Excerpt from Into the Breach
By Jonathan Yañez, Orange Branch
This month’s fiction selection features an excerpt from the new Jonathan Yañez novel Into the Breach.
“You’re smarter than you look.”
“Yeah, well, I like to manage expectations.” Frank glanced at his flavor-of-the-week date with a wry grin. He tried a playful line he had used so many times before, intentionally misquoting the saying to get a smile. “I’m just a girl looking at a guy, wondering what—”
A message from Frank’s watch blared a familiar tune as it interrupted the two at dinner and all those around them.
“Umm—sir?” A waiter passing by their table gave Frank a parental look.
“Sorry, I’m on it,” Frank said with an apologetic nod.
“What’s ‘butts’?” the ash-blonde at his right asked, scrunching together her perfectly shaped eyebrows. “Why does your watch say ‘butts’ on it?”
“It’s B.U.T.T.S. all in caps, like an acronym. It’s just work,” Frank said, checking the smooth, black face of the watch he wore on his left wrist. He ignored the message from his boss. “So where were we? We were talking about doing something fun after dinner, right?”
“What’s an acronym?” the blonde asked, a quizzical expression etched on her face. “Is that like two words that are the same?”
“I think you’re thinking of a synonym,” Frank said with a signature smile.
BEEP BEEP BE-DOH BEEP BEEP!
Before he could continue, his watch sounded again. Usually, it wouldn’t have been of any major concern; his Power Rangers ringtone letting him know he had a message from work was standard. However, tonight, Frank had taken his newest date to a rather exclusive, highbrow Italian cuisine experience, where the other patrons didn’t look amused by the constant juvenile sounds emanating from his latest communication tech.
“Can you turn that off?” his date asked as she looked around, her shoulders shrinking as she glanced from side to side, avoiding eye contact with the other diners. Her gaze beneath the curtain of obvious eyelash extensions landed on a table in the corner, where a quartet of brawny, well-dressed men sat glaring at them. Their bodies were tense and unnaturally still within their cashmere, fine-tailored suits. If Frank were to venture a guess, their day jobs weren’t exactly of the legal kind.
“Technically, I can. But the boss doesn’t like it when I switch her to ‘off’ or ‘mute.’ They can track all of that stuff, you know,” Frank said, eyes on the same table as Melony … or was it Susan?
Open concept dining area of the restaurant featured low, cushioned seating around polished, olive-wood tables. A warm, orange glow from table candles and low-hung pendant lamps lit the way for the service staff. The team met their patrons’ needs in swift, unpressured movements; their timing and recommendations were as impeccable as their shirts were crisp. It was the type of place one went for a celebration, where the prices on the menu carried an extra digit and the parking was valet only. It wasn’t Frank’s usual go-to, but he was always down to try anything once.
Jonathan Yañez has authored over a dozen fantasy novels.
His works include The Elite Series, The Nephilim Chronicles,
Thrive, Bad Land, and The DeCadia Code. He previously appeared on socalwritersshowcase.com with an excerpt from
House of Wolves, the first novel in his Vampire Project Series.