J.L. Oakley Archives - Best Selling Reads

Thursday teaser: Mist-chi-mas: A Novel of Captivity

Posted on November 29, 2018 Written by Janet Oakley

This week’s excerpt is from the historical mystery-romance

By J.L. Oakley

At six o’clock a sergeant came over to escort the women to Captain George Pickett’s quarters next door where Pickett personally greeted Jeannie and the Jenkins women at the door. For the second time that day she mused that she was the same height as the captain. With dark shoulder length hair, mustache and a long unruly goatee, Pickett was only a little over five and a half feet tall. What he lacked in height, however, she had already learned he made up in audacity, charm and a strong scent of Jamaican rum cologne. He offered her his arm and led her into the candlelit dining room.

Gathered around the table was a collection of men and women from the area. Pickett gave immediate introductions. “May I present Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Marshall of Port Townsend, my second lieutenant, James W. Forsyth, two British naval officers from the HMS Satellite, Lieutenant Fuller—Mrs. Jenkins’ brother visiting from Fort Steilacoom, and Andrew Pierce from the settlement of Seattle.”

The men rose as the women were escorted to their seats at the table. The Jenkins women were treated with courtesy, but from Lucy’s pout not enough. When Pickett pulled out her chair, Jeannie thanked him for his hospitality and sat down.

“Now, Mrs. Naughton,” Captain Pickett said as he sat down. “Do tell us all about your time in Kanaka Town. It has concerned us all, considerin’ someone has left his earthly bounds.” He put his napkin in his lap and sipped water from the crystal glass at his place.

Jeannie glanced around. The table was set just as fine as the officer’s table at the Royal Marine Camp with a linen cloth, several candlesticks spread out down the middle, and a large hurricane lamp set in the center. The candles cast soft yellow light on all the diners. Captain Pickett winked at her, but she pretended she did not notice. “An act of bravery, I might add,” Pickett went on. “Do tell.”

Jeannie wasn’t sure what account to give or whether it was a proper subject for the dinner table, but they seemed anxious to know about her time with the people of Kanaka Town, so she told them of her days there. When she was done, Pickett directed the dinner guests to a discussion of health in general. He sat at his place at the head of the table, his long hair curling at his jacket’s collar, like a country gentleman hosting guests at his estate. Jeannie could understand why Mr. Breed said he was popular with both military camps and civilians.

It soon became apparent that the women were not taken with her account. Mrs. Jenkins’ lips seemed to get acutely puckered as Jeannie went on. Mrs. Marshall, the merchant’s wife, burst out that the whole affair was unseemly.

“Don’t you think, Mrs. Jenkins, a woman should be more particular in what she chooses to undertake?” Mrs. Marshall’s rag curls banged against her neck.

“I do indeed. Don’t you, Mr. Pierce?”

Andrew Pierce was mid-bite on an appetizer of oysters. He looked startled, then blushed at Jeannie sitting next to him. “You caught me off-guard, ma’am. I’ll have to think on it.”

“I don’t believe that there is anything to think on,” said the captain of the HMS Satellite. “Women served valiantly in our hospitals in the late Crimean War. Miss Nightingale for one. An extraordinary woman. Saved many a soldier’s life.”

Mrs. Jenkins and the other ladies shrank back when the military men agreed. The matter of Jeannie’s incautious adventure was settled and to her relief, in her favor. The men agreed that containing the smallpox was imperative. It touched her deeply when they gave tender acknowledgment to her loss and the irony she could not help her son.

Dinner was served in the French style with all the dishes on the table and the serving plates assisted around. Pickett continued playing host, leading the conversation and letting topics flow from local politics to news of the social season. Occasionally, he’d interject, “Sir, ah believe that is the most interesting thing ah heard” or something to that effect. Jeannie found his accent hard to understand.

During the second hour, the conversation turned to more national subjects, though Jeannie noticed that by some unspoken agreement, they did not speak of the growing discord and talk of secession back in the States she had heard during conversations in Victoria. Instead,

the conversation settled on Pickett’s exploits in the Mexican war. The British officers were interested in the tactics of General Winfield Scott. Pickett obliged them with an arrangement of salt cellars and candlesticks on the table.

