Vigilante Crime

Tales is a collection of six short stories by Montana author Dave Lloyd.

An unforgivable crime. A murderous act of revenge. A killer with justice on their side. Once, the infamous Dahlia Rapist terrorised young women - and their parents alike - with his brutal acts of violence and sinister calling card. Today, Raymond Knox has shunned his former alias and is being released into society. But someone suspects that a monster still lurks beneath the surface. And when Raymond Knox is found dead, mutilated to match his victims, DCI Claire Winters is called in to catch a killer the public are calling a hero....

Justice Parish takes down bad guys. Rescued from the streets by the world renowned Parish family, she joined their covert sisterhood of vigilante assassins. Her next target: a sex-trafficking ring in the war-torn Middle East. She just needs to get close enough to take them down. Sandesh Ross left Special Forces to found a humanitarian group to aid war-torn countries. But saving the world isn't cheap. Enter Parish Industries and limitless funding, with one catch - their hot, prickly "PR specialist", Justice Parish.

While following leads to identify and arrest an international drug trafficker, Detective Alex Landon is called to lead a mass murder investigation after the unholy marriage of a drug trafficking cartel and the Taliban has a less-than-amicable beginning. A lone witness claims to have heard two last words that strike fear in heart of everyone involved: "Allah Akbar!" Investigators frantically search the Phoenix Valley for a team of unidentified foreign terrorists but fear making the investigation public would risk mass hysteria and vigilante violence.

There's a gang war unfolding on the streets of Seattle. A young boy has been killed in a drive-by shooting, and the ensuing chaos threatens to engulf the city. Normally, chief of detectives Mort Grant would be dealing with the fallout - but right now, his mind is elsewhere.... In one gut-wrenching phone call, Mort's worst fears are realized. His granddaughter Hadley has been kidnapped, and the culprit is his own flesh and blood: Allie, his daughter and Hadley's aunt. Now, desperate for any sign of the missing six-year-old girl, Mort turns once again to the relentless vigilante called The Fixer for help.

The police face an extraordinary problem. Somebody has started shooting unsuspecting citizens dead as they go about their daily business in the northwest of England. But it is a very specific type of person that the gun man is targeting. Pedophiles. In order to keep the public calm, the police have no alternative but to reveal the killer's motive. And that's when things start to get really tricky for the investigating officers. When the killer is hailed as a hero vigilante by the media, DCI Andrew Miller and his team face the ultimate challenge.

Still haunted by his wife's murder - and stained by the blood of avenging it - FBI special agent Hatcher McGee can't believe he's being teamed up with rookie agent Korine Davenport. She is his most guilty secret - the one-night stand who almost cost him everything. Korine has her own demons. As a child, she witnessed her father's murder, and she's spent her life waiting for the killer's return. She and Hatcher are both looking for closure, but the disturbing case that draws them together could be their last.

Seattle Chief of Detectives Mort Grant cannot reconcile the memories of his vibrant, headstrong young daughter with the cold, deadly woman she has become. The head of one of the largest criminal enterprises in the world, Allie Grant seized power by wrenching it away from her lover, a notorious Russian gangster. Only two other people know the truth about Allie: the vigilante known as The Fixer, and Mort's best friend, Larry, who's undergoing a crisis of his own. Someone close to Larry has been slain in a mass murder at a sweat lodge deep in the woods....

All he wants is peace. All he finds is war. Marcus Battle is a wanted man. No matter where he goes or what he does, he can't escape those who aim to kill him. But as he fights off one would-be vigilante after another, a new threat emerges. It's a threat worse than the viral Scourge which plunged his world into a dystopian nightmare and it could give rise to second apocalypse. Can Marcus fend off the coming attacks or will he finally fall prey to an enemy he won't see coming?

Cole Blake is more than just a roguish ladies' man. He's also a dedicated worker - so dedicated, in fact, that he's willing to blackmail his boss with a falsified sex tape in order to keep his job. And his proactive efforts don't end there. After hours, he uses his Dynari abilities to moonlight as a vigilante, keeping his neighborhood safe from drunks, dealers, and would-be thieves.

