Demon's Fire
Lee Cockburn
Demon’s Fire is the third instalment in the crime thriller series featuring DS Taylor Nicks and DC Marcus Black.
The City had barely settled back to normal when the sky turned orange as flames licked upwards and smoke billowed out from a quiet industrial estate in Edinburgh.
Blood-curdling screams of those trapped within were muffled by the sound-proofed room as the women climbed desperately over one another to try and escape, their efforts futile against their prison walls, their captors slain where they sat, bullet holes in their heads.
Human trafficking, prostitution, drug dealing, kidnapping, violence and murder hidden in plain sight in Edinburgh City Centre.
Drug dealer Burnett’s grip on the city has no limits, and he will stop at nothing to ensure that remains the case.
Nicks and Black struggle to secure evidence against him within the confines of the law, but an enemy of Burnett, hell-bent on revenge, doesn’t have to play by their rules.
A thrilling story of crime and retribution, good versus evil, Demon’s Fire will have you on the edge of your seat as the tentacles of despair take hold of your emotions.
Hearts are broken and others mended as the tale gathers momentum, the lives of the officers forever entwined by fate.
Exclusive Extract
Dressed in black from head to toe, a balaclava covering his face, he made his way swiftly down towards the tram line that ran parallel with the industrial estate. Once into the Gyle area, he popped with ease a window of the first decent motor he came across, his skills honed from his youth. He also started the car with very little effort and drove at speed towards the bypass that surrounded Edinburgh, only removing his headwear once he was out of view of the prying CCTV cameras in the area. He drove to the place where he planned to dump the vehicle and find another. His veins coursed with adrenaline, visible in his neck. His head felt like it was going to explode, the realisation of what he had just done hitting home. He continued to wonder who could have been in the warehouse. He did not know how Nelson Burnett, head of the city’s organised crime group, would respond, but he knew that this would certainly get his attention and that his own life was now in mortal danger. He would be hunted by many, and he would suffer badly if he was ever caught, but he smiled all the same.
Only now did he think of the scale of what he had done to get his revenge, the carnage and value of damage he had caused and what the fall out would be throughout the city. Others would try to move in on Burnett’s turf and there would be much violence and death required to restore the equilibrium, but he couldn’t allow this to deter him. The adrenaline subsided, and he thought back to the two men he had shot at the warehouse and where they had been sitting. Why had the door been barricaded from the outside? He thought it strange that the bar could be lifted easily, giving no security for what was kept inside. Anyone would be able to gain entry if required. His heart sank. He felt nauseous as he thought back to Nelson’s other trade, brothels and prostitution. There was always a constant supply of girls. He shook his head and tried to convince himself that all that was inside that building was drugs, and that the tapping he had heard was that of a few more scumbags that had got what was coming to them, but still his heart felt heavy. Burnett never revealed where he kept his girls, and he certainly didn’t trust them to live freely. What if? A tear appeared in the corner of his eye as he remembered his beautiful wife and unborn child and what had happened to them. He vomited uncontrollably, his heart sore at the thought that he might have inflicted the same terror on some other innocents.
Publication Date: November 2019
Format: Paperback
Pages: 322
Genre: Thriller
Reviewer: Faye
Source: Review Copy