Devil In The Desert - Book Tour and Giveaway

​In 1942, Major Ray Hawkins must assemble a unit of civilians and military to keep the Nazis from releasing a desert djinn against the Allied forces in North Africa. They will have to employ conventional warfare and unconventional witchcraft to accomplish the mission.

Devil in the Desert
Office of Supernatural Directives Book 1
by Russell James
Genre: Historical Horror

​It is 1942 and a secret group within the Nazi SS is on the hunt for objects of the occult, hoping to harvest their power for wonder weapons to win the war. Its leader, Gruppenfuhrer Karl Weitz, has more than military might behind him. He has recruited the Ochre Witch, an Eastern European sorceress capable of adapting what they seize to serve the Reich’s needs.

Only one team can stop the Axis powers from winning World War II.

Army Major Ray Hawkins is tasked with creating the Office of Supernatural Directives to stop these fanatics. He assembles a team that includes a female WASP pilot, an enlisted man with a passion for language and puzzles, a mysterious American ex-pat from the French Foreign Legion, and a young Romany woman who will need to embrace the mystic Gypsy teachings she’s spent her life despising.

Their first mission unfolds in Tunisia, where Weitz and the Ocher Witch plan to release a djinn the locals call the Devil in the Desert. It wields the power to spread debilitating fear. If Major Hawkins and his band cannot stop the djinn, it will sow panic among the Americans and Rommel’s Afrika Korps will crush the invasion force. But Hawkins’ new team has many weaknesses, and Weitz and the Ocher Witch will exploit every one of them to win.
 
 
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​A blast of machine gun fire echoed outside the church. Bullets burst through the door. The lock between the doors exploded in a blizzard of metal shards and splintered wood. John dropped to the cold stone floor with his heart pounding. Rounds sang over John and Daciana’s heads, then shattered the crucifix above the altar.
Whatever sensation had sent Daciana reeling still had her in its grip. She looked a million miles away, her face drained of color.
John knew only one place to hide. He grabbed Daciana’s wrist and pulled her up. He ran for the crypt, dragging her with him. They scrambled down the steps just as the doors to the church burst open. John lay flat against the stairs and peered over the top step.
Powerful flashlight beams pierced the darkness. Smoke and dust diffused the light. A horde of German SS soldiers rushed into the church with rifles and submachine guns at the ready. A deep voice bellowed, “Finde die Lichter!”
The lights in the church clicked on. The SS men fanned out among the pews. In the center stood a tall SS gruppenführer in a peaked cap and a long, black, leather coat. An ugly scar ran along his chin. John recognized Gruppenführer Weitz from his picture. The officer carried a Luger in his right hand.
Another figure entered the church to his left. She was shorter than the officer by at least a foot. Her long, ochre-colored cape stretched almost to the floor. As she walked it opened and closed to reveal a pair of black boots and a long flowing dark skirt. A hood attached to the cape covered the woman’s head and rode far enough forward to shadow her face.
John was no expert on German military organizations, but there was no way in hell that outfit was an official SS uniform. But would it be something a woman working with the occult-obsessed Ahnenerbe might be wearing? Absolutely.
The officer looked down at the books spread out across the floor. “This looks like what the priest was hiding.”
The woman knelt by the books. A black-gloved hand reached out from beneath the cape and sifted through the pile. It had to be an optical illusion because of the distance, but John swore the books moved without her actually touching them. His skin crawled watching her.
“Yes,” she said. Her voice had a gravelly rasp to it, the kind that life-long smokers acquired. “Gather them up.”
The officer barked some orders at the men and several began to collect the books and carry them out the door.
“We got here just in time,” the officer said. “The Resistance was trying to move them, but the box collapsed. Those flashlights tell me they may still be in the church.”
The woman removed her glove and exposed a wrinkled hand. She touched the handle on the side of the broken trunk. She pulled her glove back on and stood up.
“Withdraw your men,” she said. “I will deal with them.”

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Russell R. James was raised on Long Island, New York and spent too much time watching Chiller, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and Dark Shadows, despite his parents' warnings. Bookshelves full of Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe didn't make things better. He graduated from Cornell University and the University of Central Florida.

After flying helicopters with the U.S. Army and a career as a technical writer, he now spins twisted tales best read in daylight, including horror thrillers Dark Inspiration, Q Island, and The Playing Card Killer. He authored the Grant Coleman Adventures series starting with Cavern of the Damned and the Ranger Kathy West series starting with Claws. He resides in sunny Florida. His wife reads his work, rolls her eyes, and says "There is something seriously wrong with you."
 
 
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