SUV had to go to the shop. I had to pay that first and then start saving again.


Not sure if you want to know my writing plan for the year. Here it is:

January 2023 Edit Superior Species Book 3

February 2023 Release Superior Species Book 3 (edit Superior Species Prequel & Book 4)

March 2023 Write Superior Species Book 8

April 2023 Release Superior Species Prequel

May 2023 Finish editing Superior Book 4

June 2023 Release Superior Species Book 4

July 2023 Edit Superior Book 5

August 2023 Release Superior Species Book 5

September 2023 Edit Ava (short story)

October 2023 Release Ava (Short story)

November 2023 Write ??? (I don't know. I plan to write it in November 2023. That is K.A. in November problem. She has this.)

December 2023 Finish Nano book...and not sure. Start to edit Superior Species Book 6?


Step 3: Work on your goals.

You have your goal so start getting it done. For writing or editing what is your limit? Find out either by writing or editing. I have a 2,500 at a session limit. I can only edit 2 chapters on a weekday and 3 chapters on a weekend because I'm busy. I found this out by testing my limits. I knew my limits when I couldn't edit or write anymore.


For my tree, I can only save so much. My limitations are bills and other things get in the way. I do plan on saving more because of taxes, increase, or etc. I'm hoping $1,200 will cover it. So in 6 months (maybe less) I can take down the tree. (I might need encouragement to call them!)

Here are my goals. All the * are when I am releasing a book. The other months are the book I am promoting. I only do weekly promotions so the numbers like HKS3 (Holiday Killing Spree Book 3) needs 5 images for the month of January 2023.



So I take the first 3 months January-March and then break those down.


Here are the goals:

  1. Edit Superior Species Book 3.

  2. Format Superior Species Book 3.

  3. Do the cover, wrap, blurb for Superior Species Book 3.

  4. Do the cover, blurb, and chapter one for Superior Species Prequel (if there is a next book, I show the preview).

  5. Order Superior Species Book 3 Proof.

  6. Edit SSB3 final Proof? (I'm not sure if I'll get all of this done since the book came to me on January 17th and it is 31 chapters.)

  7. Get 5 images done for HKS3 for January promo.

  8. Get 4 images done for SSB3 for February promo.

  9. Get 8 images done for my social media for promo in Jan-Feb.

  10. Release Superior Species Book 3.

  11. Do the Website SEO, banner, and update website for SSB3.

  12. Post a blog on SSB3. Post first chapter for SSB3.

  13. Edit Superior Species Prequel.

  14. Get 4 images for A Town of Murderers 2 for March promo.

  15. Post first chapter for ATOMs2.

  16. Get 5 images done for my social media for March promo.

  17. Edit Superior Species Book 4.

  18. Remove overused words in Superior Species Book 4.

  19. Listen to Superior Species Book 4.

  20. Run Superior Species Book 4 through 2 software.

  21. Send Superior Species Book 4 to editor.

  22. Write Superior Species Book 8 (77,500 words).


I broke these goals down monthly. For January 2023 is 1-9. For February 2023 is 10-21. For March 2023 is just goal 21.


Step 4: Check in.

How are you doing on your goals? Check in with yourself or your friends. Write it in the comments here. The point is to hold yourself accountable. I do a weekly check in every Wednesday. Pick a day. Do daily if you need it. I gave myself stickers for the goals I get done.


Some tips:

  1. Be positive. You might not get everything done.

  2. Reflect on your goal(s). Did you achieve everything? Great! Did you not? Why not? Can you adjust your goals to achieve it? If not, that's okay.

What I don't get done for this quarter (or month), I try for the next. I don't put too much pressure on myself. I can change my release plan. If I do get behind, I adjust or scrap the plan depending on how far behind I get.


You got this,

K.A.

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