Vigilante Crime

Tales is a collection of six short stories by Montana author Dave Lloyd.

An unforgivable crime. A murderous act of revenge. A killer with justice on their side. Once, the infamous Dahlia Rapist terrorised young women - and their parents alike - with his brutal acts of violence and sinister calling card. Today, Raymond Knox has shunned his former alias and is being released into society. But someone suspects that a monster still lurks beneath the surface. And when Raymond Knox is found dead, mutilated to match his victims, DCI Claire Winters is called in to catch a killer the public are calling a hero....

While following leads to identify and arrest an international drug trafficker, Detective Alex Landon is called to lead a mass murder investigation after the unholy marriage of a drug trafficking cartel and the Taliban has a less-than-amicable beginning. A lone witness claims to have heard two last words that strike fear in heart of everyone involved: "Allah Akbar!" Investigators frantically search the Phoenix Valley for a team of unidentified foreign terrorists but fear making the investigation public would risk mass hysteria and vigilante violence.

The police face an extraordinary problem. Somebody has started shooting unsuspecting citizens dead as they go about their daily business in the northwest of England. But it is a very specific type of person that the gun man is targeting. Pedophiles. In order to keep the public calm, the police have no alternative but to reveal the killer's motive. And that's when things start to get really tricky for the investigating officers. When the killer is hailed as a hero vigilante by the media, DCI Andrew Miller and his team face the ultimate challenge.

Cole Blake is more than just a roguish ladies' man. He's also a dedicated worker - so dedicated, in fact, that he's willing to blackmail his boss with a falsified sex tape in order to keep his job. And his proactive efforts don't end there. After hours, he uses his Dynari abilities to moonlight as a vigilante, keeping his neighborhood safe from drunks, dealers, and would-be thieves.

Populations died in the most devastating plague to ravage the planet in the history of man. Billions are dead, leaving just a handful of people scattered across the world, struggling to live the lives they have left. Some chose to struggle with the land, scratching out a living on a piece of property and hoping to make it from one day through to the next. Others, the vigilantes and brigands, chose to prey on the survivors. They hunt, kill and torture those who want nothing more than to be left alone to live in peace.

Male batterers of women are being beaten to death by a bat-wielding female vigilante. Each victim had recently been on trial for domestic violence-related charges, but was set free through plea bargains, technicalities, or acquittal. Two Portland Police Bureau Detectives - Sergeant Ray Barkley and his partner Detective Nina Parker - investigate the killings. Among the list of suspects is Criminal Court Judge Carole Cranston, who presided over the trials of all the victims and has dark secrets she is in no hurry to share. Barkley quickly develops an attraction to the beautiful Carole....

The only male to be adopted into the notorious Parish family, Tony Parish always did right by his vigilante sisters. But when an attempt to protect one of them went horribly wrong, he had to fake his own death to escape his fanatical family. Tony set sail and ended up in Dominica - face to face with the woman of his dreams.... After the death of her mother, Honor Silva moved to Dominica, where her family could help her heal and move on. But her activist mother left her more than money, she left her proof that could take down one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.

Somewhere in Chicago, a roomful of people has been taken hostage. The hostages will be killed one by one, the masked gunman says on-screen, unless the police will admit they faked the death of the legendary superhero called the Kingfisher and helped him to give up his defense of the city 30 years ago. Retired reporter Marcus Waters made his name as a journalist covering the enigmatic superhero’s five years of cleaning up Chicago’s streets. Then the Kingfisher died, Chicago resumed its violent turmoil, and Marcus slid back into obscurity. But did the Kingfisher really die?

Frustrated that his organization is crumbling while he’s in prison, Mallette starts getting desperate. Willing to do anything to get the former detective out of his life and further drive him into a hole he can never recover from, Mallette orders the kidnapping of the kids of Jacobs’ brother. Fearful that the kids might end up like the rest of his family, Jacobs frantically searches the city to find them before they end up in the cemetery. With time growing short, and Jacobs knowing that his enemy is willing to do the unthinkable, Jacobs enlists the help of unlikely allies.

