by Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc and Yvonne Mason

Chapter One

It was Monday morning and I was sitting in my hotel room in the French Quarter drinking my coffee and reading the jacket that had been faxed over to me from the office. My eyes hurt from too much partying after Hope and I along with the other crew had finally picked up our latest jumper, which is with the exception of one. Momma! Yeah, I know she had a given name but it had been lost in the translation long ago. Anyway, here I was reading a new jacket grinding my teeth and dreading that flight. I had hoped to take an extended vacation via a cruise to the place that I would now have to fly to. But who said life was easy. It was just life.

Jacques St. James began his criminal profession as a pickpocket and petty thief as a juvenile when he was just seven years old. His mother, if one could call her that had no idea which of her “Johns” was the sperm donor for this kid. He had been through the system more times than a piece of used toilet paper. By the time he was three years old his vocabulary consisted of words that most grown folks would cringe at hearing, unless they were in the business. He graduated from minor crimes to major crimes by the time he was thirteen, he murdered a john who was beating up on his mum. Not that he really loved the woman, but he knew that she was the breadwinner so to speak. Not only did she earn her living on her back, but she was also a mule for the local dealer and he had put St. James in charge of keeping her safe. The body was never found. 

As I sat in my easy chair by the open balcony door listening to the sounds of the city of New Orleans come alive after a night of revelry, I read the history of this piece of human waste and wondered if Hope was really up for this one. The last one just about finished her off after she got herself kidnaped. I chuckled to myself at that memory, as if on cue the focus of that memory walked out of her room yawning and looking for coffee. “How do you feel about St. Maarten?” I asked as I held out the file.

released in hardback on 5/26 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EAAQ6R2