Sunday Snippet: Domino Effect

November 27, 2016

I hope everyone survived the crazy sales if you ventured out. Me? I stay home and avoid the insane traffic, surly moods, and disappointment. LOL

Thoroughly enjoyed the premiere of The Librarians. I love this show. The Walking Dead had a solid episode. Love the interactions with the Hilltop people and Maggie and Sasha are terrific.

Gotham is truly coming into its own this season. I'm thrilled the show finally found it footing.

I'm so excited for the crossover episodes with Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. It's going to be a fun week!

I started my Great Holiday Show Binge Watch. JAG started the marathon and Doctor Who is up next.

That's it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Domino Effect, a novella that started as something of an experiment in storytelling. I'm hoping to show how much two people can affect each other in positive and negative ways.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Every action Frank and Katya take pushes a reaction out of the other. And like dominos, one barrier crashes into the next until nothing is left but a tangle of emotions they have to deal with.

And a sneaky peek…

"What the hell is your problem?"

"I blew up a civilian ship."

"We blew it up."

"I fired first."

"What? You wanna cigar for that?" Her voice dropped low, her tone clipped. "The ship was empty, Frank."

"We don't know that." He heaved a sigh. "And I knew you wouldn't understand."

He turned to walk away. Her hand grabbed his arm.

"Look. Let's go look at the gun camera footage and put this to rest once and for all." She reached into the side pocket on her cargo pants and produced a bottle of vodka. "Empty or not, we'll raise a glass to them."

Oh, she understood all right. More than he knew. Guilt could eat a person up, swallow them whole and spit 'em back out. She absolutely did understand.

Her sins could fill a spaceport. But Frank would take on an entire galaxy to right his perceived wrongs. Katya wouldn't let him wallow in "what it" this time.

Grabbing his arm, she dragged him to the viewing room. She queued up the mission and settled down beside him. Checking under the seat, she found the bottle of alcohol stashed by one of the other pilots. She waited until the footage looped to their takedown of the ship.

Once the explosion cleared and debris hurtled through space, Katya passed Frank the bottle. "You know we couldn't risk that ship getting through, right?" The late arrival, the radiological alarm, the lack of contact after the initial logging in… too many variables to let sentiment rule the day.

Frank downed several gulps of the clear liquid then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Doesn't it bother you?" He held the bottle between his fingers, swirling the contents.

Katya answered with honesty. "Not as much as losing the entire fleet would." Brutal, but true.

Frank met her gaze. "Does believing that help you sleep at night?" A skeptical brow lifted.

Vodka helped her sleep more than pretty platitudes about losing a few to save many, but she'd never admit the guilt sometimes ate her alive. And Frank would think less of her if he discovered how much she relied on the crutch of inebriation to numb the reality of what they'd done.

She held his gaze and threaded their fingers together. "Yeah, it does, Frank." She checked one more sin checked into her ever growing spaceport.

But the squeeze of his hand on hers lessened the impact of the small lie.

I'm having a wonderful time writing out the scenarios that bring Frank and Katya together.

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flip.

ML Skye