As he laid out the battlefield, Jeannie was amused to see that he had brought Mrs. Jenkins and the other women to a complete stop. Their fan-covered faces and asides were muffled. The officers leaned over and the battle began. When Pickett was done, salt had been spilled and a candlestick dripped its beeswax onto the linen cloth. To that, everyone clapped. The officers raised their glasses as Pickett returned to his seat in good cheer.

About Mist-Chi-Mas

In Mist-chi-mas, everyone is bound to something.

Jeannie Naughton never intended to run away from her troubles, but in 1860, a woman’s reputation is everything. A scandal not of her own making forces her to flee England for an island in the Pacific Northwest, a territory jointly occupied by British and American military forces. At English Camp, Jeannie meets American Jonas Breed. Breed was once a captive and slave — a mistchimas — of the Haida, and still retains close ties to the Coast Salish Indians.

But the inhabitants of the island mistrust Breed for his friendship with the tribes. When one of Breed’s friends is murdered, he is quickly accused of a gruesome retaliation. Jeannie knows he’s innocent, and plans to go away with him, legitimizing their passionate affair with a marriage. But when she receives word that Breed has been killed in a fight, Jeannie’s world falls apart. Although she carries Jonas Breed’s child, she feels she has no choice but to accept a proposal from another man.

Twenty years later, Jeannie finds reason to believe that Breed may still be alive. She must embark on a journey to uncover the truth, unaware that she is stirring up an old and dangerous struggle for power and revenge…

Find it on Amazon.

J.L. Oakley

writes award-winning historical fiction that spans the mid-19th century to WW II. Her books have been recognized with a 2013 Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Award, the 2013 Chanticleer Grand Prize, the 2014 First Place Chaucer Award, 2015 WILLA Silver Award and the 2016 Goethe Grand Prise.

In addition to historical fiction, J.L. has also written the Hilo Bay series of four mystery novellas set in the Hawaiian Islands. Her most recent historical novel, Mist-chi-mas: A Novel Of Captivity, launched in September 2017.

And follow her on Twitter @JlOakley13.

Filed Under: Teaser Thursday Tagged: award winner, bestseller, EXCERPT, fiction, fresh voices, historical fiction, historical romance, J.L. Oakley, mystery, new fiction, romance

Thursday teaser: Tree Soldier

Posted on August 9, 2018 Written by Janet Oakley

This week’s #teaser excerpt is from the historical romance set in the Pacific Northwest in 1935

By J.L. Oakley

CHAPTER 4

The game was in the third ending when McGill and some others struck. It was all supposed to be a joke, a tradition, but from the start, it turned ugly. Surrounding the group of eight, a crowd of local enrollees began to ask questions of the boys and when Costello or Spinelli spoke they got teased for their accents.

“Hey, they did all right,” a blonde local named Larsen said. “They did their share.”

McGill knocked the enrollee’s cap off. “Sure they did. You’re gonna get dunked.”

“So?” Staubach said. The big blonde Pennsylvanian straightened his back. He was a farm boy, but not the hayseed they thought he was. He put up his dukes. “We’ve got bigger rivers where I come from.”

“Yeah, but we’ve got man eating fish. Ever wonder why a salmon looks so threadbare by the time it spawns? It’s the little fishes in the water that nibble at them, bit by bit. They can take off your toes if you’re not watching. If the cold don’t get you, they will.”

“Where do I sign up?” Staubach asked.

“Why, over there,” one of McGill’s buddies said. He pointed to the willow-lined bank at the end of the field, some fifty feet away.

“Come on fellows, let’s show them what we can take,” Staubach said.

“Now wait a damn minute,” McGill growled. “You got to be done proper.”

“Then carry me there.” Staubach swaggered his shoulders.

McGill looked annoyed but instantly several enrollees seized and carried Staubach like a plank of wood to the river. There they swung and tossed him out into the river. When he yelled as he hit the water, some of the locals began to cheer and chant, “Dunk them, dunk them.” The boys pushed on Joisey Squad, edging them toward the water. Joisey Squad pushed back.

Careful, Hardesty thought. He didn’t like the feel of the whole situation. A strange electricity prickled around the water’s edge.

