Black Projects

Book excerpt: It's no surprise that Mel Robbins is a world-class wisecracker. His star-crossed journalism career has led to obscurity in Southern California's high desert, covering the killings of people who possess far more children than teeth. But Mel's personal demons go into overdrive after the execution-style murder of a close friend and colleague. He's prodded to chase after a potential Pulitzer Prize-winning story, even at the risk of earning his very own bullet to the back of the head. A twisted trail of downed airplanes, meth dealers and suspicious cops leads Mel to his polar opposite, revered former astronaut Matt Mulhearn. But Mulhearn's got a few demons of his own. One is the troubled spy aircraft program that's keeping Mulhearn Aviation afloat. The other is Ishmael Dark, the happy-go-lucky assassin who's negotiated both pension benefits and a company car. Together they place Mel in a publish-or-perish world, racing to meet what could be his final deadline.