LUCKY SEVENS, the crime thriller about a Las Vegas casino and the treachery that takes place there, makes its debut in print!
*A portion of all proceeds from the sale of this book will go to help the Colon Cancer Program at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in honor of Charles and Leona Vespia
SYNOPSIS: Luca “Lucky” Lucazi is a man who lives for the job, until the job starts to threaten his life. A former Navy Seal, Lucky is ideal as the head of security for Lucky Sevens Casino. But when major names at the casino start falling victim to deadly and suspicious "accidents" Lucky must find out if a crazed killer is on the loose. Now Lucky must fight his way through a cast of eccentric characters only Las Vegas could spawn, and his own battle with alcoholism, before his lover Brooklyn - the sweethearted stripper - becomes the next victim. But when Lucky faces off with illusionist Christopher King, endowed with real magic powers, will his luck finally run out?
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT:
The
house lights went up for a moment and now Lucky could see in full detail The
King’s garish wardrobe. He dressed in royal capes and robes like he was a modern
day Merlin. Jewels dripped off his neck and his fingers. He even used a scepter
in his act instead of the proverbial magic wand.
The
King addressed the crowd thanking what he called his “gentry” for coming to
watch feats of magic unearthed from long ago. Then he set up an oversized black
satin body bag directly beneath his feet.
“Chain my wrists and ankles,” he
told Shae.
When Shae missed her cue King went
on the verbal attack.
“Lock me up!” he hollered.
She took a double set of handcuffs
which she used to bind King’s hands and feet as he asked, or rather demanded.
“Now zip me up.”
Shae lifted the body bag up over
King’s head and zipped it closed. King’s muffled voice could still be heard
calling out instructions. He asked that a hangman’s noose be set around his
neck. The other end of the rope hung from a crane at the top of the stage where
a technician waited to start it.
The bagged body of King rose up in
the air. The rest of them watched and waited. It was supposed to be a simple
escape trick. King would use a hidden key to get out of his binds then slip out
from the body bag and appear somewhere else in the theater. Lucky had seen it
all before. King was eccentric to say the least but at the moment he looked to
be in some sort of trouble.
King’s
body twitched like a fish on a hook. Muffled sounds escaped through the satin
bag. No one could make out what he was saying. Something had gone horribly
wrong, Lucky could sense it.
“He’s suffocating in there!” he
stood and shouted.
“It’s part of the act. I’ve seen it
before,” Shae told him. “He’s a showman.”
The lack of organization on set
truly amazed him. No one seemed to have a clue on where they were supposed to
be or what they were supposed to be doing. The professionalism was non-existent
and it presented a true problem in trying to get things done, even important
things like saving Chris King’s life.
Lucky turned and stared up at the
stage. The body bag had gone still. The crowd had gone wild. Lucky moved on to
the stage in a bound and tackled the bag to shake it off the hook.
He felt the body of King inside
through the satin covering. He was completely still which was not a good sign.
Now that the bag was off the crane a crowd of onlookers from offstage gathered
around.
“He’s not going to be inside,” Shae
said. “The whole reveal is that when the bag is opened King has vanished and
appears out in the crowd or as one of the masked assistants.”
Lucky wasn't satisfied with that
answer. Shae swayed on her heels barely able to stand. She obviously had too
much liquor in her to make a sensible decision.
He
removed the noose from around the top of King's neck which took some doing. It
was wedged on pretty tight and Lucky tore up his palms on the rope fibers just
loosening it alone. Then he produced a small switchblade from his pocket and
began cutting at the bag.
“Wait, what’re you doing?” Shae
asked. “You can just zip it open.”
“He needs air immediately,” Lucky
said. “You people need to stand back.”
Lucky waved his hand at the crew to
get them to step backwards. The satin and nylon resisted him fiercely as he
tried to cut the bag but he finally punctured it enough with the tip to start
hacking away with the teeth of the knife.
Lucky shook his head and then
pointed up at the Russian acrobat Fareid.
“You get down here and help me save
your hero.”
Fareid squatted down next to Lucky.
“What do I do?”
“Help me pull this apart.”
They each grasped a side of the slit
Lucky had made in the body bag and pulled. It fought them but they won. As it
gave in they produced a large hole in the bag which started to reveal an
embroidered belt fitted with a shiny crown buckle.
“That’s him!” Shae shouted.
“Holy shit!” Lucky said, his voice
shaking.
They pulled apart the rest of the
body bag until King could be removed completely. He was very still and wasn’t
breathing. His arms and legs had been cuffed and chained together. Bruising
around the wrists was prominent as though he’d been struggling hard against his
binds. Lucky feared they hadn’t gotten to King in time and he’d suffered
asphyxiation from the noose around his neck.
As much as a pill King had been Lucky couldn’t
just leave him to die.
LUCKY SEVENS is available at Smashwords; Amazon; and Barnes and Noble
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