Table of Contents
Table of Contents
BITCH OUT OF HELL by Diana Deverell
Praise for Diana Deverell’s other thriller series
DEDICATION
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NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
OTHER EBOOKS BY DIANA DEVERELL
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT
. . . 18 months earlierI’m in the rear seat of our special-order Chevy Suburban watching cycle-rickshaws weave through traffic on a crowded four-lane avenue in Dhaka when the blond bodyguard on my left jams his stubby Belgian-made compact assault rifle under my chin.
In the high-end private security company where I’m the woman in charge of State Department contracts, we arm our bodyguards with FN P90’s. The personal defense weapon is one hundred percent ambidextrous and ideal for small spaces.
Though not for firing inside the heavily armored vehicle where I sit sandwiched between my employees Ron and Mary.
We don’t wear seatbelts and Mary quickly uses her wiry arm to pin my right arm against her padded torso. The charcoal-colored twill of her uniform jacket is rough against my bare skin. She slips a black flexcuff over my wrist.
“Ma’am.” Mary’s from Tennessee and she draws out the respectful contraction in a soft southern twang. Like most of our guards, she’s former military.
They sir and ma’am anyone higher up the chain of command. Mary intends no respect.
“Lean forward,” she continues, “and put your other hand behind your back.”
Though this is a former British colony, they drive on the right, same as in the US. Our driver Sean is up front in the usual spot.
Sean’s eyes flick to my reflection in the rearview mirror and quickly away. His auburn buzz-cut doesn’t twitch.
I’m fifty-five years old and my inch-long locks are now the color of brushed steel. Sean can’t see that he should bond with me as a fellow redhead.
Like Mary, he’s siding with Ron, the blue-eyed Minnesotan with his weapon in my face.
Up front in the passenger seat, dark-haired Timmy Joe shifts so his gaze is on me. He’s from Arkansas and his weapon points at my midriff.
Four against one.
—from “Payback is a b***h” by Diana Deverell.
“Payback is a b***h” appears in Pulse Pounders: Countdown, an anthology edited by Kevin J. Anderson, to be published by Fiction River Original Anthology Magazine on September 28, 2018.
My short story introduces security professional Bella Hinton in her first starring role. It’s the genesis for this political thriller b***h Out of Hell. Bella Hinton has also appeared in several international thrillers featuring Casey Collins.
