The Cluster

A contemporary short horror story set in modern day Detroit, that explores themes of evil vs. nihilism.Jack Hastings is in a heap of trouble. Following a stellar career in the U.S. Army that began at West Point and ended with his retirement as a Major General, he now owns a small arms manufacturing company located in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Mesquite Manufacturing builds a unique weapon that has caught the eye of certain nefarious groups below our southern border. Mexican drug cartels usually get what they want. But, when General Hastings refuses to sell his product to them, a young lady friend of the General’s ends up dead. With his footprints and fingerprints all over the scene, and his admission that he had been there, Major General Jack Hastings has a new uniform… the orange jumpsuit issued to him by the Oklahoma City Jail. He also has a wife who has found the end of her rope.Now General Hastings has his flaws, but is murder one of them? Attorney Sally Stillwell is faced with defending the General against a mountain of circumstantial evidence tipping the scales against her. Harry Kincaid and the upper echelons of U.S. Intelligence have other interests in the case. Once again, it’s Kincaid against the bad guys. And there are a lot of bad guys.