ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. MANY OF THE AUTHOR'S STORIES
ARE WRITTEN FOR READERS EIGHTEEN+ OR, IF YOU GAIN YOUR PARENT'S PERMISSON, YOU MAY ENTER!



VANISHED
Dawn Hudson: Awakening Series PREQUEL
COMING SOON
Scheduled release date:
February 27, 2025
C.A. Michaels invites you to the Dawn Hudson Awakening series in this new exciting short story. You'll get to explore another part of Dawn and Jacob's life.
VANISHED PREQUEL NOVELLA 1
Starling BCPSU Lieutenant Dawn Hudson begins the legendary mission.
After reluctantly agreeing to let her husband, Jacob, go to meet some new people for a possible awesome job, Dawn is horrified and thinks the worst when after a few days he has suddenly gone dark. With the uncertainty of how much time she has to find him, Dawn rushes to gather her team to begin the search. As a Police Officer and the daughter of a former DEA Agent and Late Mother who was a Police Officer, she has all the skills necessary to rescue him - if she can only find him.
EXCERPT
CHAPTER 1
Chapter 1
October 27, 2018, 5:35 AM
Dawn
They sat on the grass while they lay on their favorite Detroit Red Wings blanket. He stared into her hazel green eyes. She smiled wide as she stared back at his baby blues. This was their daily routine. Coming up here was a short distance from their home, but Dawn wouldn’t trade this for anything. After caressing his scruff on his olive tanned skin and rubbing on his squared jaw, she smiled wide once more. He grabbed her hand and held it to his chest for a moment.
Billowy, white clouds mixed with some black and brown, moved swiftly across the darkened sky. The sun revealed itself in a white, yellow ball of fire as its warming glow glistened over the lake. As the gleam of the outer yellow continued to rise, the dark brown, almost black sky began to brighten just a bit. The birds chirping, the frogs creating a rhythm with their gurgles created a magical moment.
“I love you, Huds!” He smiled.
“And I love you, Malone!” she said.
“I know this is cheesy, but this is our place. Here on Lakeside circle.”
“Yeah. My three older sisters raz me about it constantly. That’s not going up north. But the view here is just amazing, the sun is about to come up,”
She pulled her hand away, he reached for the back of her head, pulled her close and connected. As their heads moved back and forth, the sun rose above the tall buildings on the circular drive. While they continued, the birds continued to chirp, the frogs sang, the bright orange gave way to some billowy clouds over their spot still.
Nestled between two tall buildings, with a view of the manmade lake, they completely missed the sunrise. As they finished kissing, Dawn chuckled.
“Damn. We missed it!” she said.
“It’s, okay, baby. Being here with you, right now, there’s no other place I’d rather be.”
“I know we hardly get to do this. That’s why this is so special. Getting up extra early for this, is amazing.” She smiled.
“Yeah.”
“Jake, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Something!”
“Well, I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I think I got a job.”
“What? Get out!” She batted him on his chest in a playful way.
“Yeah. I’m supposed to be meeting them here soon.”
“Here? Really, our spot? Jake, how could you?” she asked.
“There was no other time. With having to drive Austin to school in a bit and wanting to see you. Then going home and doing the house stuff. You know.”
“Yeah. Okay.” She checked the watch she wore on her left wrist. It was a Casio rangeman he bought her for Christmas one year. “Damn, I’m going to be late! It’s almost six fifteen. I told Rohan, my partner I’d meet him in my office at the station at six thirty.”
“See what I mean?” He chuckled.
“Right. Sorry my job as a cop is so hectic.”
“It’s who you are babe. It’s one reason why I fell in love with you!”
She smiled wide and kissed him one more time. She rose from the ground and dusted herself off. Dawn wasn’t in unform, but she dressed nicely for work. Gray slacks, dress black T-shirt, and dress shoes.
“Where are you meeting these guys? And who are they? What’s the company?” she asked.
She stood over him and he glanced up at her. His wide handsome smile never left his face. Dawn grinned and blew him a kiss. He grabbed it and planted his hand to his heart.
“The company is called Crimson Reign. I’m supposed to meet Randy and Tony McQuade. Plus, they told me I’ll be meeting with a Roy Callahan.”
“Okay. Be safe with my handsome husband. I love you!” she said.
“You be safe with my beautiful cop! I kind of love her and stuff.” He chuckled.
