Soul Of The Ancients

Detective Jeremiah “Tex” Davis lay in the hospital dying one year after retiring from the police force. Journalist Justin Hawkins is assigned to write a “puff piece” on Tex. He spends three mornings with him before he dies only to learn that Tex has extraordinary ‘powers’ that have guided him through his exceptional career. These powers enable him to not only see and prevent crimes before they happen, but to see the effect these crimes have on all of society. His powers force him to decide who lives and dies, among other things. Ultimately, Tex is left feeling guilty and uncomfortable about the decisions he’s had to make in his life. As the days pass he begins to trust Justin and decides to warn him of a super-secret ‘dark force’ in the world that uses a broad range of techniques to try to control and steer important people and events in the direction ‘they’ deem necessary. ‘They’ come in the form of government agents, hapless neighbors and maniacal serial killers but ultimately utilize their own ‘powers’ to their own secret end. Their mission is to create well-placed chaos in the world with results that are effective, mysterious and often diabolical & messy. Tex knows that Justin is unknowingly caught up in all of it. He just doesn’t know how to tell him this. A saintly Polish Priest named Father Ski, who ultimately has incredible ‘powers’ of his own, mentors Tex through his difficult transition from this life to the next. He also attempts to help Justin manage the evil dark forces that are closing in on him from all sides. The ones that eventually try to get him in the end.

I’m Colorado Sentinel journalist Justin Hawkins and I’ve been assigned to interview renowned Colorado City police detective Jeremiah “Tex” Davis as he lay dying of cancer in the hospital. I have become greatly dissatisfied with my work over the past couple of years due to the downturn in the newspaper industry and the inept management I have to deal with everyday. I begin to look at these three interviews and the subsequent story as the last in my twenty-year career. Tex is a legend in our area. There hasn’t been a crime that has happened over the last twenty years that he’s been a detective that he hasn’t been able to solve and usually in a very short order. That’s a big deal in a city with over a half a million people in it. Because of this, many of my readers believe Tex to be psychic or that he may work with one. In the interviews over three days before Tex dies, I learn that he grew up as a single child, raised by his mother. His father had walked out on them before he was born. He proudly told me his mother was a “very remarkable” woman. She had always told him he was destined for great things because he was born with a caul. The only complaint he had was his given name of Jeremiah. He jokingly told me that his mother must have wanted him to be a fighter. He was married for a short time to his high school sweetheart and soul mate Sara. She died “unexpectantly” of Hodgkin’s disease at 21 years old. Soon after this he joined the police force and remarried. They had two daughters together. By December of 1985, his mother had passed away, his daughters were grown and he and his wife had drifted apart in divorce. Tex says he was “lost” while others might say he was having a mid-life crisis. This all changed abruptly on a cold, dark afternoon when a local convenience store was robbed and Tex was caught in the middle of it. The robbery was my first real story and I referred to it in my award winning articles at the time as the ‘Bijou Street Massacre’. A man entered a store on Bijou Street wearing a baseball hat, sunglasses and a trench coat. He proceeded to the magazine rack and began reading “Field & Stream” magazine. As Tex pulled up and parked his squad car the man pulled a machine gun out from under his coat and began shooting at everything that moved, killing three and wounding five. He then threw down his weapon and ran out of the store and past Tex. Tex chased him on foot for several blocks but the gunman vanished into the night. The story I had of this incident in 1985 was much different than the story that was coming to light interviewing Tex today in 2005. In 1985, Tex just happened on the scene on a break. Today I’m learning there is much, much more to the story. Once Tex had become more comfortable with me during the second interview the following day, he began confiding in me that he possessed ‘powers’ that enable him to know peoples souls and how peoples situation and events in their lives are connected with those of everyone. For example, not only does he know if someone is going to murder someone, he knows it many months or even years in advance. In most cases, before the murderer knows he’s capable or even wants to kill. The chilling part of this for me is that he knows how the crime will affect all of society. It’s this part of his “powers” that Tex finds very difficult to deal with. So, what really occurred at the “Bijou Street Massacre” that evening in 1985 is that Tex was casing the convenience store because he knew what was about to happen. He was afraid to confront the crazed killer because he knew what it would mean to his life from then on. His mother had died, he was now a bachelor and his kids didn’t like him being around because “dad always knew everything about what we were doing.” Therefore, from that day on, the full focus of his gift would now have to be trained solely on his job as a police officer utilizing his “powers” for good full time. This really scared Tex.

He’s quite dry, and quite sardonic. Perhaps even a little tough to know; not because he’s closed, but just understated. Author Daniel A. Tucker is one of those genuinely humble, genuinely interesting people who has something worthwhile to say, and is taking the time to say it. His mantra is the quest for peace, love, and the common good that sets the course for his writings and powerful stories. The stories that he writes explore how to live life rather than merely endure it, while expressing a benevolent concern for humanity. “It may sound like corny hippiedom, I know, but beyond the darkness of our condition nipping at us most of the time it seems so positive to think about us all getting along, solving our problems constructively, listening to each other and being quick to forgive.” This outlook permeated his writing from the start, along with that fierce self-reliance of the American man. It seems like yesterday, but it was 10 long years ago his body and the world around it chose to press its limits upon him in a most terrifying and malicious way. Daniel spent 2003 fighting Thyroid Cancer; fighting, and beating it, and has been in full remission for the past decade with no relapse. While his person is not defined by cancer, the impact it had on him is undeniable. “It changed my priorities. I was beginning to wake up and focus on what will last before my diagnosis, but fighting and beating cancer definitely fast-tracked it. It galvanized my need to write, and to use writing to pursue peace and understanding in the world.” It’s from his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that his first novel “Soul Of The Ancients” began to take shape and was first published on 12/12/12. Author Daniel A. Tucker is also known as Indie Artist musician Danny Django. He’s written numerous songs, most noticeably the song “Jennifer” which has sold very well digitally. He has toured extensively in Colorado and in the western regions of the United States. Daniel A. Tucker is that rare human with a weathervane in his heart, always sensing the shifts in the winds of the world and telegraphing it out to those who will listen. The novel “Soul Of The Ancients” is simply the honest thoughts of a good man. Regardless of the uncertain future, he will be serving those around by writing and singing his songs, and taking it one step at a time. “I want to reach as many people as I possibly can. The rest will take care of itself.”