Travis Starnes

The Sword of Jupiter (Imperium #1) - Chapter 8

Seventh Legion & Ninth Legion Camps, South of Devnum

Velius  led Ky towards a much larger tent in the center of the camp, which he  assumed was Velius’s quarters or some sort of meeting area. Inside,  eleven men were gathered, each introduced by name and their position,  none of which made much sense to Ky. He hadn’t considered it yet, since  so far he’d only met the commanders of legions which he’d internalized  to...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 17

“...and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God,” Kara said, finishing the oath and lowering her right hand.

Taylor looked across Kara at Whitaker, who was looking up at her adopted daughter smiling. He hadn’t seen her do much of that over the last several weeks since Qasim’s death. He was happy to see a small glimpse at the woman he knew, but hadn’t seen in a while.

Whitaker had been stunned in...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 16

Both Taylor and Whitaker were winded as they turned the corner and finished the run from Allied Mechanical Systems to the water processing station that held Allied’s high-pressure injection system. While four blocks weren’t that far to run normally, coming in at just under half a mile, they’d both ran flat out to get to their destination as quickly as possible, a goal made harder by the people and traffic they’d had to avoid.

The station itself was a small, square c...

$5 Tier and Above Not Seeing New Chapters

I've just been made aware that some patrons who are on the $5 or above tier aren't able to see the chapters that I've been posting (they show as locked even though you're a current patron who's at the $5 or above tier).

If you're experiencing this, please let me know either through here or email me at tstarnes@gmail.com.

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 15

Taylor moved around the edge of the car he’d been using as cover in case more terrorist had come out while the tac team was clearing the building and holstered his weapon. Considering the tac team leader and the man with him both had their weapons slung over their shoulders, Taylor assumed there wasn’t any immediate danger, at least not from anything that a gun could help with. Considering the urgency in the man's voice a few moments before, that didn’t mean there wasn’t any danger at...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 14

Highland County, Virginia

The helicopter trip to western Virginia reminded Taylor strongly of his days in the service. Looking at the slightly older, early generation Blackhawk, Taylor imagined the FBI must have bought them off of either the military or from a defense contractor with unsold inventory. What it did have, was just as much noise as he remembered. Even with mic’d headphones it was still hard to hear what anyone was saying.

These were pro...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 13

Washington DC

They spent the rest of the day working on Bennett without much success. Taylor had been more right than he knew, as her rumblings became more incoherent with each hour they pressed her. After six hours and five interrogators taking a shot at breaking her, Crawford held up his hands in disgust.

"You're right, she's batshit crazy."

"I told you," Taylor said. "Someone’s done a serious number on her. She might be telling us something...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 12

It was still dark outside when Whitaker’s cell phone rang. Taylor, who was usually the first of the pair to wake up thanks to being a light sleeper since his first deployment, found he couldn’t get his arm around to pick it up. Whitaker was all but lying on top of him, her head nestled on his chest almost up to his chin.

After several tugs, he finally got one arm free and grabbed the phone.

“Agent Whitaker’s phone.”

“Taylor,” Crawford’s voice sai...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 11

Taylor found Whitaker in her office. It occurred to him, on the elevator ride up, the one actually good thing out of being an employee of the FBI, even temporarily, was the pass that let him into the building without having to go through the visitor process every time.

“Hey,” he said, dropping his bag next to her desk. “Kara said you needed me back here. Something break?”

“Good timing, I was about to head over and see Crawford,” she said as she got up from...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 10

“You’re...” Kara started to say as Taylor and Whitaker walked into their apartment and stopped, staring at them. “What happened?”

“We had a very bad day,” Taylor said, not wanting to talk about the tragedy in Amberville or worry Kara.

“Clearly.”

“Come on, you’ve gotta get cleaned up. The person picking you up should be here soon.”

“What are you going to do while I’m at this thing?” Taylor said as he followed her into their bed...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 9

Taylor turned and sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him through the gate of the water treatment plant shouting, “Gas.”

While the sheriff and deputy both just stared at him confused, Whitaker turned and also ran towards the trunk of their SUV, wrenching the rear door. By the time Taylor got to them she’d already opened their NBC kit and started pulling out provisions.

