Friendly Fire

2024 Feathered Quill Book Award winner, Mystery/Suspense categoryIn the tradition of the best legal and political thrillers, Friendly Fire is an explosive tale of greed, revenge, treason, and murder. When Geoffrey Tate, one of the world’s richest individuals and the CEO of Yukon, the country’s preeminent artificial intelligence company, is shot and killed by his young trophy wife, it’s going to grab headlines. And seasoned Newshound reporter Nik Byron intends to be the one generating them. But Nik’s investigation quickly leads him down a treacherous path he didn’t foresee. The sensational trial that follows Tate’s death threatens to derail Bullwhip—the military’s next generation of AI-inspired war machines—and scramble the fortunes of political heavyweights and Pentagon brass alike. His journalistic instincts aroused, Nik embarks on an uncertain hunt for the truth that takes him deep into the murky worlds of Washington lobbyists, the military-industrial complex, and the Saudi intelligence apparatus. Undermined by a vindictive boss and a jealous rival reporter, Nik turns to trusted Newshound colleagues, Mia Landry and Patrick “Mo” Morgan—as well as a Pentagon whistleblower—to land his story and unravel the mystery surrounding Tate’s death. But in doing so Nik risks alienating Samantha Whyte, the chief investigator for the Northern Virginia County Sheriff’s Department and his lover. Worse still, the story puts him in the sights of a contract killer.