Free Thy Kingdom Come: Book One in the Sam Thorpe series by Don Helin

heard a faint rustling in the bushes. More than the wind.
    Sam took a step to his left and risked a glance to his right. His mind worked at high speed. The nearest cover was a tall pine tree. He walked at his normal pace but everything around him seemed to slow. Sam stepped to his left again and took a look over his left shoulder. He straightened his hand into a flat palm, ready to swing back and up. Go for the Adam’s apple.
    He turned toward the sound and sensed movement, then a shadow behind him. A body landed on his back. The muzzle of a pistol jammed cold against his temple. Sam crouched forward and used the assailant’s own momentum to toss him over his head. The man hit the ground with a loud groan.
    Sam spotted a second pair of boots on his left and came up from his crouch with a right cross to the face. There was a loud grunt as Sam’s fist connected with the man’s nose, and Sam felt a satisfying crunch as the nose broke. He whirled to see the first man rising from the ground. Sam sent a left cross into the man’s face and followed with a right to the head. He put the guy straight down—no trouble at all.
    Movement rustled behind him. He started to turn when something hard connected with his head. He tried to stay on his feet, but his knees betrayed him and he fell. Another blow to the head and Sam sank to the ground and …
silence.

CHAPTER TEN
     
    E lizabeth Henley hurried across the McGill University campus. The late evening wind blew her scarf into her face. She shivered and wrapped it tighter around her neck, wishing she’d worn a warmer coat. Her boots crunched through the fresh snow as she circled Pollack Hall, the tall steeple and arches standing straight like sentinels. She passed a few students, but most of them were inside the library studying or, more likely, down at the pub hoisting a tall one.
    She gritted her teeth when she thought about her meeting with the dean, the weak-kneed pansy. She couldn’t believe that Billy Martin would be readmitted to her class. The dean told her that Mr. Martin was a leader in the community. Not only had he provided scholarships from his own funds, but he had encouraged a number of his friends to contribute money for scholarships. The college couldn’t afford to alienate him.
    No,
she fumed,
they couldn’t afford to make Mr. Martin mad.
It didn’t matter that she’d been made to look like a fool. She’d sent Billy packing, but tomorrow he’d be back in class. The class would know he’d received no punishment—and all because of his father’s contacts. It made her so mad she could spit.
    Elizabeth stepped around a puddle of melting snow and entered the parking garage, dark now from the overcast sky and lack of overhead lights. She unlocked her bike and climbed on. Even though she’d been in Montreal for over twenty years, Elizabeth didn’t drive unless she had to.
    Her world was small—the university, the apartment she shared with the professor, the stores where she shopped—and most importantly, the meetings she attended. They kept her going. Sidney Kramer had been kind to her, but he demanded sex. His sweaty body drenched her.
    Her bigger world had collapsed when her love died. What she did or where she did it didn’t matter anymore. She pedaled toward home, remembering him.
    He’d been so beautiful. Six feet tall, he’d towered over her. His long arms could wrap her up like a Christmas package, and those deep blue eyes could stare into her soul. He had cared for her, but she hadn’t known if he loved her like she loved him.
    The horn honking shook her out of her reverie. “Watch out!” The young man shook his fist at her. “You swerved right in front of me! I could have killed you! Wake up”!”
    She ignored the loudmouth and pedaled on, planning how she would get her revenge. Animals like that driver would be the first to feel her wrath. It would be so sweet. She knew her love watched over her because she could feel his presence at night