She laughed as he rose and folded the blanket. He put everything in the wicker picnic basket and blew her a kiss as well. She caught it and rubbed it on her chest.
Dawn watched him leave and she saw he jogged across the parking lot over to Macy’s entrance, which seemed to be a few blocks from their spot. After a few moments, she gathered their belongings and packed them up. When she put them in her SUV, her CB radio was going off.
“Hudson, are you out there?”
She smiled at hearing the familiar voice of her Sergeant, Rohan Varma. After grabbing the mic, she checked in with him.
“Hudson here, what’s up, Rohan?”
“We got a case. We need you at Utica and Eighteen mile.”
“On my way!”
She sighed. She wanted to hang here to be sure Jacob was okay. There was now no time for that. Dawn grabbed her phone and called him. Right to voice mail. So, she left a message saying she grabbed everything, and she’d see him at home later.
Odd that his phone went right to voice mail, Dawn believed the meeting was going well. She had told him he didn’t need to work. But being the man that he was, he wanted to get a job. Jacob wanted to help more than just be a stay-at-home dad to their nine-year-old-son, Austin.
Dawn decided to text him next.
Hey, babe, hope the meeting is going well. I grabbed everything and am heading to work. We got a new case. I’ll prolly be home late. Love you like no other!
She put her phone on the hands-free slider bar that sat attached to the vent near the front of the dash to her right. Dawn grabbed the siren that would sit on top of the roof of her SUV, which was a Chevy blazer, and was indigo in color, her absolute favorite color.
After arriving on scene, Dawn checked in with Officer Tracy Brown, who was running the police tape line across the property. As she glanced around, she shook her head that this piece of property was worth a pretty penny.
“Hey, Huds!” Tracy said.
“Hey, what have we got?”
“Break-in.”
“Any dead bodies?”
“No thankfully!”
“Any leads?”
“I don’t think so. Your team is inside doing their thing.” Tracy chuckled.
“Okay, thanks!”
Dawn entered the colonial style home. She was thankful for her ranch. She smiled at her thought as she made her way to the kitchen where her team was. Marcie Peters and Beno Henson, along with Rohan were talking to the owner. She cleared her throat to inform them she had arrived.
“Huds, thank you for coming so fast!” Rohan said. “This is the owner, Todd Farland. He believes he was targeted because of his art.”
“Your art?” she questioned.
“Yeah. I’m a peculiar artist and I’ve been getting death threats, threats that people are going to come and destroy my art,” Todd said.
“Why?”
“Well, my art is original, but some people are trying to say I stole it. I do not steal anything. I create my own original stuff. I do use others to get influenced by but that is all!”
“Was anything taken?”
“Some pieces were stolen that go for about a million dollars per piece. I need them back!”
“What about your safety?”
“Never mind that. The paintings need to be recovered! You will find them yes; money is no object!”
“Yes, what other info can you give me?” she asked.
“I have a camera system.”
“Oh, great, let me see it!”
He nodded and rose from the chair as he led them to his bedroom. Dawn thought that was weird. Most people had them in their basement, she learned. Todd went to the system behind one of his paintings above the king size bed. He opened the silver door and pulled the flat screen out to show her.
“That, right there, there’s a person walking up to the porch. Bring it up for me?” she asked.
“Right.”
He brought the photo up further and enlarged it for her. He gasped. Dawn shook her head. Great, he knew this person.
“That’s Sally. But why would she do this? She was my biggest fan. She always had my back online.”
“Well, you never know anymore these days,” Dawn said. “Can you print that for me?”
“Yeah.”
Dawn’s phone buzzed. She sighed that it wasn’t her husband. It was her son.
“Be right back, I need to take this.”
Dawn left the room and went out to the front porch. As she pulled her phone to her ear, she went back to Austin.
“Hey, son, what’s up?”
“Is dad supposed to be picking me up today?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Also, I thought he was going to come today for my Parents’ Day?”
“Oh, when is that?”
“Right now. I tried calling him, but it went right to voice mail.”
“Oh, this is so not like him. I will try to get hold of him. Give me a few minutes.”
Dawn tried calling Jacob again. Right to voice mail. She gasped. Maybe his phone died. He was supposed to get an Uber to get home. She went through their mutual app account and saw he never ordered an Uber ride to get home. Another gasp escaped her lips. She called Austin back to tell him that she couldn’t get hold of Jacob.