There is a debate going on that asks are Prologues and Epilogues necessary in the modern novel. In the Col Sec series I used them in Ronin, the first in the series as a way to set the scene for what was to come and to tie up any loose ends. In Omega I used the Epilogue to finish off the story and to give a little teaser for the next in the series. I used the same technique in Discovery and all following titles, including those I have written under the pen name of Jack Dillon.

When I wrote Ronin my partner and fellow author Aldrea Johnson read and liked the book with one critique, she hated that I killed off the female lead, Zara Hardy. She liked her character and could relate to her and thought I should have done more with her. My initial thought was to have her as the romantic interest but killing her off would free Kurt to pursue other female interludes, much like Fleming did with Bond and his bevvy of lovers. Her argument gave me pause for thought and I decided to do something about it. What could I do though, she was dead right?

Kurt had been altered so that his immune system had the ability to regenerate damaged tissue to the point that he was virtually indestructible, I say ‘virtually’ because I keep trying to find inventive new ways for the antagonist of every new story to kill him off and so far he keeps coming back. So I posed a question to myself. What if, in the scene where Kurt protects her from the explosion in the facility on Toldax where he shields her from the fireball that engulfs them, his blood somehow was mingled with her’s? Would his abilities then pass on to her through the blood? Basically it was what General Solon had attempted to do earlier in the book by taking his blood and producing a serum that would work the same way.

The answer, of course was ‘yes’.

The Epilogue of Discovery shows Zara Hardy waking up after being discovered in the ruin of the facility on Toldax and transported to a secret place by someone with opaline green eyes. This illustrated that two elements from previous books were coming back for the fourth in the series, Retribution. Zara and Omega. There was a third.

Of course Zara wasn’t the only one treated with the serum on Toldax, Pavel Norsky, the antagonist from Ronin had administered himself with a concentrated dose of the serum they had been producing from blood samples taken from Kurt. He wasn’t discovered in the ruins, he emerged after regenerating from the blast that everyone thought had killed him as he chased after Kurt during the nail biting escape scene close to the end of Ronin. He emerged in a fury which he focussed on Kurt. He vowed revenge on him and set about fulfilling that oath. Omega learns of his survival and plans to recruit him.

The plan is simple, they use Zara as a pawn to gain access to the new HQ of Col Sec which they plan to destroy having failed in their first attempt in Omega. All this leads to a final confrontation between Kurt and Norsky but this time Kurt has a helping hand with Zara at his side.

With Retribution I feel I set the record straight for my partner by bringing back Zara Hardy and giving her the larger role in this and future stories, something that my partner felt she deserved. It also opened up a wider range of opportunities to develop new ways to develop what had happened to Kurt and now Zara and what it meant for them knowing that their abilities could be transferred through a simple transfusion. The book itself is a roller coaster of a ride with the action ranging from Toldax, to Celeron and to Earth with various other stop-offs on the way but there is also character development too. We learn a little more about the members of the Wildfire Team and with the changes Zara is facing we see how it not only affects her but Kurt too, and finally, there is a little snippet of things to come in later books in the Epilogue.

I hope you enjoy this installment of the series as I had fantastic fun writing it wondering what my partner’s reaction would be.

The next in the series, Extinction, features Captain Storm, callsign Guardian and his team, Cowboy, Hacker and new recruit, Hellcat and harks back to events that first took place over twenty five years ago but which will have a massive impact on the present. More on that next time.