“You’re next,” McGill said to Jacob Golden.

“Where’s Jeff?” Golden craned his neck and looked down river.

“He’s okay,” someone said. “He’s making his way down to the next stop.”

“How fast is it here?” Hardesty asked.

“You worried?” McGill sneered, his face puckered up like a Boston terrier’s.

“No, I’m just inquiring whether I should dog-paddle or display my Tarzan-like swimming skills.”

“It’s not too fast,” an enrollee said. “And it’s deep.”

“Stop talking,” McGill said. “You, Toland. Get some of the boys to bring up Golden and O’Connell.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Golden said and let himself and O’Connell be thrown in. Hoss Werner was next. He stood at the edge and held his nose before jumping off. Some of the locals laughed. A ways downstream Staubach waved as he climbed out and then turned around as Golden and O’Connell came paddling by. They had narrowly missed a big snag in the water, coming around it backwards.

Up on the bank, it was Costello’s turn. McGill’s squad charged him, but he fooled them all and twisting out of their hands, took a flying leap and went blind into the water. Fortunately, he avoided going out into the river’s faster middle.

“How’s the water?” Spinelli yelled to Costello. He got an answer quicker than intended when he was pushed in. He grabbed onto an enrollee from Spenser’s squad and they went in together. The local man came up sputtering to the roars of the others. Both young men made it down to the stony shore several hundred yards down, safely making it around the snag. Costello and Werner were there to pull them in.

“That leaves you two,” McGill said. He looked really steamed. Turned around and looked sharply at Hardesty and Sal Lorenzo. “Who goes first?”

Hardesty shrugged. At this point, they had no choice, but go in. The honor of squad at stake. He looked over at Lorenzo and was surprised to see him pale and drawn. A tough, wiry Puerto Rican from Newark, what bravado he normally carried was long gone. He worked his mouth constantly, his dark eyes on the water. Sensing Hardesty’s gaze, he looked up at his straw boss and instantly Hardesty knew what was wrong. Lorenzo couldn’t swim.

“I’ll go,” Hardesty said. “I’ll wait for you, Sal,” he said directly to him, ignoring McGill’s curious look.

“I’d rather not go at all,” the eighteen-year-old replied.

“You gotta. It’s tradition,” a local enrollee next to him said. “Unless you’re chicken.”

“I ain’t chicken.” Lorenzo spat.

McGill suddenly understood. “Aw, he can’t swim. That’s what he’s afraid of.” His eyes grew wide. “Hey, Larsen. Get that clothesline rope.”

“What for?” Lorenzo asked.

“To snag a fish.”

“Do I have to?” Lorenzo asked Hardesty.

“No,” Hardesty said. “You don’t have to.”

“It’s okay,” Larsen said. “I’ll tie you good. You’ll only get wet.” Squeezing through the group around the remaining enrollees from Joisey Squad, the blonde put the rope around Lorenzo’s waist and tied it in front. “We’ll hold onto you. I won’t let go. I promise.”

Lorenzo seemed resigned to his fate. Hardesty could see it on his face and appreciated the fact that he had probably faced worse things in the streets back home.

“You going in, Park?” Lorenzo asked.

“Sure. I’ll go in.” He took the rope in his hands. It didn’t seem strong. Its cotton fibers looked old and rotten. “You got another?”

“This’ll do,” McGill said. “Quit babying him. You going in?”

“Sure… I’ll do it,” Lorenzo said. “When Park’s ready.”

“Ready?” McGill nodded to two of his friends and before Hardesty could react, Lorenzo was picked up and tossed far out into the river. He went down, then came up sputtering, grabbing desperately for the taunt rope.

“That was a dirty trick.” Hardesty got right in McGill’s face and slammed him on his shoulders. “What the hell did you do it for? What was the point?”

McGill shrugged him off. “Watch your paws.”

Hardesty watched the boy flounder in the water and hoped Larsen and the two others that held him would bring him in quickly. He hesitated, wondering if it would do any good at all to go in, when he could help haul him in here on shore.

“Bring him in, Larsen,” he finally asked. “He’s done his time.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“No wait,” McGill said. “He’s not done.”

