"The man known only as Cross and his skilled team of urban mercenaries are back (Blackjack, Urban Renewal), but this time they are on the defensive as they receive a series of cryptic messages. The question is, are they being warned or hunted? A VINTAGE CRIME/BLACK LIZARD ORIGINAL. Chicago the reigning number one city in homicides has no shortage of deadly gangs. They all know the Cross Crew occupies a cinderblock bunker called Red 71, and it's the...

Four men in a van barrel toward Chicago on a crime spree fueled by greed and other vengeance. One man driving, another preoccupied with the sophisticated plan. In the back, a new recruit worried and wary, another angry and hot-headed. A day behind them, at a lonely motel in an out of the way New Mexico town, an unthinkable murder brings FBI Special Agent Kim Oto to a dead stop. Soon, Otto realizes the muder is tied to a massive crime wave. Otto and...

When a snowstorm traps a pair of strangers in an abandoned cabin deep in the Alaskan bush, they have two choices: work together or die. Search and rescue crews identify the missing persons as Richard Maynard, an Alaskan family man, and Mel Drummond, a city slicker from New York twenty years his junior. Hypothermia, starvation, and bloodthirsty wildlife aren't the only perils that face this unlikely and unlucky duo-a deadly specter from Richard's past...

As a boy, Otah Machi was exiled from his family, Machi's ruling house. Decades later, he has witnessed and been part of world-changing events. Yet he has never returned to Machi. Now his father-the Khai, or ruler, of Machi-is dying, and his eldest brother, Biitrah, has been assassinated, Otah realizes that he must return to Machi for reasons not even he understands.Tradition dictates that the sons of a dying Khai fall upon each other until only one...

Sharon Conway and Lenny Scott are childhood sweethearts. Everyone says they are too young, but nothing can keep them apart. Sharon doesn't question Lenny's business dealings and it isn't long before his reputation as a hard man destined for the top means they are living the good life with their sons. But one night Lenny doesn't come home. It isn't the first time he has gone AWOL - but it is his last. He is found murdered; beaten to death in an act...

An anthology of previously unpublished work includes contributions by favorite genre authors and a selection of up-and-coming writers