Three targets left. Kill them. Kill all of them. David Bishop had a past before his time as a Special Forces Marine, but he has little memory of it. Now an assassin for a clandestine agency run by a ruthless woman known as The Director, David has one last mission to complete before he's free to live the peaceful life he's always wanted. One last mission, with three simple targets. Easy. But when David meets Kiara, a lonely shopkeeper whose bubbly personality hides a tortured past, his priorities suddenly change.

Two startling facts exist in the simple plains state of South Dakota. Number one - if you die, there will be no autopsy - unless the coroner is absolutely certain there were suspicious circumstances. Number two - most coroners are untrained morticians looking to make a little extra money. In the dying town of Dansing, South Dakota, salvation comes in the form of a rich retired basketball player who promises to build a gaming casino and hunters paradise. The only person suspicious of his motives is a down-and-out reporter from the local radio station.

When Case’s psychic friend, a child, and a cop are all threatened by a serial killer, it pulls him and his team into a deadly hunt. What started as a hunt for one serial killer gets complicated. Case got more than he expected and his search exposes serial killers in Houston, Boston, and Miami. Case can’t let them go on killing, and he doesn’t. This stretches Case and his team as they race in three cities at once to bring these serial killers to justice and prevent innocents from being murdered.

Welcome to Legacy City, America’s nightmare. Poverty and pain are the norm, the local cops and politicians are corrupt, the crime families rule with an iron fist, and they are all profiting from a ravenous new drug called “The Trip”, which has been tearing its way through lower-class neighborhoods. Just when all hope seems lost, a real-life vigilante shows up and begins raising Hell one block at a time. His name…The Illegal.

Amelia is fresh from her victory over ARC when a massive hurricane strikes New Orleans. In the aftermath, a pile of bodies is found and all evidence points to the Wraith as the perpetrator. Has the killer of evil lost her grip on reality and started murdering indiscriminately? Or is there something even more dangerous in the world than the Wraith? With every superhero in North America gunning for Madisun Dumas, Arsenal has to race against the clock and stand up to her own teammates to prove the vigilante's innocence.

Tiffany knows what happened. Esper has fallen to the darkness within her. Rather than fleeing to safety, she escapes the presence of Dark Esper to find a way to bring back the woman she thinks of as a mother. But before she can drag Esper down the road to redemption, she'll first have to wade into hell to find her. Meanwhile, Esper is being hunted by the latest in a long string of bounty hunters and assassins looking to collect the astronomical price on her head. What makes this one think she's got any better chance than all the rest that have tried and failed?

Leaving an apprentice unsupervised has never been a good idea. With Esper neglecting her duties as magical teacher, Tiffany takes her education into her own hands. Struggling with self-esteem and credibility with the universe, she resorts to trying a magical performance-enhancing drug. Of course, Esper has problems of her own. Unbeknownst to her, a crack squad of assassins is hot on her trail, and this time they're bringing twice the number of wizard-hunters along. It would be a great time for a fully-trained and capable apprentice to have her back. Wouldn't it?

The year is 2130. A young man named Alex wakes up in the middle of a field. And he has no recollection of how he got there. After saving his life from an imminent threat, a trio of ragtag vigilantes with superpowers inform him that humanity has been at war with an alien race for over 30 years, and nearly 75 percent of the human population has either been wiped out or enslaved.

In the constant war against her darker side, Esper was forced to win a daily battle for control. One loss was all it took for the roles of warden and prisoner to switch. Now, with her friends as hostages, this new Esper relies on advice from her better half to keep up the illusion that this is still the Esper they know and love. When their newly acquired base of operations gets hijacked, Esper has to balance between maintaining her cover and doing what she knows it's going to take to get her ship back.

With the capture of the Eye of Ra, Esper and her friends discover that small problems have started looking too small. When a plague breaks out on the occupied planet of Meyang, she decides it's time to see what her new ship and crew are capable of. However, the situation is more complicated than they counted on. Not only does the occupying force not want them there, the azrin living on Meyang are none too keen on interference from outsiders. But never let it be said that Esper wasn't willing to help those who refused to be helped.