“He’s done.” Hardesty reached for the rope but before he could lay hold of it, in one sickening moment, it broke, causing Larsen and the others to fall to the ground. Lorenzo went spinning out into the middle of the river, thrashing his arms wildly where the rope had once been secured.

“Park!” The boy screamed, then quit when he got a mouthful of water.

“You bastard, McGill.” Hardesty tore along the edge of the bank, looking for a place to go in, watching in horror as Lorenzo swung back into shore directly in line with the snag. For a moment, he seemed to be held in place there, before swinging out into the current again and crashing back into the weathered gray roots of the old tree.

“The rope!” Careless of his safety, Hardesty dove into the water and let the current take him down to the snag. At the last minute he stroked over to where Lorenzo was caught on some roots. The boy’s head was bleeding and half-submerged under the water. Hardesty came alongside and kicking out, clung onto one of the roots while desperately lifting Lorenzo’s chin out of the water.

“Sal!” he shouted above the water’s noise. He slapped him on his cheek and the boy’s eyes opened. “Hold on. I’ll cut you free. Can you do it?”

The boy nodded, choking and spitting out water. “I think so…” He had one of his arms wrapped around a gnarly root, but when he brought up his free arm, he cried out in pain. One glance told Hardesty that it was broken. “Just hold on.”

Hardesty got his knife from its soggy scabbard and sawed on the rope. The water was a numbing cold and he found it hard to concentrate as it pulled relentlessly on his clothes and body. His feet were in danger of slipping off the root he stood on. He did not notice that Spenser had joined him until he was beside him. Together they got the boy untangled from the snag.

“Dumb tradition!” Spenser yelled over the water’s torrent. “You did good, Sal. No one’s going to give you a hard time.”

The boy smiled weakly. He looked like he was going to pass out and Hardesty feared shock. When he was completely free, Hardesty asked if anyone had gone to get a doctor.

“Yes,” Spenser said.

“Then let’s get him away from this.” Knowing that it would probably hurt him, Hardesty chose the best lifesaving hold he could think of for this water and kicked out into the river with Lorenzo. Spenser stayed close and together they were swept downstream to the low bank. By now most of Joisey Squad was standing there ready to help as well as a crowd of boys from the other squads. The dunking had turned ugly and many were ashamed. As soon as the three were within grabbing distance, there were hands to help pull them in safely to shore. Groaning, Lorenzo was gently lifted out of the water and brought up on the bank. A blanket was produced and the boy wrapped up. A group of enrollees volunteered to take him to the infirmary, but Hardesty checked him again for shock. The boy looked cold and pale, but Spenser okayed the move and Lorenzo was quickly taken away.

“What happened?” Spinelli asked.

“That happened,” Hardesty replied pointing to McGill as water dripped off his head and nose. His sopping wet clothes clung to him like he had just emerged fully clothed from a bathtub. His skin was like goose flesh. As they walked back up towards the field, McGill was standing with his little group. Larsen off to the side looked horrified, but McGill didn’t look particularly perturbed. There was a sly smile on his face when Hardesty came up to him.

“He couldn’t take it,” McGill sneered.

“He took it all right. Here’s his answer.” Hardesty slugged the Tar Heel in the mouth in a single movement that sent McGill to the ground. Hardesty stepped over him and walked on, gathering people as he went. His own squad stayed close to him, clearing the way as he went back into the camp. Something roared behind him, yelling at him to stop. Hardesty turned in time to see McGill charging up to him.

“No one lays a hand on me!” he shouted. “No one!”

“All right, I won’t.”

McGill didn’t see Hardesty’s foot until too late. Tripping, he lost his balance and went rolling down the bank to the pebbly narrow beach below.

“I’ll get you, you dirty foreigner,” McGill shouted as he climbed back up, but Hardesty was already across the field. He held his hands up in the air.

“No hands,” he yelled back, his squad laughing beside him.

Win a copy of Tree Soldier

Author J.L. Oakley will give a free e-copy of Tree Soldier to one of the reader who can answer this question:

Name a state or national park in your state built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. If you are in Canada or beyond, name a Great Depression program that helped put people back to work.

