Carnival Time - Michael A. Kechula
I turned up the lights in the briefing room, and looked at Carter, Pierce, and Toliver, the latest crop of Group-5 assassin interns. They were mean looking bastards. I pitied the poor sonovabitches who...
View ArticleThe Cochran Resolve - Tom Sheehan
Closing on forty-five years on the Saugus Police Department, all of it on the street it seemed except for the last few years of count-down to his retirement, Silas Tully owned up to a few things. If he...
View ArticleJack Corella - Darell M. Diedrich
Jack Corella awoke to the sound of his alarm. He hit the off button and rolled over to go back to sleep, but then thought better of it. He vaguely remembered hitting the snooze button once before. He...
View ArticleThe Neighborhood - Kevin Michaels
THE NEIGHBORHOODFreddie Burnett died some time past midnight. He was cool in life, but dead was dead; nothing about that kept him alive. Cool didn't mean shit once somebody wanted him gone.His death...
View ArticleFamily Man - Wayne Scheer
Family ManWhenever my life seems to be getting back to normal, things get screwed up. That's my story, short and simple. I finally got myself to admit I had a drinking problem and I went to my first AA...
View ArticleThe Silver Ring - Brian J. Smith
THE SILVER RING CHAPTER ONESTANDING on the balcony overlooking the west end of town, I felt the westward wind fondle my forehead. A thick column of white smoke stretched across the sky, drifting lazily...
View ArticleInto the Deepest Shadow - Karen Bremer Masuda
Into the Deepest ShadowThe light from his cell phone lit up a square area of his face; the bluish white illumination changing him into a ghostly figure in the fading light of this tiny, tiny room....
View ArticleBlood Brothers - Joseph Grant
Angelo had always thought of himself as a lucky guy. But his luck had seemingly just run out. You don’t piss off the head of the East Coast Mafia by sleeping with his daughter and knock her up, but...
View ArticleDeath Has No Friends - Jason White
Death has no FriendsFound in the Toronto Star archives, 2008August 10, 1974Angela lies behind me on the couch wearing only a G-string. The white of coke residue rests in powdery streaks upon the...
View ArticleA Quiet Minute of Reflection - Keith Rawson
A MINUTE OF QUIET REFLECTION“Come on, motherfucker, un-cuff me and get this asshole off of me!” The girl's voice is nails on a blackboard. Not that I could blame the panic. She’s handcuffed to a...
View ArticleOut on Joppa - Robert Ward
OUT ON JOPPASo it was like this went down back when I was a kid and Nicky Scarlatti scared the living shit out of everyone who hung around The Lodge because that was the kind of guy he was. Nicky and...
View ArticleRandon Acts of Fatherhood - Robert Peza
RANDOM ACTS OF FATHERHOODBefore the thing with the trains, or any of the talk about hidden gold or lightning rods, there had been the little woman at the employment agency. Later Mabry would suspect...
View ArticleHappily Here Hereafter - Grace Gannon Rudolph
HAPPILY HERE HEREAFTERAnnabelle vowed if there was such a thing as reincarnation she’d come back as a boy. “Men have all the advantages,” she’d say, up to her elbows in warm soapy water, crashing...
View ArticleThe Untouchable - Edward C. Burton
The UntouchableWhat do you get when you cross a Hindu “untouchable” with an unsung hero? Me. Yes, that’s me, just a regular walking joke. I work behind the scenes at the Renner-McCallum funeral home....
View ArticleSwimming Against The Tide - Barry Baldwin
Swimming Against The TideThere was only one thing on what was left of Eddie Coates' mind.Find Bert.Bert Shuttleworth. Eddie's old mate, his mucker, his oppo, from rampaging around their back street as...
View ArticleDon’t Judge A Strangler by the Hair - Bertil Falk
Don’t Judge A Strangler by the HairIt is indeed nice to live out here in the summer on the outskirts of the archipelago on a small islet with only one neighbor. And that at a time when even the...
View ArticlePoint Murder - Ann Whipple
Point MurderA mild, cool, pleasant day after rain, with high fleecy clouds and smooth sheets of grey retreating to the east; just before eight o’clock, the sun was well over the green-filmed ridge, its...
View ArticleBeer - David Price
BeerIt’s a beautiful Friday in July here in San Diego. I took off work at noon and headed east on Interstate 8. I live in a little A-frame situated on a bluff in a rural community about thirty miles...
View ArticleTuesday and the Day After Christmas - Pierrino Mascarino
Tuesday and the Day After ChristmasUp in mah room; hadda a smeared lipstick whore fer money but finished quick.Her sayin, "You not gonna try again with thet miserable wilted little thing?” Lookin at my...
View ArticleSavage Henry Sings The Blues - Keith Rawson
Savage Henry Sings The Blues“UH ON’T ANNA IE!”For such a hard ass, Savage Henry screamed a lot. Even with a filthy old sock sandwiched between his pristine white teeth and a thick piece of dull gray...
View ArticleBorderline - Nik Jajic
BorderlineIt was typical Petrov tactics. You come home from a long day, open your front door, throw your coat on a chair, turn on the light, and bam. You’ve got two thugs and a Captain staring right...
View ArticleAmphetamine Twitch - Frank Bill
Amphetamine TwitchAlejandro’s knuckles sprayed backdoor glass across kitchen tile. His fingers twisted red on the doorknob and deadbolt. He maneuvered through the kitchen and down a dark hallway of...
View ArticleWrite Club - Garnett Elliott
Write ClubI meet Vince at a strip-joint called Bad Turbulence near the airport. This is his idea, not mine. Guy like me arranges a meeting, it would probably be at a Quizno's, or a used bookstore,...
View ArticleNew URL for Darkest!!!!!
Yes, that's right, Darkest Before the Dawn now has its own url.http://www.darkestbeforedawn.net/I did for several reasons, one being able to have more control over the site and being to add features....
View ArticleYou Would Say That , Wouldn't You?: POWDER BURN FLASH!
You Would Say That , Wouldn't You?: POWDER BURN FLASH!
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