You will know vengeance, p.1
You Will Know Vengeance, page 1
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR YOU WILL KNOW VENGEANCE
“WA Pepper writes a new techno-charged version of The Shawshank Redemption for the 21st century. You Will Know Vengeance is the first part of a fresh, new techno-thriller trilogy by author WA Pepper. Set within the confines of a prison, and the wilderness of cyber space, the two disparate worlds collide in a tense, gripping drama. It is a fast-paced, high-energy novel, that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Whilst this book will certainly appeal to techno-thriller junkies, it is an easy-to-read novel for neophytes, providing a fascinating insight into the hidden world of hackers, cyber criminals, and the dark web. A FINALIST and highly recommended.” - Readers’ Choice Book Awards (5-starred review)
***
“W.A. Pepper pulls no punches in sounding out the adversity and conspiracies affecting the world, and so readers will find this scenario as familiar as it is frightening...Those who pursue realistic thriller stories without being torn over man's inhumanity to man will find You Will Know Vengeance a powerful saga which promises (and delivers) a fast-paced, action-packed series of changing scenarios. Part of what gives this story an especially vivid "you are here" feel in comparison to the majority of thrillers is Pepper's descriptive prowess, which reaches out to grab readers with sights, smells, and sounds...From dark web routines and Hackers’ Haven to a gritty, streetwise analysis of social, political, and legal dilemmas, the story evolves on different levels to reflect the narrator's power and force...Readers seeking a thriller steeped in too-possible worlds, undercurrents of society that exist today, technological conundrums, and the added overlay of interpersonal relationship challenges affected by conspiracy will find all these elements and more in You Will Know Vengeance. This book belongs on the shelves of any library devoted to building a solid, exceptional collection of thriller novels, and is highly recommended for readers who can absorb trigger subjects in the interest of a complex, thoroughly absorbing story packed with surprises.” – D. Donovan, Senior
Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
***
“Pepper deftly amps up his engaging prison tale with perpetual threats...The author’s crisp writing smoothly clarifies technical jargon with no sign of condescension; this creates a protagonist/narrator who comes across as an endearing, sympathetic journeyman more than a highly skilled hacker... An absorbing, tech-smart tale that unfolds in a tense prison setting.” – Kirkus
***
“Readers will relish the ins and outs of Pepper’s well-crafted dystopian prison society, swarming with cutthroat miscreants who will stop at nothing to dominate… Pepper’s true talent is in scene development, and his pages are permeated with dark, gloomy tones… readers will be absorbed until the very last page and find themselves eagerly anticipating the promised sequel.” – BookLife (Publishers Weekly)
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"If you're into thrillers and smart anti-heroes wrestling their way out of tight situations, this book may be for you!" - Outstanding Creator Awards (WINNER – Best Writing 2022)
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“You Will Know Vengeance is a door-knocking, high-octane thrill ride, with a story that reads like a movie!” - 9 Minute Books (WINNER – 3rd Place Best First Chapter Contest)
***
Praise For DOGOODR: A Tanto Thriller
“…A top recommendation for libraries seeking exceptional thriller writings that operate on the cutting edge of urban reality…The story evolves a sharp social, political, and crime inspections that have the ability to draw all kinds of readers into Tanto's choices and dilemmas… Pepper keeps the action fast-paced, high-tech, and thoroughly unpredictable.” - D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
Thrillers by W.A. Pepper
Tanto Thrillers
DoGoodr (a Tanto Prequel)
You Will Know Vengeance
Running on Broken Bones (coming September 26, 2023)
Burn It All Down (coming September 24, 2024)
You Will Know Vengeance (Ecopy)
A Tanto Thriller
W. A. Pepper
Hustle Valley Press
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the authors.
Print and eBook cover design by Damon Freeman and his team.
Formatted by W.A. Pepper.
Published by Taddy Pepper (Publisher) at Hustle Valley Press, LLC.
Author photo by Taddy Pepper.
Danger’s photo permission provided by his people.
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All Tanto Thriller characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are property Hustle Valley Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-958011-00-3 (Ebook)
ISBN 978-1-958011-01-0 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-958011-02-7 (Hardback)
LCCN 2022914819
Copyright © 2022 Hustle Valley Press, LLC
To Frank Darabont and Stephen King, two visionary greats whose inspiring stories, as suspenseful and dark as they might be, often leave us, the lucky ones, with one undeniable feeling: hope.
Disclaimer and Trigger Warning
Some advance readers were concerned about certain elements in this book, while others were not. To handle any potential concerns, this trigger warning is here to point out that certain elements exist, but not to assess (or guarantee) the impact they will have on the individual reader.
While this thriller is a work of fiction, it contains many of the dark things that, unfortunately, exist in our world: physical, emotional, and mental violence, discrimination, sexual assault, suicide, intolerance, drug abuse, and neglect. Further, the sentence above is not an all-inclusive list of the potential triggers in this book.
