Sunday Snippet: Sabotage

As usual, we're having bizarre weather. Got hot again then a stormfront moved through and now we're back down to the sixties. I'm not complaining about the cooler temperatures or anything, but I'd rather stick with one range for longer than a week.

Still loaded up with work projects and I'm making solid progress on all of them. Sometimes it's like spinning plates and trying to keep them all going at the same rate, but I love the variety of the stuff I'm working on right now.

Not a bad week for viewing television. I did the taking a break from wall-to-wall words thing again and got pretty much a full round of shows in this week.

Started off with Best in Paradise and enjoyed the rewatch of "Dark Memories." I have one more episode left for this series then I'll be switching over to Beyond Paradise. I'm looking forward to starting that one.

Caught another episode of Death in Paradise with the ninth season premiere. I think this is Jack's last season and the new guy takes over for the next one. Enjoyed the episode a lot.

Watched another episode of Elementary and enjoyed it. Not a huge Moriarity fan, but I like the layers and back and forth between Holmes and Watson with Moriarity.

Finished up the third season of The Batman and I'm getting ready to start the fourth. I honestly can't remember if I ended up liking the fourth season or not.

Also caught an episode of Classic Rugrats and the three vignettes were ones I don't remember seeing before so nice to have something new to me.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Sabotage, a novella that sets a couple up for a bit of a twisty mystery to solve … in space.

Here's the miniblurb:

Pilots Sapphire Naught and Gifford Fell are tasked with finding a saboteur and neither is allowed to fly until the culprit is apprehended. The cat and mouse game of tracking and luring their prey into a trap takes its toll on their relationship but ends up making them see new sides to each other.

And a sneaky peek…

Giff signaled the bartender. "Another round here." He motioned to the empty glasses on the table.

The drinks helped pull Sapphire out of her mood. At least the thundercloud disappeared from over her head. Deep into a game of darts, she laughed when her opponent missed the target by a mile.

Neal Blanchard, a fellow pilot dropped down beside Giff. "Good to see her having fun." He nodded toward Sapphire.

Giff studied Neal a moment. The other man flew well, but didn't really gel with either squadron. Something about the guy always seemed a little off. And his comment about Sapphire puzzled Giff.

He leaned back in his seat and quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah? Why's that?"

Neal shrugged. "When you guys came in, she looked pissed, like she wanted to tear someone a new one."

Giff couldn't disagree, but Neal's statement rubbed Giff the wrong way. "Look, she had a close call today and anyone would be angry when someone they trust fucks up." Especially when the error didn't make sense.

Neal's eyes widened. "What happened?"

Giff gave him the bare-bones version. He didn't intend to spread rumor and innuendo. Not when anyone could make a mistake.

Neal let out a low whistle. "And top-ranked Sapphire missed it on the preflight check?" He stopped just short of referring to her as the golden girl.

Giff had no intention of playing Neal's game tonight. "Uh, no. She didn't miss anything. Preflight was down to Warrenty, who apparently fubared it up." Damn, he shouldn't have let Blanchard push buttons.

Neal became agitated. "What do mean? Warrenty never screws up."

Giff arched his brows. "You got a thing for the deckhand?" Neal would be in Unrequitedville … Monica had a steady thing with one of the engineers.

Neal shut his trap. "What? No, not at all." He backpedaled. "She's good, probably the best on the chief's deck." He snagged a napkin and crumpled it.

Giff agreed. "Yeah, but she's also human and can make a mistake."

Neal frowned. "Doesn't seem like her though." His gaze followed Sapphire when she went to retrieve her winning darts. "Nothing gets in her way, does it?" Crumpling turned to shredding.

Giff blinked. "Who? Saph?" He shrugged. "Nah, what she can't plow through, she bounces back from." One of the many things he loved about her.

Neal studied her a little longer then abruptly stood. "Guess that's why she stays at the top." An odd glare lit his eyes. "Have a nice night, Fell." He dropped the torn napkin on the table then turned to leave.

Giff lifted his chin up then tilted his head to the side, watching Neal elbow his way out of the bar. "He's a strange one."

Having a lot of fun with this one. Giff and Sapphire are a cool couple to write.

 

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

 

ML Skye