Trevor Holliday

Trinity and the Short-Timer Trevor Holliday

Camp Long, Republic of Korea. It's a snowy night and CID Agent Frank Trinity is on the clock. From his office, he sees an old American man fall down in the street. By the time Trinity gets outside, the man has vanished. Harmony Ecklund is escaping her nightmare boyfriend. She has no place to stay and it's cold, dark, and getting late. Spec 4 Ben Gentle has four days left in Korea and sleeping through curfew at the Mustang Club may get him framed for murder. Major Stanley Friend is playing with fire. He's got two problems, and either one could land him in Leavenworth... or worse. Cold night, Cold War -- Trinity's kind of trouble. From Trinity and the Short-Timer: Trinity, like every other American on the camp, was starting to get short. Soldiers started to get short the moment they stepped off the plane in Pusan. With five months left in Korea, Trinity was neither a short-timer nor a newcomer. He was mid-tour. Thus the card flipping. Trinity tried another card. The three of clubs hit the brim of the Stetson before teetering onto the floor. Trinity looked out the window. The ground was covered by at least three inches of snow. An old man, his gray beard covering the front of his dark pea coat, struggled against the blowing snow and accumulating drifts. Trinity turned from the window and grabbed the keys to the Impala. At least he could give the old guy a lift."Hey Trinity," Mr. Yee shouted, "he's fallen down."The two men raced in the old man's direction. The snow swirled around them, drifting enough to disorient Trinity. They ran toward the spot in the street where the man fell. The snow, even deeper now, covered the spot. The man was not there.***Harmony Ecklund could barely see the bus driver. In the dark, only the glow of his cigarette made him visible. Chad is a nightmare, Harmony thought. The bus felt somber now, pushing steadily through the dark Korean night. She looked at Chad, quietly sleeping off his fury. Rage, fueled by booze, kept him screaming at her for the first part of the trip. Now Chad was sleeping through one of the worst snowstorms Harmony had ever seen. She looked at Chad's body slumped into the seat of the almost completely empty bus. Nightmare isn't the right word, she thought. She got out of her seat and steadied herself on the cushioned top of the empty seat in front of her. The snow made visibility nearly impossible.***The flashlight cut a bright beam through the dark of the closed office and came to rest on the letter. Major Stanley Friend exhaled quickly. A close call. If someone read it, they wouldn't understand the meaning hidden within the text. Nevertheless, seeing the letter sent a chill through him. It was a warning. Do what we say. Or else.***Gentle lasted twenty minutes in the barracks after Kilkenny left. How much trouble could he get into, after all?He was four days short. He would head home in four days. Three days and a duffel bag drag. The barracks were empty. Gentle decided to go down to the ville. He wore civilian clothes. Jeans, flannel shirt, leather jacket. Cold as hell outside and snow still coming down. Walking through the gate, the guards barely noticed him.***From Marvin Minkler's review of Trinity and the Short-Timer in The North Star Monthly: "The Cold War is about to get as cold as the dead woman on the floor of the GI dive... Having read Trevor Holliday's two previous exciting Trinity novels, Trinity Works Alone and Trinity Thinks Twice, this new one has many of the familiar elements of someone who once was a short-timer himself, and I really liked it. A pure pleasure to read. Fast-paced, filled with interesting characters, suspense and a satisfying twist I did not see coming. Would love to read more of Frank Trinity's CID days. Trinity and the Short-Timer is the perfect way to introduce a new reader to the series. Look forward to the next."