Friends since childhood, Albuquerque detective Eagle Woodard and criminal profiler Adam Coulter are dragged into a serial killer case. Gay couples are being murdered and tortured and the FBI needs their help to capture the sadistic murderer.
Deciding to implement a plan to trap the killer, Adam and Eagle go undercover as an involved gay couple. Or is it really pretend?
Faced with their toughest challenge yet, they must find the active serial killer before he strikes again. With the powers that be not cooperating and the killer proving to be elusive, will Eagle and Adam be able to stop the murderer while navigating their changing relationship?
Please Note: This is the first book in an ongoing story arc. Although the case is solved, the relationship ends on a cliffhanger. Contains graphic violence and scenes of torture.
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Interview with Eagle Woodard prior to Warrior’s Way timeline
MJ: Morning, Eagle.
Eagle: Morning, nice to see you again, MJ.
MJ: So for the people out there who don’t know you, tell us your name, what you do for a living, etc.
Eagle: Okay, my name is Joseph Eagle Woodard. Most people call me Eagle. I’m half Navajo and half Hispanic. My mother is Mexican. I am 38 years old. I’ve been a Homicide Detective with the Albuquerque, NM police department for the past 10 years. Prior to that I was an Army Ranger, Special Ops. I was a Sergeant…, Sergeant Major when I was discharged from the military after 10 years.
MJ: That’s quite a change from Army Ranger to Detective, Eagle. Do you miss the military?
Eagle: Not really…, sometimes maybe, but I love what I do.
MJ: You have a partner, Dr. Adam Coulter that assists on many of your cases.
Eagle: (chuckles) Yeah, Adam. My work wife and roommate. I’ve known him most of my life.
MJ: When did you meet and how?
Eagle: Uh, I met Adam when we were 8 years old. My parents enrolled me in a private school that was almost exclusively white and so you can imagine the type of bullying I got. Adam stood up for me. He wasn’t afraid to throw a few punches and we both ended up getting respect. People stopped messing with us when they knew there were two of us they’d have to fight.
MJ: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
Eagle: My mother is Maria Woodard and my father is a US Senator, Martin Woodard. I’m the oldest. One younger brother, Dana Running Dog Woodard, and four sisters. Marisol, we call her Mary White Cloud, Nelisa, we call her Nelly Tiny Sparrow and she is that, tiny, then Sofia Rain Woodard. The youngest is Alice Laughing Woman. She’s a lawyer. All of us were born at home and my father decided to give us unusual middle names, so just after we were born, he says he’d go to the front door and open it and the first thing he saw, that’s what we got named. I really got lucky.
MJ: Tell me more about your relationship with Adam Coulter.
Eagle: (Sighs and sits back) My relationship with Adam is…, complicated. I’ve always been attracted to him, even before I really realized I was bisexual.
MJ: Bi? But didn’t you come out as Gay to your family?
Eagle: Yes, but trying to explain being a bisexual to your parents is difficult. My mother wouldn’t understand why I liked being with men if she thought I liked women as well. Anyway that’s how I think of myself, even though I date mostly men. I’ve never been married, but I have had sex with women throughout my teens and at times in the military, but I dated men as well. (Laughs) That was one of the reasons I left the military. I didn’t want to have to keep hiding who I was. Despite DADT, some of the men in my squad were, shall we say, homophobic and would make your life hell if they knew. In fact, friendly-fire deaths of someone who was suspected of being gay weren’t questioned. I have a son, Michael, who is 19 now from a teenage relationship. He was the reason I chose the military over college. I wanted to go to Law school, maybe follow my Dad into politics, but that wasn’t in the cards for me. I felt I needed to support him and his mother.
MJ: Back to Adam.
Eagle: (shakes his head and smiles) He’s one fucked up bastard. I think he’s tried every drug out there and he drinks way too much, smokes. He’s wealthy. He comes from a wealthy family, so money has never been an issue for him and that makes him reckless with it sometimes, but he can be generous to a fault. He’s pretty much paid off my house and he thinks I don’t know it was him that did it.
He’s been married and divorced four times now. I told him that he’s probably gay and that’s why he can’t stay in a marriage with a woman very long. He’s been my roommate for a while now (shrugs) but I don’t mind him, most of the time. He’s a touchy-feely kind of guy so I try not to read too much into that, but sometimes I think he wants me. I love him like a brother, sure, but sometimes I feel like it could be more. Maybe someday I’ll make a serious pass at him and see what happens.
MJ: Is there anything else we need to know about you?
Eagle: I’m just a normal guy with a particular set of skills. (Laughs) I like to read or watch movies if I’m stuck inside, otherwise you’ll find me working out, rock climbing, skydiving, target practice, keeping Adam out of trouble. I’m close with my family…, all except Dana, he and I don’t really get along. I’m not terribly religious, but I do respect the ways of my people and my mother’s beliefs. I consider myself Navajo. Uh, I can dance, Salsa is my specialty. I can play the guitar. I’m a good cook. Not one for long walks on the beach but I do like to cuddle after sex.
MJ: Thanks for answering my questions and have a great rest of your day.
Eagle: You, too. (Hugs, MJ)
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The former Army Ranger set his plan into motion. Pulling his muscular arms tightly against his torso, the angle of his descent began to change. ‘I feel the need, the need for speed.’ If the wind hadn’t been so brutal, he would’ve laughed. How many times had they used those iconic words in training? At 38, it felt like a lifetime ago.