Leave your answer in the Comments below, and J.L. Oakley will choose from the correct answers.

About Tree Soldier

One mistake can ruin a life. One mistake can transform it.

A government forestry camp set deep in the mountainous forests of the Pacific Northwest might not seem the likely place to find redemption, but in 1935, Park Hardesty hopes for just that.

Blaming himself for the fiery accident that caused his brother’s disfigurement and the death of the bootlegging woman he loved, planting trees, building bridges and mentoring tough, homesick New Jersey boys brings him both penitence and the renewal of his own self-worth. When he wins the love of Kate Alford, a local naturalist who envisions joining the Forest Service, which allows only men, he also captures the ire of a camp officer who refuses to let her go. Just when he is ready to seek his brother’s forgiveness, he is falsely accused of rape. Every aspect of his life he has tried to rebuild is put in jeopardy. In the end, the only way he can defend himself is to tell the truth about his brother, but he risks being kicked out of the camp. Worse, he could lose Kate’s love forever.

J.L. Oakley

And follow her on Twitter @JlOakley13.

Filed Under: Blog, Teaser Thursday Tagged: award winner, bestseller, bestselling author, EXCERPT, fiction, fresh voices, Giveaway, J.L. Oakley, romance, Tree Soldier

New bestsellers worth waiting for

Posted on July 23, 2018 Written by Scott Bury

Your favorite bestselling authors aren’t slacking this summer. They’re hard at work writing new books for you to enjoy. Here are some of the upcoming new bestsellers that you can look forward to in the next couple of months.

Scott Bury will release his first Hawaiian Storm novel, Torn Roots.

Arson. Murder. An irritating environmentalist pitting local activists against foreign property developers. A taciturn geologist. Add a rogue Homeland Security agent and the lack of a body make this case a whirling fury in a tangled jungle of clues and misdirection.

The new Hawaiian Storm series will feature a reader favorite, FBI Special Agent Vanessa Storm as she solves crimes in the Aloha State.

Alan McDermott’s highly anticipated Run and Hide launches in August.

Eva Driscoll is used to chasing down bad guys, but now the bad guys are chasing her. She knows they won’t stop until she’s dead. After her brother is killed in a faked suicide, Driscoll teams up with ex-soldier Rees Colback, the one person who can help her find answers. Together they’re determined to uncover why members of his Special Forces squad are dying in mysterious circumstances. But with every agency in the country in hot pursuit, their only choice is to flee. The clock is ticking. They can’t run forever. It’s time to make a choice: kill or be killed…

Pre-order Run and Hide today from Amazon.

J.L. Oakley is about to release four books in a brand new series, the Hilo Bay Mysteries. Auntie Bee tackles puzzling mysteries in Coconut Island, Volcano House and Hilina Pali.

Coconut Island: Investigative reporter Tawnie Takahashi is no stranger to mysteries, but can she handle one steeped in her own family’s history?

A box of letters from a WWII soldier stationed on the Big Island is found at the Big Island Historical Society and unlocks painful memories for Wendy’s Great Aunt Bee. Bee’s older sister was swept away in the 1946 tsunami, but now Wendy suspects she was murdered first.

As she delves into the mystery, Tawnie meets a group of nonagenarians who were at the USO center on Coconut Island during the war. One is a hero. Another is a cold-blooded murderer.

Now available for pre-order on Amazon.

D.G. Torrens is bringing out the romantic suspense novel Finding You in November.

Noah Ainsworth has been hiding away in his ivory tower for far too long and decides it’s time he started living again. The enigmatic Eden Marshall is his prime motivation. Captivated by her, he begins to trust in love again.

Until a dark secret from his past emerges, threatening all that he loves …

And brand new this month:

Anthony (Lucian & Lia Book 7)

A hot new bestseller By Sydney Landon

Although he’s not active in his family’s crime syndicate, Anthony Moretti will always be protected by the family and feared by those outside of it.

After his father was gunned down, he used his inheritance to open his first nightclub. For years, building his empire was his only concern, until fate brought Jacey Wrenn into his life. She had absolutely no idea, but he’d known her before he’d ever met her. She’d haunted his dreams, the beautiful stranger that he longed to find, but hadn’t a clue as to where to begin.

