Pain and Agony

Pain is a burned ex-mercenary. Agony is a burned ex-cop. Together, they might just find out. The only problem? They can't stand each other. Trust, it seems, doesn't come easily between a black-ops mercenary and an ex-police detective. What could make it worse for her? He doesn't like using guns. Will Pain and Agony be able to dodge the criminals trying to take them out and avoid killing each other in the process? Will the criminals be able to handle the two of them together?

If no good deed goes unpunished, what will a lifetime of doing Uncle Sam's dirty work cost a person? Pain and Agony have hardly cemented their new partnership as "investigative problem solvers" when SISTER comes poking around and raising all kinds of hell. Accusations flying left and right, the dysfunctional duo are back at it. But can they solve a murder, a kidnapping, and a matter of national security, all in the space of one week? Murder, mayhem, and a societal meltdown are all in a day's work for our pair, but to top it off, they get hit in the room and board department.

Jilted lovers, cheating spouses, treacherous business partners . . . All bread and butter that pays the bills for this dysfunctional Investigation team. Unfortunately, the past is catching up with one of them. Vengeance with a capital V is as rare as it is dangerous and doesn't pay. Except that is what both of them want. What choice do they have when a federal agent promises to turn the pair into his personal sock puppets if they don't comply with his game?

New alliances and of course new betrayals are at hand as the tectonics of the black ops world shifts and rumbles. Who is working for who, who is hunting who, and will have the decency to simply shut up and die? Our favorite misfits must avoid being strangled and stabbed (and run over, and shot, and blown up, and, well, you get the point) in this latest cloak-and-dagger escapade. Can the pugnacious pair emerge from the intrigue in one piece? Dive into another adventure with the world's most dysfunctional duo, where murder, intrigue, and a stolen Pomeranian are just the tip of the iceberg.

Pain and Agony are two madcap masters of mayhem, but even they need friends. What are friends for? Companionship, support, and a helping hand when your luck is down. But the cost of friendship becomes something altogether different during their latest escapade. If you aren't going to help when things get rough, then what are you but a traitor? When longtime allies are at odds, and enemies new and old close in, the answer has lethal consequences.

History is written by the victors, and the powerful rewrite the rules in their favor. These are simple facts that the dysfunctional have decided to accept, if not embrace. After all, what's the point of fighting something as fundamental as gravity? The end result is always a fall. When it comes to Pain and Agony, conforming is just not an option. Challenges to these age-old proverbs will be taken on as the powerful, shifting on top of the pile, seek to stamp out any nonconformity. There's nothing left for Pain and Agony to do but punch hard enough to bring it all down.

The dysfunctional duo might have finally gone too far. When a confrontation with dirty cops crosses the line, they find themselves wearing orange jumpsuits. Locked up with a bunch of criminals, some of whom they have a passing familiarity with. What could go wrong? When you go by the names Pain and Agony, a lot. Our pugnacious pair are trapped in the fight of their life. But there's more going on here than just jail yard politics.

When Agony is spirited to the middle of nowhere, things get dicey for them both. The dangers are not contained to the glittering city lights. Some old scores can never be forgotten. Our tenacious twosome did just fine by themselves before they ran into each other, but the world has changed, and they can't go back to the way things were before they met. They'll need more than their usual shoot first, ask questions later tactics to get through this in one piece, and reunite.

After the recent revelation about Pain's former partner, the big guy's been AWOL in search of answers. Agony is not the type to mope about. She has kept the ship afloat, trusting that when Pain's found the answers, he needs he'll be back. When Pain does come back, he arrives only he can . . . in a maelstrom of gunfire, screams, and callouts to emergency services. Agony and Pain need to sort out the issues months of distance and time have created, and they need to do it quickly.