Ruin Quickens / Black Lacquer Press & Marketing Inc. (ePub)

Pete Devon encounters a beautiful woman with a black lab. He invites her for dinner that evening at his cottage. Carol Fairchild's amorous side comes through and she spends the night. The next morning she walks on the flat and Pete runs the hills. On his way back he sees a man with a rifle that is pointed at Carol. Pete is a veteran and uses hand-to-hand combat to disable the man and take his weapon. The man is a serial killer. He begins to notice that Carol is distant and she has headaches. He gets her to a neurologist who determines that she has an isolated brain tumor and recommends that she has a cyber surgery procedure. She does and the tumor is resolved. Carol becomes distant again and isn't too responsive. He manages to get her to another physician who determines she has cancer and is need of hospice. There is morphine in the house and Carol overdoses on the medication. Pete attends an art show where he meets a woman named Diane Coppens. Later she tells him that her father was an estate attorney and was murdered by an insane man who thought that her father was leaving him out of the will. Diane is also an estate attorney. Chad, the man who murdered her father, escapes from a forensic psychiatric institution and has a bead on Diane. Chad comes to the house and pulls out a knife. Pete uses hand-to-hand combat to disarm Chad, then Pete annihilates Chad. Diane and Pete become a tight couple.