The Red Viper: A Jake Tanner Short Story, #1

By Jack Probyn

Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jake Tanner's an everyday man -- you wouldn't pick him out of a crowd. And when a routine bank visit turns sour, Jake finds himself in the midst of an armed bank robbery.

The criminals -- The Crimsons. Notorious. Infamous. And yet to pull the trigger on anyone. But that doesn't mean they won't.

In this fight or flight situation, Jake must protect his girlfriend, Elizabeth -- and himself -- from harm at all costs. 

Will The Crimsons succeed, or will Jake stand in their way? Are they about to spend their first ever bullet in Jake's skull?

The Red Viper is an exciting short story that introduces you to the much loved character, Jake Tanner. Download now -- and you can get the alternative ending by signing up to Jack's mailing list.

Download today to meet Jake Tanner -- you won't regret it.

____________________

Interview with the author, Jack Probyn
Q - Can Jake Tanner be compared to any other crime thriller heroes out there?
A - You know, I wouldn't say Jake Tanner is like any of the other crime thriller heroes currently out there. He's not like the Jack Reachers' or the Alex Cross' of these worlds. Sure, he has some similar characteristics, but Jake Tanner is very unique. Jake is a very heavily family-centered man. Anything and everything he does is done for them. But this does, in no way, mean that he is like Alex Cross who, readers familiar with James Patterson's star, will know is a lean, mean, fighting machine. Instead, Jake Tanner is simply an everyday man. The one you see on the train to and from work everyday. That's what makes Detective Jake Tanner different.

Q - What makes the Detective Jake Tanner series special?
A - A mix of things. I wanted something that would "Wow!" readers, something that is going to make them think, "What if that ever happened to me?" And so I mirrored the Jake Tanner series on something I would like to read myself. The Jake Tanner terror thriller series has a bit of everything. But all of them feature the big question: "What if…" And, once you've read them, you'll never feel the same way about certain things again. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cliff Edge Press
• Release date: Sep 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9781912628094

Book preview

THE RED VIPER

Jack Probyn

Copyright © 2018 Jack Probyn. All rights reserved.

The right of Jack Probyn to be identified as the authors of the Work had been asserted him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by: Cliff Edge Press Limited, Essex.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying form without written permission of the author, Jack Probyn, or the publisher, Cliff Edge Press Limited.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912628-09-4

First Edition

Visit Jack Probyn’s website at www.jackprobynbooks.com.

For Jake — these stories wouldn’t exist without you.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

The events in this short story take place several years before An Unlikely Betrayal, the first novella in the Jake Tanner thriller series, and follows Jake just after he has graduated from university.

The Red Viper is meant to give you an introduction to Jake Tanner, and the event that inspired him to join the Metropolitan Police Service. It also provides a little background into Jake’s life, and sets up some things that will appear later on in the series.

I had an absolute blast writing this short Jake Tanner piece, and I hope you thoroughly enjoy reading it!

Jack Probyn

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1

Victim

13 October 2006, 09:01

As Jake Tanner entered the HSBC Bank along Oxford High Street at nine that morning, he felt a wall of warm air hit his face, a welcoming change from the heavy drizzle outside.

The bank had just opened, and there were already two other people ahead of him in the queue. Elderly people. One with a walking stick, and the other dressed smartly in a shirt and tie, a regimented formality likely so engrained in his everyday life it had never been replaced.

Beside Jake was his girlfriend, Elizabeth. Her eyes were bloodshot and dark shadows hung underneath; her hastily applied make-up was unable to mask her lack of sleep the previous night.

‘I don’t know why we’re doing this so early,’ she said as they entered through another set of doors that crossed the threshold into the bank.

Jake took her hand and squeezed it tighter. ‘I’ve already told you.’

‘I still don’t see the point.’ She hesitated. ‘Could you not have done this alone?’

Jake frowned at her. ‘Buying our first car together should be something we do just like that: together.’

‘Even if it is your choice of car and your name that’s going down on the insurance and not mine?’ Elizabeth sighed.

Jake ignored the comment. He was excited. He had every right to be. An Austin Mini Cooper, the car Jake had wanted ever since he was a child and watched The Italian Job for the first time, had come up for sale on eBay. The buyer’s location: Oxford, eighty miles away from their newly rented one-bedroom flat in the south of London—the place where Jake had lived his entire life. And they were offering a price too irresistible to miss.

Two ugly ATMs sat right in the middle of the floor, obstructing the pathway to the tills at the back of the room. Not enough technology to bury them in the wall, then? Jake mentally scoffed. On the right-hand side was a wall of offices. Floor-to-ceiling glass. Bright, harsh, fluorescent lights. A thin layer of translucent coating preventing customers outside from looking in.

The two elderly people stood in front of Jake, patiently waiting their turns. A teller arrived. Female; bobbed chestnut hair; a large wart on the bottom of her chin; visible whiskers sprouting from her upper lip. The first customer approached her and was greeted with a warm smile, much like the one that Jake had given so many times to people who