Hardman Does Cry

HARDMAN DOES CRY

Book Two in the CHAIN series.

It is not important to read this series in order. Each is a stand-alone novel.

Kidnap, ransoms, murder and intrigue. They say hard men don't cry.

Ronnie Hardman, rock god of rock god's, rich as stink untouchable

Ronnie Hardman does cry. His world comes apart with the kidnap of his

daughter. Then the dark secrets come into the light...
For the man who has everything, all of it is never quite enough!

The pain in her stomach burnt and a wet patch formed between her legs. Bright light, hitting her eyes in shafts, forced her eyes shut repeatedly; it took long seconds for her to get her bearings.

The woman eventually woke enough to have rational thoughts. She wondered why her left arm throbbed and burnt, too. The man had drugged her she knew that. He had strapped her left hand, by the wrist, to a heavy table, she knew that too, but she didn’t understand where she was or why. It was dark-grey and cold, dusty too, and a foul smell of some kind permeated the place and the only thing she could think of, were farm animals.

The exact location would have come to her if she was clear of mind, but the fact that she was drugged up to the eyeballs and unable to form coherent thoughts, made it difficult to focus on anything much or for very long.

A man came forward and stood over her. She knew it had to be a man, the way he moved, and the shape of the figure said that much. He walked toward her from the background of the dull-grey room and stood in front of her on the other side of the thick wood table. A black clad figure in a cold grey world, dust mites floated between them in streaks of sunlight, she felt a cold hard lump form in her gut.

He coughed, or was it a small chuckle? Either way, her heart missed a beat.

He wore a mask; not that it mattered now. She knew who he was. She spoke his name, or tried to, he ignored her muffled tones completely, her tongue preventing the words forming as it blocked behind her teeth. They didn’t sound like words anyway.

Why the mask, she wondered. Is it just to scare me? If so, it was working! But why was he doing this? She thought they were friends, of sorts. His gait, his height and the way he moved his head to look at her and examine her, told her who he was, the cough gave it away completely and she had never thought he could hurt a fly, so what the fuck was this all about?

He made a grunting sound, more resigned than effort, as he gripped her numb hand. He pulled her fingers apart, the left hand spread out on the flat wood surface of some kind atop the table, and he held the index finger tightly between his finger and thumb. Although numb, she could feel his grip through her bones and movement of tendons up the arm. She saw something rise in the air and tried to pull away from it but the strap around her wrist kept her hand exactly where it was. The meat cleaver in his other hand struck downward, fast, precious sunlight catching the steel as it sped downward in an arc and her index finger came clean off in a spray of blood.

Ronnie Hardman is looking forward to the event. It is to be a treble-bash, the launch of his latest album, his wedding anniversary and his girl's birthday party, rolled into one. The album is all set to rocket into the number one slot with pre-sales said to be going through the roof and, this event, the party, should get it all off to a flying start.

This is Ronnie's fifth reincarnation, his fifth re-invention, and he hopes it can be his last. This is his fourth album as himself, and he doubts there will be more.

Ronnie started out as a child-star, then, when the voice broke and he started shaving, he went through a re-invention, complete with backing group and a change of name, and spent the latter Sixties and early Seventies as a semi-rocker/kind of guy your mother would like. Then, when his career looked to be over and things were exploding in the seventies, he re-launched as his third persona, a Glam-rock figure. Capturing more hearts and die-hard fans along the way, even though he lost a few of the mothers that had liked him and most of the backing group, Ronnie found he was on the crest of the wave and he did not want to get off. The wave hit the beach anyway, figuratively, and Ronnie found his head in the sand again.

The following ten years of nothingness got to Ronnie, and he set to, re-inventing himself again toward the end of the eighties. This time he was serious Rock, Ballard's for singles and long guitar-worked numbers for the albums. It should not have gone mainstream the way it did, but it went there anyway and Ronnie was back up there again, breaking into America too. His fame and wealth grew exponentially.

He and the new Band were an instant success and that success lasted for over ten more years and six albums.

Since then, around the time of 9/11, Ronnie went solo. Oh, he had a band behind him when playing live, not that he did that these days, but this time he was centre stage again and no one was going to take the limelight from him.

This last album has taken millions to develop. Press release’s and giving out snippets of songs, somehow not so secretly released, has seen the world of music at fever pitch in anticipation of the new album and single.

Ronnie Hardman, real name Ronald Harding, has outlived them all. Well, almost all of them! The Stones are still going, as is Sir Cliff Richard, The Boss and Elton. They all see Ronnie as the Rock God of Rock Gods, and he will outlive them all if he gets his way. Even after death his estate will keep the money rolling in for his family with several “Greatest Hits albums” and continuing royalties.

Ronnie is bigger than Elvis, and still alive. He is bigger than Jackson was and is still alive. Ronnie has, over the years, snorted more crap up his nose than anybody, drunk the biggest drinkers of stage and screen under the table and cast a long shadow over the whole of the Rock and Roll world. But he does it so well! Despite his changes of persona, Ronnie is still the greatest of the great's. He has not found God, has not been lucky enough to find fame on reality shows, or as a talent judge, and he has never needed sympathy because of it, but he was the original hell-raiser is now a reformed man and his fan-base is unmatched by any other. Ronnie will transcend the ages forever more.

The age range of worship is staggering and although he has taken drugs, lived life in the fast lane, and not burnt himself out, that was a lifetime ago and Ronnie, these days, is seen as a figurehead of the industry, almost an ambassador. That is his public face, anyway. To his few local friends, Ronnie is simply Ronnie, the rich bloke down the road. To his smaller and closer group of friend’s family and workers, he is an irritable insecure bastard at the best of times and a man who is always right even when he is wrong.

To see more, go to...Jo and Co page where you can learn more about the heroes of this series or, go to paperback/e-book pages on the drop-down menu above, thank you.