This book is not a call to action to hurt people, pets, or even yourself, whether that hurt is physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.
This book is about overcoming those horrible obstacles, about diligence and resilience in your life, and about how evil will never triumph over good.
Finally, please don’t cause yourself or anyone else harm. Love people and love yourself.
Taddy and W. A. Pepper
For assistance, there is a glossary containing technical terms used in this book at the end for your convenience.
Table of Contents
You Will Know Vengeance p. 1
Coming Soon: Running on Broken Bones p. 328
First Chapter of Running on Broken Bones p. 329
A FREE Tanto Story Available Now p. 332
Acknowledgements p. 333
Glossary (aka Jargon) p. 336
Book Club Section p. 343
Book Club Questions p. 344
About the Author p. 345
Pages were numbered according to the Paperback Print Edition of this book and may vary from various e-readers and formats.
Contents
1. Ice Cube on the Sun
2. Staring at a Living Dead Man
3. This is Gonna Hurt
4. Who Did This to You?
5. Hell Just Got Two Hundred Degrees Hotter
6. I Am the Reason
7. You’re in Hell
8. Revoking Your Status as a Human Being
9. A Feature, Not a Bug
10. Trap Begets Trap
11. The Storm Was on the Horizon
12. One of Ours
13. There Are Things Worse than Death
14. Vultures Circling
15. What Has He Done?
16. Two Devils in Our One Hell
17. We Were Just Skimming the Surface
18. The Sludge in My Soul
19. Never Been So Scared of Anyone in My Life
20. We’re Going to Be Good Friends
21. Oh, We’re Golden, Princess
22. What Have I Done?
23. Planning a Hack of His Own
24. The Handle
25. Knows Our Systems
26. Figure Out What It All Means
27. Nothin-What It Seems
28. What We Are Trained to Do
29. Mount Up
30. Time to Drown
31. Dark Void Before My Eyes
32. Earn Its Name
33. No Longer Protect My Tribe
34. Spring
35. We’ve Been Played
36. That’s How We Catch Him
37. Destroy Me or Save the Day
38. Unreachable Deadline
39. Unspoiled
40. Blow Up in My Face
41. Spaceship with a Hole in It
42. Some Choices Are More Damning than Others
43. Something I Can Actually Do
44. Half
45. Internal Hit List
46. Don’t Know What to Believe
47. Hallway That Leads to Freedom
48. Destroy the World
49. Just the Dogs I Was Looking For
50. A Back Door
51. A Little Exploration
52. Cannot Help but Smile
53. Best You Can
54. Watching Us
55. Best Intentions
56. Swish Thump Thump
57. Not a Damn Thing I Can Do About It
58. As We Flee
59. Oh, but Worry I Will
60. Swallows Me Whole
61. A Present
62. My Thoughts and Failures to Keep Me Company
63. Haunt Our Doors
64. Go Big or Go Home
65. Sharp Enough to Draw Blood
66. Work to Do
67. This Favor is a Doozy
68. Never See You Again
69. Come Here, Tanto
70. The Flaws
71. Everything My One Hundred Sixty Pound Frame Allows
72. Tick Tock, Princess
73. Without Ever Looking Back
74. Get Out
75. As If This Plan Isn’t Complicated Enough
76. Everything Is Falling Apart
77. Plan B Relies on Finality
78. Plan B Stands for Bodies
79. Minutes
80. Or Die Trying
81. Time to Die
82. This is a Fine Death
83. Adrenaline, Angelic Strength, or Hellfire
84. Now You Will Know Vengeance
85. Wait, I’m—
86. Epilogue - Cry Until the Sun Comes Up
Coming Soon
Chapter One - Dip in the Pool
Acknowledgments
Glossary (aka Jargon)
Book Club Section
Book Club Questions
About the Author
Chapter one
Ice Cube on the Sun
The Feds give you zero notice when they kick in your door. There is no warning siren. There is no knocking on your door, which is soon to be shattered by a battering ram. There is only silence before the calculated chaos.
A loud crash awakens me, followed by what sounds like the rolling of tin cans along my hardwood floor. I jump out of bed just as a flash-bang touches my big toe. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a drizzle of gray emitting from the smoke grenade atop my dirty laundry pile.
My thudding heartbeat fills my ears right before the explosion of the holy trinity of SWAT hand grenades—equal parts phosphorous, lightning, and thunder—floods my one-room apartment. I scream, but I cannot hear my own roar. Only my ringing ears, stinging eyes, and burning throat let me know I am still alive. The vibration of a stampede of footsteps shakes my body as leathery gloves assault my temporarily handicapable Helen Keller ass and shove me onto my bed, nose-first. The smells of rancid sheets and garlic fill my nostrils. A faceless assailant pins my arms behind my head and zip-ties my hands together. Then I am yanked to my feet.