“Sheriff, do you have gas masks in your car?”

“What the hell …” The deput...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 8

The ring felt like an anchor in Taylor's pocket, weighing him down as he and Kara walked back into the apartment. It struck him as odd how easy it was to ignore the phone, wallet, keys he regularly carried, even the gun clipped to his belt, but he couldn't stop feeling the small little box pressing against his leg.

"You're late," Whitaker's said as they walked through the apartment entryway.

Taylor pulled up short, Kara almost running into him, both because he hadn't ...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 7

University of Tennessee

It was still early enough in the day when they were able to track the sponsor down at his office on campus. Taylor started getting an itch that this meeting was going to be annoying when they found the man's office in one of the buildings that housed most of the humanities department. That feeling just increased when he saw that the professor’s class list screamed ‘activist.’

Taylor wasn’t particularly political, and he...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 6

It had taken them a while to get back, with a two hour stop at the hospital so the kid's cuts and scrapes could be cleaned and the one broken leg set in a cast. He also had a broken rib and some nasty bruises, but considering he’d been literally blasted out of a second story window, he’d gotten off lighter than he could have.

They’d used the time well, pulling fingerprints and all the records they could find on him, from his visa and schooling in the US to online purc...

Burying the Past Character Name Change

For those following along with the (admittedly very slowly) posting chapters, the name of the character Bullard has changed to Crawford.  I've gone back and altered the chapters already posted and you should see it in new chapters going forward.  Hopefully this doesn't confuse to many people.

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 5

When they landed, a car from the local field office met them on the tarmac. The way Crawford started with the agent waiting at the car without prelude, suggested to Taylor that he’d either coordinated with this man ahead of time or knew him already.

“Where are we?”

“We’ve picked up the car, and the locals have three cars on a rotating tail. As soon as you give the word, locals will affect the traffic stop.”

“I want to be on hand before that happens.”

�...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 4

As she’d suggested, Taylor and Whitaker found themselves available the next morning as agents continued to run down leads. While Taylor was glad that they were able to keep their appointment, he was also somewhat disappointed.

While he hadn’t lied when he told Whitaker that he was confident one of the people working for Qasim would make a mistake, he also wasn’t as sure as he'd made it sound. While it was true the young people most of these groups recruited to do their dirty work ...

Burying the Past (John Taylor #4) - Chapter 3

Crawford broke off from them at the Tuscon airport, saying he still thought there was something to investigate there, and seemed pretty confident that Qasim or his men weren’t still in town. Whitaker seemed to want to agree with Crawford but eventually sided with Taylor, who was certain the trail at this end was cold. 

It wasn’t an easy decision for her. Her experience clawing her way up the through the bureau told her it was a bad idea to go against a high ranked agent, even o...

Compelte Destiny Saga #5: No Good Deed

The fifth book in the destiny saga is complete.  The full book will be available in a day or so here for patrons, and up for pre-order in the next few days.

It should release wide in all the normal places Sat. the 25th (baring something slowing it down).

Sorry this one took so long, beyond life slowing me down, I'm finding it tough to write this series.  I expect Burying the Past, the next Taylor book, to write much faster.

No Good Deed (Destiny Saga #5) - Chapter 26

When I’d said I was going to get tired of being on bed rest for multiple weeks, I hadn’t known the half of it. A week and a half into my recovery period, and I was starting to go stir crazy just laying here.

The girls had come in to keep me company, and I’d spent a very strange couple of days with Mrs. Polaski as she had me take one test after another. Our original schedule called for us to be tested over a week and a half, with the tests spread out to one each day. I’m no...

Updated to No Good Deed - Chapter 24

Somehow I managed to duplicate chapter 23 instead of putting up the real chapter 24.  I've updated that post to have the correct post.

No Good Deed (Destiny Saga #5) - Chapter 25

Considering the number of times, someone’s pointed a gun at me over the last few years and my enhanced reflexes, I would have said I was ready to deal with situations like this. In fact, I’d done alright in nearly the exact situation, once before. 

This time, however, I froze. Maybe it was because I was coming down from the adrenaline high of everything that had happened, or maybe because, in my head, Richards had been neutralized. Either way, when I saw the end of the ba...