Eagle tilted his head down. He pressed his legs together with toes pointed toward the heavens, becoming a human bullet streaking through the atmosphere. He could feel the friction heating his head and shoulders. His dark, goggle covered eyes flickered to the left, quickly gauging his altitude in relation to the horizon. One…, two…, three seconds passed.
Eagle reveled in the multitude of sensations inundating his body. The angry roar of the wind deafened him. The white noise of the rushing air blotted out all sound except for the popping of the black, nylon jumpsuit. The wind strained the cloth protecting him almost to its limit. The powerful, talon-like turbulence threatened to shred his clothes, leaving him bare and unprotected from the tempest. The bee sting lash of his long, raven ponytail as it whipped against his neck and face revitalized and reddened his brown skin.
‘Four…, five…, six…, seven…, eight.’ With an eerie calm, Woodard counted the seconds. As he drew closer and closer to terra firma, his confidence in his abilities never wavered. Here he was master. Here he was the great bird of his people’s folklore. He was the embodiment of Atsáh, the Eagle, swooping with deadly accuracy toward his prey on the ground.
The Albuquerque homicide Detective didn’t need to see his altimeter. He knew he only had a few more moments of precious freedom. Reluctantly, his right hand moved reflexively to the left side of his chest. Gripping the cold metal ring, he tugged.
A grunt of air was forced from his lungs. The nylon straps crisscrossing his body suddenly tightened, drawing him up. Eagle grimaced as pain seared up his back. The sudden opening of his parachute at this rate of speed aggravated more than one old injury. Gravity, the purveyor of his discomfort, pressed his chin to his chest for an instant before the strain of rapid deceleration eased.
With skill born of countless jumps, Eagle maneuvered the billowing canopy toward his destination. Calculating the high desert cross winds, he made a last-minute correction which allowed him to plant his right foot firmly onto the center of the large, white cross target. As his left foot touched down, he leaned back, encouraging his chute to take the rest of the breeze until it collapsed and fell impotent to the sand. Instantly, the tall man began to gather the yards of thin ripstop nylon and cord into his arms, beating down any last show of resistance from the exuberant ram-air parachute.
Turning, Eagle reached up and pulled his goggles from his face just as his cell phone rang. Pulling it from his zippered pocket, he grimaced at the sight of the familiar number.
“I thought I was supposed to have a day off, Captain.”
“You do, but I’ve got an FBI agent here that needs to talk with you. Says you knew his brother. Here, talk to him.”
“Detective Woodard, my name is Kessler. Rick Kessler. I think you served with my brother, Dean, in the Army.”
The voice and the name triggered unpleasant memories of a time he had tried to bury. He couldn’t tell if it was his Spanish or Navajo side sending a warning chill up his spine. Suddenly, Eagle realized the man on the other end of the line was waiting.
“Yeah, sorry. Yeah, I remember Dean. He died in Afghanistan, didn’t he? Sorry.”
What Woodard remembered was what a closeted bastard the guy had been and how he’d used the knowledge of Eagle’s own closeted sexuality against him. Threatening to report him and risking dishonorable discharge at best…, or death if members of their team found out. He didn’t mourn Dean Kessler’s passing when he got word that some insurgents finished him. “Captain said you were with the FBI?”
“Yes. Detective Woodard, I’ve heard a lot about you and Dr. Coulter. I was very impressed when you apprehended Martin Devoreaux. I read the case report. You and Dr. Coulter are quite the team. The good doctor’s a legend at the bureau. His book on Ritual Behaviorism Among Serial Killers is mandatory reading now at the academy.”
“Oh, Adam would love to hear that.” Eagle rolled his eyes. The last thing Adam Coulter needed was something to bolster his ego.
“If it’s alright, I really need to talk with both of you about a case I’m working. I think you might be able to help me.”
“Today?”
“No. I’m still putting some final touches on a plan I’ve got in motion. How about tomorrow morning at your home? I want to keep this as low key as possible. Strictly, on a need to know basis, so I’d prefer it if your Captain and I met with you and Coulter privately.”
Eagle unzipped his jumpsuit from chin to navel. “What time?”
“0900?”
“Sure. Tell Cap to bring the creamer.”
Pocketing his phone, Eagle gathered his parachute from the ground and slowly made his way to his truck. Stowing the chute away, he unzipped his jumpsuit the rest of the way. Dragging it down off his shoulders, he revealed a tan-colored work shirt and jeans. He pushed the loose-fitting black nylon from around his narrow waist. Wrestling the last couple of inches of fabric over his shoes, Eagle jerked the material free and tossed it behind the driver’s seat completing his impromptu striptease. He looked up toward the sun before glancing at his watch.
“Yeah…, I know, I’m late.” He said to no one, but the wind.
My father never saw his old Remington portable until I entered college and they gifted me an IBM Selectric. By then I had produced at least two dozen unpublishable novels which make me cringe when I read them today.
I found inspiration in innumerable odd jobs (from migrant work as a Date palm pollinator to the person who cleans the washing machines at the launderette to professional Dominatrix) for stories. After a stint in Rehab for Alcohol and Heroin abuse (so when I write those scenes, I know what I’m talking about), I cleaned up and have stayed that way for 29 years. (Me and Sir Elton, LOL). My gypsy lifestyle gave me a unique perspective on the different people who inhabited the Washington, Oregon, Arizona, California, and New Mexico areas where I have lived.
After 3 very bad marriages to men, I finally figured out what was wrong and fell in love with a woman when I lived in Portland, OR 23 years ago. We’ve been married since 2008 (yes it was legal in California at that time). We now live in Asheville, NC and love the people in this liberal and accepting corner of the mountains of North Carolina.
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