The Cal O'Connor Series: Season One
by C.
K. Carlton
The Cal O'Connor Series: Season One consists of the previously published Saving Chase, Wandering Dagger, and Guarding
Harm. Also available: Returning Harm.
Description
Imagine you’re sitting in your car at a stoplight and a boy in the car
next to you looks over and mouths the word “help”. What would you do? Not many
people would do what Cal O’Connor did.
Six weeks earlier, Cal had been a Naval intelligence operative in
Afghanistan. How quickly things change. Discharged for using deadly force to
save an Afghan woman from being raped, Cal is back in the U.S., not
coincidentally in the same city as his first love, with what happened in
Afghanistan and flashbacks from his childhood consuming his every thought. Cal
glances over at the car to his left. Did the boy say what Cal thought he said?
There’s no time to think. What happens next will leave you stunned.
Season One includes the first three novellas in The Cal O'Connor Series, but it's only the beginning of Cal’s
journey. Will saving others bring him peace, or will hunting child predators
cause him to be consumed by his past?
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Cal slid his
sunglasses down the bridge of his nose, squinting into the rearview mirror just
enough to draw his bleary blue eyes into focus. How quickly the night before
had evaporated into morning. The often clumsy transition from bar, to car, to
apartment, to bedroom was a seamless blur. She was a nice girl, he thought to
himself. Maybe he’d go out with her again.
The previous twelve
hours had become the norm for Cal O’Connor since arriving in Richmond, Virginia
from Afghanistan over six weeks prior. He had been drifting from bed to bed,
one laugh-filled night after another, desperately but unsuccessfully trying to
connect with the real world again.
Returning from
deployment was different this time. After six years in the US Navy’s covert
Human Intelligence, or HUMINT department, with an impeccable service record, he
was abruptly discharged; he still didn’t know what had gone wrong.
Cal ran his hands
through his full head of bourbon-brown hair, repositioning a few castaways no
doubt caused by the sexual whirlwind that had occurred not twenty minutes
before. He attempted a smile as he remembered the condition the room had been
in as he’d slipped his jeans on and tip-toed through the small crack in the
bedroom door while she showered.
He settled back in
the driver’s seat. His smile quickly changed to a long distant stare through
the license plate of the car in front of him as he replayed in his mind the
altercation that sent him from Afghanistan to Richmond in the blink of an eye.
Cal snapped out of
his trance and took a moment to enjoy the beautiful weather. Spring in Richmond
was something from a Monet painting, with the dogwood and cherry trees that
lined the streets beginning to show their brilliant, yet delicate colors. The
air was cool and dry. It was nine o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday.
He waited for the
light to change. His Jeep Wrangler, missing the doors and top, wasn’t the ideal
year-round car for a place like Richmond, Virginia. But on this day, it was
perfect.
He glanced at the car
in the turn lane to his left. A 1967 faded yellow Mercury Cougar with a torn,
greenish vinyl top. Cal knew the car from working on cars with his dad when he
was young. Surely this one was a week or two from finding a place next to the
other Cougars in a junkyard somewhere. The inside of the car was littered with
stacks of paper, and in the rear window sat an assortment of faded baseball
caps; the kind of interior Cal would come to expect from the bald, overweight
dreary-looking man behind the wheel. Cigarette smoke billowed from the
three-inch gap in the passenger-side window.
Cal’s eyes moved to
the passenger seat where a young boy, probably nine or ten years old, sat
staring forward. It’s a little late for this kid to be heading to school, Cal
thought.
The traffic light
for the turn lane changed from red to a green arrow, and the yellow heap began
to inch forward. Just as it did, the boy turned back and made eye contact with
him. There was a strange concavity to his expression. With a swift movement, the
boy raised his left arm and placed his hand at the top of the window. The car
continued forward, beginning to make its turn onto the cross street. The boy’s
eyes stayed locked on Cal’s, and just as the car began to turn, the boy mouthed
one word: “Help.”
Cal sat for a brief
moment, almost in disbelief at what he just witnessed. Was this a cry for help?
Did the boy actually say “Help,” or was it “Hello,” Cal questioned. He felt a
chill up his spine.
He couldn’t
hesitate, and immediately maneuvered his Jeep to the left, hitting the corner
of the rear bumper of the car in front of him. He continued into the turn lane,
the light changing from yellow to red. His driving tactics course with the CIA
served him well, and he popped the clutch to gain the most engine torque
possible as he hopped over the median to stay ahead of the fast-approaching
traffic. It wasn’t enough. An eager morning driver in a Dodge Durango had
lurched off the line, and in a split second, the car slammed into the passenger
side of Cal’s Jeep like a runaway locomotive. It was the perfect T-bone,
catching the Jeep in just the right spot to lift it up on two wheels and roll
it on its side in a forceful explosion of metal and glass. Cal felt the burn of
pavement on his left shoulder as his body was thrown to the road with his
vehicle. His head slammed into the roll bar that framed the driver’s side door.
The unmistakable sound of crunching metal quickly transitioned to silence. He
opened his eyes, which filled with blood until his vision was entirely lost. He
felt for the seatbelt latch. He knew he had to get out of the car and get to
the boy, but he was losing consciousness. What little light he could sense was
being overtaken by darkness. His head slumped to the ground. He was out.
Review
By STierney
The Season format for the Cal O'Connor
Series is very clever. Three short, exciting novels that can each be read
in the time it takes to watch a DVD. Packaged in a boxed set for Series 1. Love
the concept. Each book is well written, exciting, and fast paced with many
twists and turns. The hero's back story is slowly revealed across the three
"episodes"/books, but there seems to be much more to unravel. I can
appreciate Cal O'Connor's urgency to capture and punish the abusers while
avoiding an examination of his own past and motivations. The author writes with
insightful depth and occasional humor. Definitely recommend!
About the Author
One of the reasons C. K. (Chris) Carlton began writing was to provide
those of us with busy lives an alternative to the novel-length thriller. The Cal O'Connor Series reads more like
a high-energy television drama: short form (80-130 pages), heavy action, with
each book telling a captivating tale, and it all building a larger story about
the complex main character, Cal O'Connor. Each book picks up exactly where the
last book leaves off, allowing readers to enjoy the series in spurts, stepping
away after one book, and then returning to the series as their life allows
without missing a beat.
Another reason Chris is writing is to communicate an important message
often swept under the rug: the subject of child abuse. It's no coincidence that
The Cal O'Connor Series goes
hand-in-hand with his memoir, Nice To Meet Me, a brutally honest, poignant, and often humorous journal
about his own battle to overcome his past. Nice
To Meet Me was referred to by one therapist as one of the best books ever
written on the subject of childhood trauma. An outdoor enthusiast and guitar
apologist, Chris was a successful U.S. Navy intelligence officer turned
business executive before he began writing.
Chris is also a featured blogger for The Huffington Post.
He lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife, Ellen, and their young son, Teddy.
Links
