Character Guest Post: Diamond of TG Wolff's WIDOW'S RUN



Today is character guest post day!  We have Diamond of TG Wolff's new book, WIDOW'S RUN, with us today. Welcome, Diamond!


 


Hello everyone, my name is Diamond. It’s the only name you need to know. No, my mother didn’t name me Diamond. What she calls me is none of your business. What I call her is part of a defamation suit I’m vigorously defending.

I was given the name Diamond by one of my CIA trainers, a gem of a man his mother called Enrique Torres. We were on this volcano, working to snag a nasty nest of weapons dealers. I was tucked away in relative safety, being the rookie. My job was to watch and report. It started out normal.

Have you every noticed how the most messed up days start out completely normal? No warning, no literary foreshadowing. Wouldn’t it be helpful if you woke up and, say, the sky was orange. Then you’d be like ‘oh no, it’s going to be one of those days.’ And you could prepare.

I was not prepared. The conversation between the lead agent, a man I only knew as Rogue, and the head weapon nasty got hot. The barrels of weapons swung up. Rogue’s hands were in the air. His #2 guy was pulled from around the vehicle, forced to his knees. Rogue was talking fast. I relayed the events to the team, but even as I called them in, I knew they were too far away.

I needed a distraction. I looked around me. I bypassed the weapons stash for the high-tech case carrying a compound I liked to call boom boom clay. The steep side of the volcano was armored in fissured rock looking for an excuse to go avalanche. I worked quickly, planting the explosive at points that, to my eye, appeared to be the weak links. I set the detonators, keeping my ears tuned to the drama below me.

The shouting escalated.

Birds took flight, almost as though they knew the violence about to unfold.

I ran now. I didn’t care about being spotted. Actually, I wanted to be, if it would turn them away from Rogue. A voice rose above the others. The order clear, even if I didn’t understand the language.

I triggered the detonators, sprinting like the devil was on my heels. “Get clear. Get clear,” I ordered my listening audience.

“Listen, Rookie, you don’t give the orders. I do,” Enrique Torres snapped back.

The explosions sounded. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Silence followed. One. Two. Three. Or, it would have been silent if Torres wasn’t in my ear. “What the hell did you do? Get down here. Now.”

His order was countermanded by the volcano. The ground beneath my feet shook. My feet slid out from under me as my footholds fell away. Faster, faster, faster I pushed until across the crumbling landscape until rock solidly held my weight.

I looked to the clearing where men scrambled like rats desperate to leave a ship. Where Rogue had stood, a body laid wearing the enemy’s colors. The truck Rogue arrived in was gunning for the narrow mountain pass. Someone jumped for the vehicle, only to have his body thrown unnaturally back.

I noticed the shouting, now. It had changed in tone and timbre. Ugly, authoritative, nasty language had turned to panic, desperation. Earthquake. Eruption. Avalanche. Three forces of nature capable of annihilating man. The weapon nasties knew it. The diesel fueled engines were their only chance.

“Rogue is first out of the gate,” I told Torres. “The weapon nasties are following. They are freaked out.”

“You brought a mountain down on them. I’d be freaked out, too. Stay put until I come get you. You move, your butt is behind a desk for the rest of your natural life.”

As threats went, it was doozy.

The weapons nasties were intercepted their government’s elite military. They spoke quickly, their voices higher now, nearly begging. Hands behind their back, they still tried to run down the mountain, shouting the volcano was erupting. I laughed until I cried. “Not so tough without your rocket launcher.”

Small rocks tumbled nearby. My hand on my weapon, I turned. It was Enrique Torres, wearing a very serious expression. I laughed harder.

He squatted next to me, examining the small cuts I’d gotten in my escape. He shook his head when I couldn’t stop chuckling. “You are one hard woman. Gorgeous, but hard.” He pulled me to my feet. “Come on, Diamond. You’re on clean up.”

That’s the story behind my name. I was Diamond for the rest of my tenure with the CIA. I put it aside when I married. Suburban life and a day job didn’t require a cover. That changed in a day. My husband went to a conference in Rome. I was to fly out the next day to join him for a little vacation. Instead, I went to claim his body.

Somebody knows what happened that night. Somebody saw the hands that pushed him in front of that car. Somebody understands the reason behind it all.

The police say it was an accident, case closed. I buried my husband, buried a part of myself, maybe the best part. What’s left is Diamond and I’m just getting started. Murder is filthy business. Good thing I play dirty.

Inside the book


Title: WIDOW’S RUN
Author: TG Wolff
Publisher: Down & Out Books
Pages: 236
Genre: Mystery/Thriller

One night in Rome. One car. One dead scientist. Italian police investigate, but in the end, all they have are kind words for the new widow. Months later, a video emerges challenging the facts. Had he stepped into traffic, or was he pushed? The widow returns to the police, where there are more kind words but no answers. Exit the widow.

Enter Diamond. One name for a woman with one purpose. Resurrecting her CIA cover, she follows the shaky video down the rabbit hole. Her widow’s run unearths a plethora of suspects:  the small-time crook, the mule-loving rancher, the lady in waiting, the Russian bookseller, the soon-to-be priest. Following the stink greed leaves in its wake reveals big lies and ugly truths. Murder is filthy business. Good thing Diamond likes playing dirty.

“TG Wolff’s novel is for crime-fiction fans who like it action-packed and hard-edged. Written with feisty panache, it introduces Diamond, one of the most aggressive, ill-tempered, and wholly irresistible heroines to ever swagger across the page.” –David Housewright, Edgar Award-winning author of Dead Man’s Mistress

Amazon → https://amzn.to/2NgYhGg


meet the author

TG Wolff writes thrillers and mysteries that play within the gray area between good and bad, right and wrong. Cause and effect drive the stories, drawing from 20+ years’ experience in Civil Engineering, where “cause” is more often a symptom of a bigger, more challenging problem. Diverse characters mirror the complexities of real life and real people, balanced with a healthy dose of entertainment. TG Wolff holds a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering and is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

★ WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS: ★

Website → www.tgwolff.com

Twitter → @tg_wolff

Facebook → www.Facebook.com/tina.wolff.125