THIS IS A RAW UNEDITED SNEAK PEEK

• This book reflects the author's present recollections of experiences over time. Some names and characteristics have been changed, some events have been compressed, and some dialogue has been recreated.

Introduction

The searing pain, like a sunburn, engulfed my left arm and the left side of my face. Moments before, I had knocked on the door and then it happened. The man on the other side kicked the door and it flung open. I saw a man point a crossbow towards me and started running down the side of the connex trailer the man lived in. As I drew my weapon to confront the danger this man posed, the pain came. In a split second, this moment in time slowed down and thoughts flooded through my head. What caused this pain? The only conclusion I could come up with is I had just been shot. I was already drawing my weapon and I squeezed a round off from the hip towards the direction of the man with the crossbow. I just wanted him away from me and the shot I took had done exactly that. Now he is running away. He disappeared around the corner of the connex trailer. Now I had to protect others as well as myself. I ran to the corner of the trailer to better observe and react to whatever is going to come next.

This wasn’t the first time I had been in danger, I was 17 years into my career by this time and had seen many ups and downs. I had been fired from my first agency, worked as a wrecker driver, seen redemption and a new start. How did I get to this point of being shot in the face with a crossbow?