Frankie's Knight (Elemental Connections: IV)

By T.A. Webb

Teenage boys are disappearing from the streets of Atlanta, and Detective Frankie Prater is resolved that, this time, one will make it out alive. The trail leads to Flagstaff, Arizona, and a man suspected of being a sadistic rapist and killer.

Brady Owens lived six years as a prostitute after his parents threw him out at the age of twelve. After surviving a vicious attack, he found a home with Frankie and his kids. Now he’s eighteen and tired of Frankie’s excuses for not taking their relationship to the next level. Perhaps a trip with just the two of them—even if it is a business trip—is what Frankie needs to see Brady as a man and not a victim.

From the hard streets of Atlanta to the Painted Desert of Arizona, the race is on for Frankie to find not only a missing boy, but his own Knight.

• Language: English
• Publisher: T.A. Webb
• Release date: Aug 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310928611

T.A. Webb

T.A. Webb is the writing name for the Mean Old Bear That Could. By day, he's the director of finance for a non-profit agency. He's worked with people living with HIV/AIDS and with children in the foster care system for over twenty years, and takes the smaller pay for the chance to make a difference for those who can't help themselves. After hours, he's the proud single papa of four rescue dogs, was born and raised in Atlanta, where he still lives, and is a pretty darned good country cook. His sister taught him to read when he was four, and he tore his way through the local library over the next few years. Always wanting more, he snuck a copy of The Exorcist under his parents' house to read when he was eleven and scared the bejesus out of himself. Thus began a love affair with books that skirt the edge, and when he discovered gay literature, he was hooked for life. T.A. can be found at Facebook under AuthorTAWebb, tweeted at #TomBearAtl, or if you really want to, you can email him at [e-mail].

Book preview

Teenage boys are disappearing from the streets of Atlanta, and Detective Frankie Prater is resolved that, this time, one will make it out alive. The trail leads to Flagstaff, Arizona, and a man suspected of being a sadistic rapist and killer.

Brady Owens lived six years as a prostitute after his parents threw him out at the age of twelve. After surviving a vicious attack, he found a home with Frankie and his kids. Now he’s eighteen and tired of Frankie’s excuses for not taking their relationship to the next level. Perhaps a trip with just the two of them—even if it is a business trip—is what Frankie needs to see Brady as a man and not a victim.

From the hard streets of Atlanta to the Painted Desert of Arizona, the race is on for Frankie to find not only a missing boy, but his own Knight.

Frankie’s Knight

By T.A. Webb

Copyright

Frankie’s Knight (Elemental Connections: IV) is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 by T.A. Webb

Cover photograph from iStock.com

Cover Art by Laura E. Harner

Edited by Jae Ashley

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-310928-611

Warning: All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any many without written permission, except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this book.

Contact the publisher for further information: [e-mail].

Smashwords License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

To Christy Duke. Wonderful friend, great beta reader, and overall good person.

Trademark Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following trademarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

501s (Levi's): Levi Strauss & Co. Corporation

DeKalb PD: DeKalb County, Georgia

Dr. Pepper: Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc.

Dunkin’ Donuts: Dunkin’ Donuts USA, Inc.

Georgia State: Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

Google: Google, Inc.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport: City of Atlanta

Isuzu: Isuzu Motors Limited

Marine Corps: US Marine Corps, a component of the US Department of the Navy

PowerPoint: Microsoft Corporation

Richie Rich: Classic Media, LLC

Starbucks: Starbucks Corporation

The Godfather: Paramount Pictures Corporation

Table of Contents

Front Matter

Copyright

Dedication

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

About the Author

Also by the Author

Chapter One

The low buzz of the station worked most days to calm Frankie Prater, but on this particular afternoon it kept all his nerves on edge. He’d been working the disappearance of two young men from the Stone Mountain area, and a third case, so similar, had been thrown on his desk by his captain.

Leaning back in his chair, he reached up and ran a tired hand across his face, closing his eyes and wondering when it would ever stop. Atlanta was a huge metropolitan city, granted, but it seemed like more and more kids were disappearing off the streets. The kicker, and what was making Frankie’s stomach roll and his lunch threaten to come back up, was that all three of the cases were boys—teenaged kids—thrown out by their parents for being gay. Discards. Human, but…disposable.

If Marcus or Amanda, his babies, ever came to him and told him they loved another boy or girl, he’d celebrate. But these three kids, according to his sources on the street, were dumped with the clothes on their backs and became part of an ever-growing urban social issue. Often from small towns, like these boys, they migrated to someplace where they might find money and food and potential safety—metro Atlanta.

But with the city’s growth came other issues. The ATL was a major international hub because of the airport—Hartsfield-Jackson was the busiest in the world, and that meant huge numbers of predators, in for the day to hook up with a pimp who could provide them with fresh young flesh, sometimes as young as five and six years old. A flight in from Europe or South America, a night or two of pleasure, and then back home to a job or a wife or their own kids.

Aaron Tisdale. Vaughn Crandall. And now Henry Mitchell. All fifteen, five-six or seven, a buck twenty or so. Dark hair, slightly shaggy. Blue eyes. Thin, good looking, small for their ages. There one