Stoned Love by guest author Ian Patrick

Val Penny ♦ November 19, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

It is lovely to be part of The Love Book Group Tour and be able to share an excerpt from Stoned Love by Ian Patrick published by Fahrenheit Press.

The Blurb

Detective Sergeant Sam Batford has been lying low at a remote safe house in the highlands of Scotland. He’s doing his best not to attract the attention of the enemies he made, on both sides of the law, during his last under-cover operation but Batford knows he’s just killing time. Inevitably the sharks begin to circle and as Batford is called back to front-line action in London he’s thrown into a deadly game of cat and mouse where it seems everyone is out to get him. After having to endure a frustrating resolution to their previous undercover operation together DCI Klara Winter from the National Crime Agency is determined to prove that Batford has crossed the line into criminality and finally bring him to face justice. All Sam Batford wants is to outwit his enemies long enough to stay alive and come out ahead of the game.

The Excerpt

I observe the rat. It’s twitching, convulsing, foaming at the mouth. Its eyes pulsate at odds with its erratic heartbeat. I haven’t touched it. I’m just watching it die. I don’t wish to intervene in a sentient beings death. It’s chosen this path and taking any drug has its consequences. You see, this dirty rat has just consumed a corner of my kilo of cocaine and is now having a seizure as a result. This rat has cost me money but has shown me a valuable lesson in the dark side of my business. It’s time to get shot of the last five kilos I have sat in a salt bin, in the wood by the cottage I’ve inhabited for the last month. I’m here because the police have put me here. They have a duty of care to all serving police officers, of which I am one.

I enter the adjoining garage and find a coalscuttle scoop with a broken wooden handle. I need to get rid of the rat. I clear dead leaves and bracken from the strip of corrugated iron that covers the hole where my cash is buried in an old ammunition box. I’m mindful not to disturb any creature that has bedded down in the vicinity. Why should they suffer as a result of a drug-addled rodent?

I started off with one hundred and sixty kilos of pure white powder and now have five kilos, less the rat’s share, to shift. I have a buyer lined up for four but I know he’ll take the five. I pick the rat up by the tail. It’s dead. I decided against the scoop in case I was careless and pierced the already open package further.

The Author

Ian spent twenty-seven years as a police officer, the majority as a detective within the Specialist Operations Command in London. A career in policing is a career in writing. Ian has been used to carrying a book and pen and making notes. Now retired, the need to write didn’t leave and evolved into fiction.

He now lives in rural Scotland where he divides his time between family, writing, reading and photography.