Shadows of Malice and Mercy

Detective Cynthia Syd Brogan joins forces with the FBI in a case of kidnapping, domestic abuse, and attempted murder. Soon, she's in a wilderness, tracking a shooter, not waiting for backup. But something strange happens out there when two tortured spirits clash in a fleeting struggle of life and death. Syd Brogan had battled her demons for more than a year. They called it PTSD. When she brought down terrorist Nils Palmer, their voices were muted, but not silenced. Other forces kept them alive.Stanley Brooks had demons, too. Driven by his abusive personality, he fantasized a life of dominance over his wife and child and his coworkers. But his work and home lives crashed in failure, and he turned to kidnapping and attempted murder to appease his cravings.It may well have been Fate, then, that compelled Brogan to track Brooks into an ancient primordial swamp, because in that vast Body of mire and Nastiness, demons were fated to die.