#SampleSunday The directions were simple: Kill the Governor #AODTour

By 








Assassination of a Dignitary by Carolyn
Arnold



Excerpt of Chapter 1







“Why
her?”  Behler was the first female to serve
as Governor in the state of Michigan.



Christian laughed.  He lifted the glass to his lips but lowered his
arm again.  He rested it on the sofa arm.  “You know we don’t answer those questions.  Yet she must know where her death is coming from.  And, to the media it must appear as an assassination.”



“So you want it to take place from a distance,
or close range?”  I asked for clarity.  His words seemed to contradict each other, know where her death is coming from, yet it
must appear as an assassination.



“A statement must be made.”



“In-her-face-personal then?  And you want the last words she hears to be—”



“From Pietro Russo.”



“From Pietro Russo?”  The woman must have wronged the man on a personal
level.  For all of my past close range kills,
they would know where their fate came from, but the Don was never explicitly named.  My thoughts were on my wife and the kids.  I couldn’t risk their lives being caught up in
this vortex.  My wife, my parents, no one
knew about my past.  While I preferred it
stay buried there, it might not be an option.



“So what will it be? One hundred thou richer
or—” Christian stopped talking as he exchanged his drink for a nearby family portrait.  “You have a nice family.”



“Don’t even think of hurting them.”  My jaw tightened, the familiar adrenaline rush
surged through my blood stream.



“It’s not a threat, Hunter.”  His calm voice conflicted with his words.  “If you don’t do this, it will be more than that.”  Christian rose to his feet.  “You have until tomorrow morning, nine a.m., to
decide.  After that, I can’t answer for what
happens.”



“You son of a bitch!”  I rose to my feet and came at him fast.  



Christian turned.  The barrel of a .38 was pointed at my abdomen.  “Don’t think I won’t kill you just because you’re
a friend.  I can get new friends.”



I wanted to tell him to find a new one for
this mission, but with the wildfire in the man’s eyes I needed to back down from
the confrontation.  I put my hands up in surrender
and slowly took a step back.



“Smart, Hunter.  It would be a shame to lose you.  I want her dead within the week.”



“The week?”  Just when I didn’t think my heart could pump faster,
or the adrenaline provide more of a high, it exceeded on both counts.  I glanced at the clock.  Brenda and
the kids.  “If I do this—”



“You’re out for good.”



“I heard that fifteen years ago.”



Christian laughed and finally retracted his
gun and placed it inside his jacket pocket. 
“You have no reason to trust us.  Keep
that in mind.”  He stopped at the door, his
hand on the knob, and spoke facing it.  “The
clock’s ticking Hunter.  Say hi to the family
for me.”



With him gone, I felt violated.  He had been inside my house, my home that I shared
with my family.  They could know nothing about
this.  They would know nothing of it.  



The clock read four ten.  I had about seventeen hours to let Christian know
what I decided, but did I really have an option?  It was either kill or be killed.  I knew too much now.  Christian had seen to that.  I scooped the wad of cash from the table and fanned
it.  The smell of money lodged up my nose
as nostalgia.  I tucked it into a pant pocket
causing it to visibly bulge.



I poured myself a few shots of single malt
and swigged it back in a couple mouthfuls. 
As the alcohol started to work, my mind assessed the situation.  It recalled my past life in detail, the people,
the blood, the locations, the intensity I would feel every time I took a life.  In a way, it was the type of rush I hadn’t experienced
since.  I wouldn’t dare say I missed it, but
as the vague recollections transformed to shape, I knew I was capable of doing it
again.



The directions were simple:  kill the Governor.



But I wasn’t that man anymore, and this was
different.  Governor Behler was my client.  I was her accountant.  We had grown close.  Brenda and I had even been to her house for dinner
before.  







****



The
official release date of Assassination of a
Dignitary is March 14th to Amazon for Kindle and in April for
print.  However, it’s here early!!  You can get your copy
now.







Amazon US / Amazon
UK / Amazon
Canada







OR,
be sure to check out the full Assassination Blog Tour schedule here and enter for your chance to win!















 
 



















































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