How does the son of the devil convince a fallen angel that redemption is possible?

Get it today from:

Amazon | Kobo | Barnes & Noble | iTunes

Filed Under: Blog, Monday Musings Tagged: Alan McDermott, bestselling authors, bestselling reads, D.G. Torrens, fiction, fresh voices, J.L. Oakley, mystery, new fiction, romance, Scott Bury, Sydney Landon, thriller

Monday musings: Amazon cancels the Kindle World program

Posted on June 18, 2018 Written by Scott Bury

Many readers have heard that Amazon has canceled the Kindle Worlds program. Since May, Amazon has not been accepting new Kindle World titles, and all the books in all Kindle Worlds will no longer be available for sale after July 15. And then, all rights revert back to the authors of the books—except for some.

Wait—what’s a Kindle World again?

Kindle Worlds are—or were—managed, policed fan fiction. Amazon selected successful series where readers wanted more titles than the author could write in a timely way. The program allowed other authors to write short works based on the situations, settings and characters of those bestselling series. For instance, I wrote four books based on the characters and setting of Toby Neal’s Lei Crime series.

This program benefitted everyone involved. Readers got more stories in the series they loved. The original authors of those series got more connections to their audiences, and a shared of the sales of the new books. And the authors who wrote in other writers’ series got exposure to new audiences, as well as established audiences for the books they wrote in the Kindle Worlds.

It was a win-win-win-win situation. The fourth win is for Amazon, which got 15% of every sale.

Goodbye, new audiences

This affects a number of BestSelling Reads authors. Both Toby Neal and former member Emily Kimelman have prominent Kindle Worlds based on their bestselling series, Lei Crime and Sydney Rye respectively. And several members have published Kindle Worlds titles:

Toby Neal and Emily Kimelman themselves both published books in each other’s Kindle World. Toby published Rough Road, bringing her Lei Texeira into Emily’s Sydney Rye world, and Emily published Warrior Dog about Toby’s Keiki the Rottweiler. Toby also wrote a book in Russell Blake’s JET Kindle World.
DelSheree Gladden wrote The Catalyst, bringing her Eliza Carlisle from The Instigator into the Sydney Rye Kindle World
J.L. Oakley has published four books in the Lei Crime Kindle World: Saddle Road, Coconut Island, Volcano House and Hilina Pali.
Corinne O’Flynn wrote a trilogy in the Lei Crime Kindle World: Half Moon Girls, Tell the Truth and Pay the Price.
Caleb Pirtle III published Lovely Night to Die in the Special Forces: Operation Alpha Kindle World.
Scott Bury published in three Kindle World he was invited to: Jet: Stealth in Russell Blake’s JET Kindle World; The Wife Line and The Three-Way in the Sydney Rye Kindle World; and four books in the Lei Crime Kindle World: Torn Roots, Palm Trees & Snowflakes, Dead Man Lying and Echoes.

But wait! There’s more!

With the cancellation of the Kindle Worlds program, the rights for all the content of the books revert back to the authors of the individual titles. But there’s a complication. The works in the Kindle Worlds were based on the books published by bestselling authors. Which means the rights to their characters, situations, stories, and other elements revert to them.

This causes some issues between the original authors and those who wrote Kindle World novellas. While the authors of the individual Kindle World books now have the rights to what they created, the original authors of the series at the core of the Kindle Worlds retain the rights to their characters and other elements.

Which raises a conflict: where exactly is the line between the respective authors’ rights in a (former) Kindle Word novella?

Why they dunnit

The concept of Kindle Worlds appeared to be a sure thing. Take existing, successful series and release new books for proven audiences. Minimal risk, more sales.

So apparently the sales were not good enough to sustain the program. The complications around copyright were probably also discouraging. Maybe that’s why Amazon never let Kindle World books be purchased beyond its U.S.-based .com site. And never allowed any formats other than .mobi-format for Kindles.

That’s right: no paperbacks, no audiobooks. Readers in Canada, the U.K. or anywhere outside the U.S.—or, more precisely, anyone who had an Amazon account that did not end in .com—could not buy any of my Kindle World books.

