9

HOME TRUTHS (Pro's) - Cybel Harper

God I was scared. Once I told Ray I was afraid all the time, and I meant it, too, though I doubt he believed me. But not like this. Never like this. Not in Africa. Not even as a boy of fourteen when I couldn't stop my father from beating my mother to death. I ran then, and, one way or another, I've been running ever since. Until now. . . .

DAYS OF THUNDER - Natasha Barry (days of thunder)

When his favorite driver, Cole Trickle, climbed through the workroom door, Harry Hogge was ready to call it quits for the night. After Cole had driven the team to capture the Winston Cup at the Daytona 500, he'd been up a few hours - more than a few - checking out the stock car.

From there, Harry had gone on to celebrating with the crew. A few of the crew, but a lot of drinks later, he'd found himself back at the office. Cole hadn't been around for long, celebrating - it seemed - with his girlfriend, Claire Lewicki, in tow. She was the physician who'd treated Cole following his near-fatal accident last July. But Cole had proven himself well and fully recovered this day, with this year's Winston Cup in his back pocket. That was a victory all the crew had a share in, and wasn't it great!

BLUE MURDERS (T. J. Hooker) - Alice Hooker

Whistling softly to himself, satisfied that another long shift was over, Romano glanced into the squad room on his way out. Shaking his head in affectionate exasperation. It was end of shift, and still his partner couldn't drag himself away. Intending to go on to Sherry's, Romano noticed something was wrong. The look on Hooker's features was so intense as he stared at the computer eadout. Even across the distance that separated them, Romano could almost feel for himself the strained emotions held firmly in check by the overly stiff figure.

WAR OF THE HEART (Wizards & Warriors) - Natasha Barry

Dirk Blackpool gazed into the guileless blue eyes and felt strangely bereft. The emotion confusing him, he placed his attention on something else, rather than the figure opposite. A goblet of wine to his lips completed the picture he sought to make; one consumed with great thoughts.

"Is anything wrong, Prince?" the other attendant of the dining room inquired. "No, nothing," Dirk responded, immediately wondering how bland he could make his own expression. Nothing nearly as good as this one, he suspected. Of course, with Erik, blandness came naturally. At least to this Erik, he reminded himself self-consciously. "I've told you, you must always address me by my first name. We're never formal with each other."

HANDS ON EXPERIENCE (S & H) - Elizabeth Kay (novella)

"It says right here, that the average American male thinks about sex every 2.5 seconds."

"What are ya reading now, Starsk?"

"This is serious stuff, Hutch. I'm tellin' ya. It says right here. Published fact."

It took the patience of a saint or the devil himself to tolerate Starsky's rhetoric at this hour of the morning. Ken Hutchinson, while admittedly possessing qualities of both, was being sorely tested this early spring morning. His partner of a decade, slouched gracelessly in the passenger seat of the tan '78 Ford. One perfectly clean, black leather Nike hightop was planted on the dashboard, the second was propped up against Hutch's thigh, beating time to the background music of Elton John's oldie "Crocodile Rock".

REVELATIONS (Kung Fu) - Atira Kei

The music was repetitive, and loud. Detective Peter Caine nursed his beer, taking care to drink only small sips, for appearance sake. Around him, people danced, drank, talked, and seduced. The Freckled Belly was a popular pick-up bar. Caine had been in here once before, during an undercover case. At the time, he could keep professional distance from what this place was, who these people were and why they were here. But tonight, it was different. Different in a way that Peter didn't think he wanted to explore too closely.

BIG MAC ATTACK (S & H) - Telana Wells

Somehow, Hutch managed to get the giggling mass of malleable humanity into the front seat of the rented Lincoln, then hurried around to the other side and climbed in under the steering wheel, relieved to have gotten his partner out of the party without anything really embarrassing happening. Starsky was in a really weird mood, even taking into consideration the marijuana he had ingested.

This undercover assignment had been strange since the moment Dobey had assigned them to it. The suspect was a high society wanna-be who threw elaborate parties in order to ingratiate himself with those he deemed to be on his level. Hutch supposed he should be grateful that the only drug being circulated during the evening had been marijuana.

May 1996