Flash Friday: Project Prometheus’ HOPE OF HEAVEN
Today’s offering is piece from my upcoming release from Aspen Mountain Press, the second book in my Project Prometheus series, HOPE OF HEAVEN. So, without further ado:
Mud flew up around the horses’ hooves as Aztec and Topaz pounded toward the hidden hillock, urged on by their desperate riders. Crouched low over Topaz’s back, Hope glanced at her companion, and suddenly, she saw what his enemies did. A grim warrior on a shadowy horse, he looked like an agent of Hell itself, fury carved in the planes of his face. Strangely, the image calmed her, and bolstered her inner strength, and her hope. She stormed the gates of Hell with a dark angel at her side. Nothing would dare harm her, or her innocent son. At their heels ran a hellhound, his hackles raised and his black eyes wild. Cain had been shut up in the barn by whomever took Jimmy, and now he was on the scent of the man who imprisoned him and hurt his family.
As they neared the cairn, Peter pulled Aztec to a halt, and signaled Hope to do the same. With a glance up at the sky, Hope breathed a grateful sigh that the storm, at least, had stopped. The freezing winter air, however, was far from comforting, though Hope praised her own foresight in putting Jimmy to bed in his thick fleece sleeper, tonight.
Hope sat upright on her mount with a small gasp as a thin, plaintive cry reached her ears. “Jimmy!”
“Aye.” Peter glanced her way. “We go in on foot from here. I have no idea what McGuire has waiting up there for us, so stay close to me, and do exactly as I say.”
She nodded, bowing to his expertise on this matter. He was the one trained for night infiltrations, after all. She trusted him to get her safely through to her son. “Cain should… Peter, where’s Cain?”
Peter, in the process of dismounting, met Hope’s eyes just as a shot echoed through the valley below them, followed by a yip and a whine.
“No!” Hope breathed in distress as she swung down from Topaz’s back. “Peter, we have to find him—“
“No.” Peter stopped her with one hand on her arm, and her gaze flew to his grim face. “Cain’s not stupid, love. He wouldn’t give McGuire a clean shot unless we were in danger. We have to concentrate on Jimmy, right now.”
“You’re right,” Hope murmured glumly, even as she said a quiet prayer for the life of the canine who appointed himself her personal protector.
Want more of Peter and Hope? Look for HOPE OF HEAVEN, coming from Aspen Mountain Press this spring. And read the EPPIE finalist book that started it all. IN HER NAME is now available at http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/in-her-name/prod_73.html or http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook50824.htm?cache
