Rise of the Iron Eagle (The Iron Eagle Series #1)
By Roy A. Teel Jr.
Genre: suspenseful crime thriller.
Available at:
Synopsis:
The city of Los Angeles is no stranger to
violence. It has both a colorful and grotesque history with it. Sheriff's
Homicide Detective Jim O'Brian and FBI Profiler Special Agent Steve Hoffman are
also no strangers to the violence of the sprawling metropolis, but in the past
decade something has changed. There's a serial killer preying on other serial
killers - some known by law enforcement, others well off radar. "The Iron
Eagle," a vigilante, extracts vengeance for the victims of Los Angeles'
serial killers. His methods are meticulous and his killings brutal. With each
passing day, "The Iron Eagle" moves with impunity through the streets
of Los Angeles in search of his prey. O'Brian and Hoffman create an elite task
force with the sole purpose of catching "The Eagle" and bringing him
to justice. But the deeper they delve, the more apparent it is that he may very
well be one of their own. As the two men stare into the abyss of their search,
the eyes of "The Iron Eagle" stare back.
*Content
Warning: The Iron Eagle Crime novel series contains mature subject matter,
graphic violence, sexual content, language, torture and other scenes that may
be disturbing to sensitive readers. This series is not intended for anyone
under the age of eighteen, reader discretion is advised.*
Rise of the Iron Eagle (Book One) by Roy A. Teel
From the opening of Chapter 8:
John walked
into Starbucks at the corner of Topanga and Lassen just before six thirty a.m.
He got a coffee and a copy of the Daily News, and the headline said it all,
“‘Billy the Kid,’ Crips Gang Member and Serial Rapist, Body Found in Legion
Park: Iron Eagle Said to Be Killer.” He shook his head, “I should really start
looking for the people who leak this stuff.” He walked to a flower shop a few
doors down to purchase a dozen long-stemmed red roses. His truck was parked in
front of Country Deli, a local landmark for nearly fifty years. He knew the
area very, very well, but he knew it for all the wrong reasons. He pulled out
of the lot and headed west through the neighborhoods of oak and eucalyptus
trees, following Lassen as it turned from a busy thoroughfare into a quiet
neighborhood of post-World War II homes and horse properties, until he reached
the entrance to Oakwood Cemetery.
He parked
his truck outside the large black wrought iron gates and the ivy covered brick
walls of the cemetery and walked through the entrance and up the steep incline
of the main road. He walked past a blue and white striped tent; a small backhoe
sat quietly where fresh earth had been moved, and a concrete burial vault sat
on the ground next to the newly-opened grave. He walked out into the cemetery
grass and stopped in front of a grave marker set beneath a huge California Live
Oak. He looked at the gray and white granite and its inscription, ‘Amber Lynn
Swenson.’ He knelt and brushed away the fresh cut grass, so the whole
inscription was revealed. ‘Loving Wife and Beautiful Soul. April 8, 1978 –
March 20, 2003.’ Placing the flowers on the stone, he sat down, leaning his
back against the tree. “I miss you, honey. I miss my best friend. I’m sorry I’ve been away for so long.” He
heaved a sigh as a tear rolled down his face, and he whispered, “I’m still looking
for him, Amber Lynn. For the man who took your life and our life together
away.” He wiped the tears from his eyes, his lower lip quivering. “I know I’ve
told you, and I don’t know if you are somewhere where you can hear me or not,
but I’m sorry. If I had just been on time that night, he wouldn’t have gotten
you.” He wiped the stone with a handkerchief from his pocket and laughed. “You
always made fun of me for being old fashioned … but you were glad I had it the
night I asked you to marry me. How could I know that this same piece of linen that
dried your tears of joy at our engagement would later dry my tears of sorrow at
your funeral.” John paused for a moment, his anger rising up. “He’s still out
there, Amber, hurting women and children. I can’t let that continue. I will
find him…and I will avenge you and all the others he’s tortured and killed.
He’s a sly one; so far below the radar not even law enforcement sees his
pattern or knows that he even exists. The randomness of his killings and the
large area that he covers is his protection. I thought I had him with
Roskowski. He was evil but wasn’t the man who did this to you.”
He stood up
and walked toward the unmarked piece of land next to Amber’s headstone. “This
is my spot, baby, right next to you. I’m not afraid of death…I’m afraid of
dying before I catch him and bring him to justice.” He leaned down on his hands
and knees and gently touched his lips to her name. “Rest, my angel. The next
time I come back, it’ll be to tell you that I got him.”
About the Author:
On May 11,
1995, at 30, Roy’s life was irrevocably changed. After walking into the
hospital, he was admitted and later received the worst possible diagnosis –
Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. His doctors gave him two years to live,
and he left the hospital in a wheelchair. After battling Multiple Sclerosis for
nearly 16 years, Roy began devoting his energies and passions to the full-time
art of storytelling. His disability has brought with it an unforeseen blessing.
He can finally take medications to alleviate some of the pain from his MS and
focus on the pleasures of character creation and the joys of putting words to
paper.
As an
author, Roy A. Teel Jr. is very diverse, and his works include both fiction and
nonfiction. His previous works include The
Way, The Truth, and The Lies: How the Gospels Mislead Christians about Jesus’
True Message (2005), Against The
Grain: The American Mega-Church and its Culture of Control (2008), Light of Darkness: Dialogues in Death
(2008), and And God Laughed (2013).
In 2014,
Roy began publishing his latest and largest project – a 15-book geographically-centered
hard-boiled, mystery, suspense, thriller crime series: “The Iron Eagle Series.”
The main character, a former Marine Corps Black Operative turned rogue FBI
agent, hunts serial killers in Los Angeles. Each novel addresses different
subjects, and while fiction, all titles deal with real world subject matter.
“The Iron Eagle Series” is not about things that can’t hurt you. What happens
in these novels can happen to any one of us if we let our guard down and/or are
in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Roy has
published 4 books in the Iron Eagle series so far: Rise of The Iron Eagle (Book One), Evil and the Details (Book Two), Rome Is Burning (Book Three), and Operation Red Alert (Book Four). The fifth book, A Model for Murder, will be released on
June 5, 2015. To learn more, go to
Roy lives
in Lake Arrowhead, CA with his wife and children. Readers can connect with him
on
Facebook,
Twitter, and
Goodreads.