Work is a welcome refuge for New Orleans homicide detective Evangeline Theroux. Feeling suffocated by her new baby, in whose eyes she sees only her dead husband, she throws herself into a high-profile murder case. Reclusive writer Lena Saunders offers Evangeline a provocative theory about the crime: it is the work of a lunatic vigilante. Lena spins the sordid story of Ruth and Rebecca Lemay, whose mother brutally murdered her male children in an insane effort to root out an “evil” gene.

Stand Your Ground is the story of three women who find themselves thrown together because of the most horrible of situations. Janice Johnson suffers through every mother's nightmare when she finds out that her 16-year-old son, Marquis, was murdered in the parking lot of a convenience store. But she and her husband's horror becomes greater when they find out that the shooter has not been arrested. The Johnsons begin a quest to get justice for their son - though the Johnsons want to take different roads to justice.

Populations died in the most devastating plague to ravage the planet in the history of man. Billions are dead, leaving just a handful of people scattered across the world, struggling to live the lives they have left. Some chose to struggle with the land, scratching out a living on a piece of property and hoping to make it from one day through to the next. Others, the vigilantes and brigands, chose to prey on the survivors. They hunt, kill and torture those who want nothing more than to be left alone to live in peace.

Male batterers of women are being beaten to death by a bat-wielding female vigilante. Each victim had recently been on trial for domestic violence-related charges, but was set free through plea bargains, technicalities, or acquittal. Two Portland Police Bureau Detectives - Sergeant Ray Barkley and his partner Detective Nina Parker - investigate the killings. Among the list of suspects is Criminal Court Judge Carole Cranston, who presided over the trials of all the victims and has dark secrets she is in no hurry to share. Barkley quickly develops an attraction to the beautiful Carole....

When the body of an anonymous young Hispanic woman dressed as Queen Marie Antoinette is dredged from the Detroit River, the Detroit Police Department wants the case closed out fast. Wayne County coroner Dr. Bobby Falconi gives the woman’s photo to his old pal August Snow, insisting August show it around his native Mexicantown. August’s good friend Elena recognizes the woman immediately. Her story is one the authorities don’t want getting around - and she’s not the only young woman to have disappeared during an ICE raid only to turn up dead a few weeks later.

The only male to be adopted into the notorious Parish family, Tony Parish always did right by his vigilante sisters. But when an attempt to protect one of them went horribly wrong, he had to fake his own death to escape his fanatical family. Tony set sail and ended up in Dominica - face to face with the woman of his dreams.... After the death of her mother, Honor Silva moved to Dominica, where her family could help her heal and move on. But her activist mother left her more than money, she left her proof that could take down one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.

Chief Warrant Officer Gary O'Neal is no ordinary soldier. For nearly 40 years, he has fought America's enemies, becoming one of the greatest Warriors this nation has ever known. Part Native American, O'Neal was trained in both military combat and the ways of his Native people, combining his commitment to freedom with his respect for the enemy, his technical fighting skills with his fierce warrior spirit.

Frustrated that his organization is crumbling while he’s in prison, Mallette starts getting desperate. Willing to do anything to get the former detective out of his life and further drive him into a hole he can never recover from, Mallette orders the kidnapping of the kids of Jacobs’ brother. Fearful that the kids might end up like the rest of his family, Jacobs frantically searches the city to find them before they end up in the cemetery. With time growing short, and Jacobs knowing that his enemy is willing to do the unthinkable, Jacobs enlists the help of unlikely allies.

Three targets left. Kill them. Kill all of them. David Bishop had a past before his time as a Special Forces Marine, but he has little memory of it. Now an assassin for a clandestine agency run by a ruthless woman known as The Director, David has one last mission to complete before he's free to live the peaceful life he's always wanted. One last mission, with three simple targets. Easy. But when David meets Kiara, a lonely shopkeeper whose bubbly personality hides a tortured past, his priorities suddenly change.

Two startling facts exist in the simple plains state of South Dakota. Number one - if you die, there will be no autopsy - unless the coroner is absolutely certain there were suspicious circumstances. Number two - most coroners are untrained morticians looking to make a little extra money. In the dying town of Dansing, South Dakota, salvation comes in the form of a rich retired basketball player who promises to build a gaming casino and hunters paradise. The only person suspicious of his motives is a down-and-out reporter from the local radio station.