The pure, white light blurring my eyes dims slightly. Through slitted eyes, I count six flashlights. Barrels of submachine pistols at the end of each beam of light are trained my way. I glance down and spot half a dozen lasers freckling my unshaven chest.
Four men rip all my electronics from the wall and bag everything. A man in a gas mask talks to me, but it’s all a muffle of words, like I am talking to Charlie Brown’s teacher. I nod. I do not know what I have agreed to. Soldiers exchange words. They pull something from a bag and march it my way.
The man closest to me shoves a hood over my head. My life as I know it melts away like it never existed.
I might as well have been an ice cube on the sun.
Chapter two
Staring at a Living Dead Man
When his kingdom was under attack by a flock of Wyvern, King Arthur ordered a sealing of Camelot. The men, women, and children worked night and day to fortify not only the walls but also the open roof. Their attackers, small dragons the size of children, were fierce, cunning, and, most importantly, patient. They often would lie in wait for days, not moving even an inch, to stalk their prey.
The securing of his kingdom took six days. When they had finished, King Arthur asked his most trusted advisor, the wizard Merlin, what he thought of the kingdom’s protection.
“That depends, my lord.”
“On what?”
“Have you considered that the monsters are already inside?”
***
2010: Eight Years After Capture
A warning siren screeches, and I clutch at my ears. It shifts from an annoying, level hum to one that screams “get off your asses or get shocked!” My fellow cubicle zombies claw at their ears because the overpowering bass frequency of the alarm is at the intensity that not only rattles your fillings but also upsets your stomach. Some people call it “the Brown Noise” because it can make you blast your pants.
I squint through the pain and spot Foshi_Taloa clinging to his keyboard. I forgot that this is his first time as a member of the welcoming committee. When he arrived seven months ago, he was as dazed as any new resident in Hackers’ Haven. His ponytail whips as he pukes.
Even though his last meal is now on his Microsoft ergonomic keyboard, he knows it is better to be here than to arrive here. However, just glancing at the vomit makes me gag because I am sure it smells vile.
Vile is such a layered word. There’s a solid delineation between evil and vile acts. Some would consider an evil act one that causes temporary pain or discomfort. Vile ones linger, burrowing below the skin, past the veins and under the muscle, and drill straight through until they lodge in bone. Tripping a kid who is running too fast in the playground is evil. Tripping that same kid, taking his lunch money, and then forcing him to trip others, well, that’s vile.
For eight years, this place has forced me to become vile, to trap others like myself.
And despite enduring years of mind games and a multitude of tortures, buried deep within my battered shell and hardened cold exterior, one last ember burns to save people, not trap them. That warm coal reminds me of a former life, one outside of these gray concrete walls. I will not go so far to say it is a better life, but one with a better purpose. It is one that I have trained for since I could shave, a life as a Chukanbushi, a protector of the innocent, not this villain for the “greater good” that I have become. All that buried spark needs to encounter is the right catalyst. Little do I know that the fuel my soul needs is a mere two minutes away.
As other prisoners get up from their terminals and head out, I glance at the giant glass box above us. At the top of the stairs is a square office about the size of a Volkswagen bus. It consists of glass sides and one bottom of one-way glass, the kind used in police lineup identification so that only the good guys can see the bad guys. From here, Warden Cyfib runs this fiefdom with an iron fist. Among all of us indentured servants, it is known as the Cube of Death.
A buzzing hits my ears and it’s as if a beehive flew in my left ear and paraded out the right. Quick, shallow breathing speeds up my heart as a moment of panic floods over me. Maybe it is my anti-conscience kicking in, the brainwashing we all experience daily here in Hackers’ Haven. My target’s freedom always equals my incarceration, I think. With enough captures or, as our warden calls them, “kills,” you can buy almost anything in this place . . . including your freedom.
My shoulders loosen as I pause, close my eyes, and force the outside world out of my head. Throughout history, it was not uncommon for a Bushido warrior or Bushi to enter a meditative trance in the heat of combat. So respected were these swordsmen that their enemies not only refused to attack them during these moments of tranquility, but most took this unflinching gesture as a chance to retreat.
“Get moving, inmate.”
I stumble as a guard shoves me, interrupting my thirty-second breathing mantra. I march past our War Room’s line of workstations and enter the blindingly bright hallway. Harsh fluorescent bulbs assault my black-and-white-monitor-accustomed eyes. Each inmate already has his hands and nose against the cold, concrete wall, because we always fear the disciplinary shock. I join my fellow docile prisoners.
The sirens cease. Pulses of a phantom base-beat echo in my ears as my head adjusts to the silence. Then, for what feels like an hour, none of us utters a word, a grunt, or even breathe audibly. Anything less than total submission would inflame the warden.
