Carlos Hazday

I have so many interesting characters I could spend the rest of my writing time on their backgrounds. Since I already wrote about Cesar and Brett in Malibu, they won't get another solo story. But they'll feature prominently in my next multi-chapter one. Thanks, Theo. Very happy you've enjouyed the series so far.

I've never read King. Not a fan of horror stories. How people enjoy being scared is beyond me. Clive Cussler, on the other hand, was a favorite author. My appearances in the series were inspired by him. If he could show up in Antartica and meet Dirk Pitt, I figured me meeting fellow bikers was an easy connection. I've mentioned a couple of times CJ and Owen discussing their future, CJ may have made the decision to ship Owen and Liebe to Miami, but Owen packed their bags so he had to be on board. As I just told someone in an email, the series is named after one character, and although Liebe and Owen feature prominently, CJ will always be top dog. Owen heard about CJ's plans to run for office early in their relationship, and he still married our man. I think it's fair to assume he's on board with whater CJ decided to do.

Stop looking at my notes!

As much as I enjoy getting praise, my work owes a lot to readers. You guys deserve credit for encouraging me.

Damn! I kill someone and y'all want more violence? And here I thought GA readers thrived on sappy romances. LOL

That ancient biker has good connections. Some Colombian guy named Alonzo, I think. You understand the need to wrap things up after a while. This book in particular was slightly different because of the thriller aspects, but I tried to revisit some of the earlier stuff by describing meals and locations in more detail. What I'm most interested in right now is how the State Department brass will react. Ambassador Cox certainly had to file a report or something. Oh, wait, I can write about that. Let me add it to the list. The stage will be set by the end of summer for CJ to become the ambassador to Cuba. I can't wait to hit the beaches and the mojitos!

Smart man! Repeating myself, my stories are not for speed-readers. I frequently drop details and hints many miss. Until I'm ready to publish again, there are plenty of good stories. I'll once again suggest anything by Jack Scribe; I think his work and mine have lots of similarities.

Well, since Harley wasn't around, the least I could do was hook those two up. I suspect CJ will thumb his nose at the Federal government when he works for them again. He'll be smoking up a storm no matter what. Thank you, Parker. I'm glad you enjoyed this one.

Believe it or not, the hardest part about writing this chapter was remembering everyone CJ had to say goodbye to. I may have missed some. But it was important because I plan to use some of the characters in the future.

You've been a great help, Jose. Funny how the next multi-chapter CJ story also takes place in a Spanish-speaking country.

When we next read about CJ, Owen, and Liebe together it'll be when they spend a few days in Key West with Ritch. Now that the cat's out of the bag about the kidnapping, I can significantly expand what I wrote in Cadet.

CJ's resignation's been ignored and he's still a State Department employee. I'm looking forward to writing his interview at State once he's back in DC.

There's definitely more to the series, but before I return to CJ, Owen, and Liebe, I'll be sharing a couple of short stories in The Squad+ one. I'm pretty sure next time we see those three they'll be in Florida and Ritch will be with them.

Thank you, sir. Funny how at the beginning of the series it was all about CJ. He's still character #1 but Owen became #1a once he joined the family, and Liebe #1ab at birth. I'm glad readers acknowledge how important those two are to the series.

No, no, no! I was simply doing a couple of friends a favor. A long time ago, I spent the night at someone's house in McCallen, Texas. I was with a cousin who wouldn't smoke pot, but I may have taken 1 or 10 hits when our host rolled a fat one. I turned down his offer to become a distributor in South Florida. LOL

You better respect me in the morning...

Thank you, Tony. At times I wish I'd started writing earlier. However, my work's colored by personal experiences so the stories would have probably been different. It's taken me a while to figure out how much to include in each chapter/story, but I think I'm getting close to the right balance. Let's hope future stories are even better.

Thanks, Geoff. It's great to see you comment here! As with the end of most chapters, I try to find natural break point to stop. This story's all about their time in Mexico, and I think I milked as much as i could out of it. They'll be back in Washington soon, and that opens all new events to chronicle.

Thank you! I'll have a little something to share in a couple of weeks.

Look at my previous comment about his future. I think I'll exile him to the Northwest Territories. He can freeze his behind off.

When you do, let me know what you liked best and least. I'm always curious about what strikes readers' fancy.

Thanks, Terry. I had to get this story out because readers made such a big deal out of a reporter's line about Mexico. I was honestly surprised it created such a stir. Now that the pressure's off, I can jump back and forth in time again.

Nope, I'm still in Wilton Manors. An earlier version of the chapter had CJ correcting Owen about where I lived. I simplified the scene since to most people there are only two cities in South Florida, Miami and Fort Lauderdale. They forget the two counties have over 60 municipalities.

Let's hope I'm alive long enough to write about it!

Thank you, my friend.