Book 3 of the Mud, Blood and Motocross series, Killer Air, will be available at midnight tonight! So when you get home from Trick- or-treating, you can download your copy and continue to follow the adventures of Nick Bishop and his friends.
Here are a few scenes from the upcoming third book in the trilogy, Killer Air:
***
Down the side of a ravine…
The sun, low in the sky, and the warm August breeze made the aspen trees shimmer with a hundred shades of green and gold.
There was time for Nick to ride his favorite technical trail. It zigzagged up and down the sides of a steep ravine. Sitting at the top looking down always made him second-guess the wisdom of plunging down this trail.
Have I really done this before? he would always wonder.
He dropped off sharply into the ravine. Nick’s back tire locked up and he struggled to maintain control. That’s what made it so fun. The back end slid and skidded, threatening to come around on him. He kept his weight over the back tire, while gravity did the rest.
At the bottom, the bike bottomed out into a stream two feet deep. If he hesitated at all, the bike would bog, so Nick immediately opened up the throttle to tackle the hill climb up the other side. Once at the top, the trail circled around to do the drop again.
The hour vanished.
How does time go so fast, when all you want is for it to go on and on? he wondered.
Nick took one more detour as he sped toward Stor-safe. He knew he was going to be late for work, and he knew it couldn’t last forever, but just for this short ride everything he was and all the things he worried about were absorbed like bumps in the trail by the suspension of his CRF150. He felt in control of his bike and-for the next few minutes at least-in control of his life.
Could I do that for Kat and Billy?
He knew the answer. Nick turned and began to walk into the woods-back to his bike – to his house – to his bed. He would go to sleep and forget about this.
But something stopped him.
Why?
Why did Julia and Mathew and Mr. Brody die?
Why hurt Vincent and leave him for dead?
Nick walked back to the trapdoor. He lifted it up and propped it open. He shone his Maglite down into the dark hole and lowered himself down the ladder.
It’s an old mine shaft, Nick thought. The old and rotting beams had been reinforced with new four-by-fours and the ceiling had been recently lined with plywood. The flashlight beam illuminated the dirt floor.
After about forty feet, the reinforcements ended. There was a steep ramp to the right. Nick shone his flashlight up the ramp. The trapdoor into the storage unit was left open.
He could still go back. But he needed to see. He wanted to know.
***
Down from 20,000 feet…
Nick struggled with the duct tape around his wrists. He tried to wriggle them free behind his back, but he was bound too tight.
Think.
Use your head.
Nick scanned the plane for sharp edges or loose panels that he could use to cut the duct tape, but he saw nothing. The plane rumbled down the runway, accelerating faster and faster, until Nick felt the wheels leave the ground. He was beginning to panic.
After take-off, the cargo plane climbed in altitude and banked left. Nick could see out the windows the miniature landscape far below. Tiny roads and tiny houses. Somewhere down there, his dad was working in his shop.
He won’t even know I’m missing until dinnertime.
They were in the air a little less than an hour when the colonel came back from the cockpit.
“It’s jump time!” Hauslien shouted over the engine noise. He yanked each of them up one by one and cut their wrists and ankles loose. He pulled three parachutes out of the webbing and slammed them into their chests.
“Put these on!” he shouted.
Nick pulled one strap over his shoulder and then the other. There were straps that wrapped around his legs and they all buckled together around his waist.
Hauslien rolled up the canvas door and secured the roll above the left cargo hatch. The wind whipped into the plane, and all Nick could see out the opening was blue sky.
The colonel dragged Nick closer to the opening. Nick’s whole body was throbbing with adrenaline.Malcolm was arguing with the colonel. Nick couldn’t hear what they were saying until Hauslien stepped over to grab Nick by the shoulder strap. “Count to ten! Then pull the cord!” he shouted into Nick’s ear.
I can do this, Nick thought.
Count to ten and pull the cord.
Count to ten and pull the cord.
Nick thought he might get sucked out of the opening once they were close enough, but the cabin wasn’t pressurized, so the opening was just windy. Standing on the edge looking down to the earth below, Nick felt a dizzying sense of being so small. He looked back to see a terrified Kat and Billy watching in horror.
Malcolm said something else, but it was lost in the wind. The colonel was gripping Nick’s shoulder strap and he heaved Nick forward. Halfway out of the plane, Nick’s mind was blank. No thoughts. Only the air that he was breathing. The air he was about to fall through.
***
Killer Air is an adrenaline-pumping freefall, but you don’t need to be a fan of extreme sports to have a blast on this breathless adventure.