An Excerpt from Through the Sad Heart by Maynard Sims

Through the Sad Heart
by Maynard Sims

We are delighted to welcome back to Omnimystery News authors Len Maynard and Mick Sims, who write as Maynard Sims.

They have a new mystery thriller published, Through the Sad Heart (Enigmatic Press; June 2014 trade paperback and ebook formats), and we are pleased to introduce you to it with an excerpt.

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From the authors: This is the story of Ben Black who is an ordinary man plunged into a world of global espionage, crime and secrets by the actions of his father and brother. Through greed, his family become involved with shady businessman Antony Valkaris, a man well known to British Intelligence. Ben is forced to take extraordinary measures to safeguard his family, and his own life, as the world he has known explodes into action through bombs, guns and lies.

From Athens to London, Ben finds danger and deceit at every turn. He can trust no one not even those he loves. Threatened and attacked he has to summon reserves of courage he doesn't realise he possesses.

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THERE WERE FOUR OF THEM. TAKIS, Bekorous, and two others, and they were acting as if they knew someone was here. The alarm! It must have been connected somewhere. He could only hope they didn't know it was him; there wasn't really any way they could identify who the intruder was. They could only know that there was someone inside but they didn't know who, and they didn't know where. Did they? CCTV was a possibility.
  They fanned out silently in a manner that looked frighteningly professional. They also had guns. Takis held a heavy pistol, Bekorous had a semi-automatic; one of the others had a machine gun and the other a shotgun. Ben had his torch, which he had switched off, and his knife.
  Two of them took one side of the warehouse, two of them the other side. They were covering the whole place and they were getting closer to him every minute. He thought for a moment. If he stayed hidden they would find him easily. He needed an alternative. He glanced over the top of the straw. They were already almost halfway across the floor.
  There was only one alternative he could think of. Keeping as low as possible, and as close to the wall as he could, he ran across to the fork lift trucks. He made it without being spotted. He clambered onto the platform of the nearest truck and scanned the controls. They were simple. There was a forward and reverse gear, steering wheel, and starter button. The twin prongs of the fork were operated by a switch with a button to lock the fork into position.
  The four men were almost at the pile of straw now. He punched the starter button, flicked the switch to bring the prongs upwards and, turning the steering wheel to the left, headed for the men. They spun round, alarm and shock wrestling for supremacy on their faces. The truck was not meant for speed but with the element of surprise he hoped he could outwit them long enough to escape.
  He was on them and through them before they could act. They tumbled out of his way, two falling to the floor, the others stumbling against the straw. He steered the truck through the avenues of packing cases trying for a wavering path. He was conscious they might try to shoot at him. They did.
  He heard the first shot and ducked involuntarily. It was hard enough driving the truck anyway, but with bullets flying around it became impossible. The machine gun let off a quick burst. A change of tactics was called for. He turned the truck around so it was facing the gunfire. At least that gave him some protection. It wouldn't last long and he knew he had to get out. He put the truck into first gear, pointed it at them, and jumped off the platform. With that to distract them he ran for the open door.
  The bullet from the pistol took him in the left leg and he fell to the ground.

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Photo provided courtesy of
Maynard Sims

2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the first professional sale from Len Maynard & Mick Sims who write together as Maynard Sims. Both born in London, and friends for 50 years, they began with short stories and have nine collections, five novellas and numerous magazine and anthology credits. They ran a small press where they edited several acclaimed titles under the Enigmatic brand, before being asked to edit several Darkness Rising anthologies.

2006 saw their first novel published and since then they have had ten novels published with a further six scheduled. These include the Department 18 series, and the Bahamas series. They have won awards for screenplays, have written children's stories, romances and mainstream stories.

They write full time, having held day jobs for the entire time they have been writing together. Each currently lives in Hertfordshire, with two children between them and two grandchildren, one each. They do like symmetry.

For more information about the authors, please visit their website at Maynard-Sims.com or find them on Facebook and Twitter.

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Through the Sad Heart
Maynard Sims
A Mystery Thriller

This is the story of Ben Black, who is an ordinary man plunged into a world of global espionage, crime and secrets by the actions of his father and brother. Through greed, his family become involved with shady businessman Antony Valkaris, a man well known to British Intelligence.

Ben is forced to take extraordinary measures to safeguard his family, and his own life, as the world he has known explodes into action through bombs, guns and lies.