The literary world evolves

With the cancellation of the Kindle Worlds, some authors actually have new opportunities. Those who republish their books, meeting the requirements of copyright, can bring these words to global audiences in any format they wish. For many, it’s an opportunity to open up new worlds to new audiences.

What it means overall is that the world of the written word continues to evolve. And for readers, that’s all good.

Filed Under: Blog, Monday Musings Tagged: amazon, bestselling authors, books, Caleb Pirtle III, Corinne O'Flynn, DelSheree Gladden, fiction, J.L. Oakley, Kindle World, Kindle Worlds, mystery, new fiction, Scott Bury, Toby Neal

Thursday teaser: #excerpts from Mist-Chi-Mas

Posted on April 12, 2018 Written by Janet Oakley

This week’s excerpt comes from tale set in the Pacific Northwest of 1860

By J.L. Oakley

Troubles with San Juan Town

Breed stood on the porch of Krill’s Mercantile and checked the double doors. Behind him, lantern light from a dozen shacks groped its way through the thickening mist. A tinny piano played a throbbing tune. Voices and laughter sounded disembodied. The only light on the porch was a candle lantern on the store’s post.

“They’re locked.”

“Use this.” Collie Henderson handed him a picklock out of a leather case. Breed had to squint to see it. The sun had long since gone down, leaving the summer twilight to spread its shadows over the collection of twenty ill-formed buildings and tents that made up San Juan Town. Yet the reason he was here was urgent—the rescue of the twelve-year-old daughter of a Makah friend. He thanked the spirits for the mist softly drifting off Griffin Bay onto the main lane.

Breed jiggled the lock. “When’s the last time Billy Po saw her?”

“About a half-hour ago,” Sikhs said. He stood at the dark edge of the building holding a shotgun.

“Krill was talking about taking her out of the root cellar,” Collie said. Wanted to bring her up into one of the rooms.” Collie’s voice was taut with anger. “Shh—”

Two buildings down, a door opened and a couple of soldiers stumbled out onto the candlelit porch. One bumped into a post before weaving down the steps into the lane. They’ll be in trouble for sure, Breed thought as he pressed up against the shuttered store. Pickett had to expand the boundaries of the military post to within a few feet of San Juan Town just to keep the soldiers in line.

One of the soldiers, his corporal’s stripe nearly erased by the dying light, bent over in the middle of the street and retched. The stink mixed with the other smells of the settlement: wood pile litter, broken whiskey bottles, and barrels reeking of spoiled food and brackish water. Breed fought back the urge to retch too. They had so little time. Since he had learned of the girl’s kidnapping, Breed had been on the lookout for her for the past two days.

Krill’s place was more than a store selling civilian and soldier’s needs. Behind the Chinese glass bead curtains next to the counter, there were several rooms that stretched back to the lagoon. Krill’s boarders.

“Get on, Liam. Sarg’s goin’ to give us piss.”

“I’m pissed. A shiny dollar for that swill.” The soldier spit a final time, keeping his hand on his belly.

The two soldiers staggered off, this time off toward the high grassy hill leading back to the army post. Breed waited until they were out of range then went back to the lock on the store’s double doors. The street was deserted now, everyone seemingly indoors, staying warm from the unexpected change in the weather.

He was about to jiggle the lock when a woman screamed. Both men swung around, Collie pulling out his sword from his scabbard on his back. But then the woman’s voice changed into a squeal of pleasure and laughter. Breed almost missed the cry from the store on the other side of its doors.

“Jonas.” Collie rammed his shoulder against one of the doors.

“I heard it.” Breed signaled Sikhs to go around to the back. He gave the pick lock one more turn and they spilled into the store. Inside, the store was dark, the floor to ceiling shelves behind a thick counter displaying tins and wooden boxes like plaques in a mausoleum, but down the hall there was candle light.

A muffled cry and then someone spit out, “You little heathen.”

“There!” Breed leaped over the counter and raced down the hall, kicking in the nearest door. Collie came behind him, slashing the bead curtain with his sword into smithereens. The little beads bounced and rolled down the floor into the room where a naked man and woman were stacked up against the headboard in a state of disarray and shock. Breed was gone and into the next room before the couple gave alarm.