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94222ae
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Video cams set up on a little platform at the rear of a place that might be called a grand ballroom if you thought small.
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Robert Crais |
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aae347f
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He came around with a red plastic gas can and got into one of the boats and filled its tank. "Watch out for those rat bastard ski boats," he said. "Damn rich kids come out here and run wild all over the goddamn lake. Swamp you sure as I shit peanuts." He was a charming old guy."
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Robert Crais |
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e6483c9
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the sort of baleful stare you get when life's a mystery.
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Robert Crais |
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99c185a
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Erte painting
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Robert Crais |
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9fc417a
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He turned and went out the back of the kitchen, the midget swaggering behind him. Eddie Tang went with them, walking backward and keeping his eyes on Joe Pike. He stopped in the door, gave Pike a nasty grin, then peeled up his sleeves to show the tattoos. He worked his arms to make the tattoos dance, then snarled and flexed the huge traps so they grew out of his back like spiny wings. Then he left.
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Robert Crais |
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1f0b8b2
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Pike's red Jeep was at the edge of the drive out by the gate. It was as far from the other vehicles as possible. Even Pike's transportation is anti-social.
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Robert Crais |
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f2599dc
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I went over to the big couch and sat down next to Mimi. She was watching everything the way a goldfish watches the world from its bowl, all big eyes and vulnerability and with an assumption of invisibility.
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Robert Crais |
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c7012d5
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Ellis said, "Look, Mr. Warren signs the checks, right? He says jump, I say which side of my ass you want me to land on?"
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Robert Crais |
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9c97b9c
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I gave it to him from the beginning. I had told it so many times to so many cops I thought about making mimeographed copies and handing them out. When I told the part about Nobu Ishida, Jack Ellis said, "Holy shit."
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Robert Crais |
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d76577c
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The cat door clacked and the cat came in from the kitchen. When he saw Jillian he growled, deep and warlike. I said, "Beat it." --
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Robert Crais |
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e03b647
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When the doors opened, Bud led them into a reception area where an older woman with curly blond hair sat at a desk. She recognized Bud and waved them past. "He's back there somewhere. If he's not in his office, just ask. They're having some kind of problem." Cole nudged Pike and whispered, "Already? We just arrived."
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Robert Crais |
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1ffbe70
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Joe Pike thought about that for a long time. Centuries. Then he said, "Someone had to bring her back."
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Robert Crais |
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1ea49d4
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Are you pleased to hear her living? Is this what you wanted?" Pike hesitated. Keeping his voice level was more difficult this time. He nodded to let Cole and Barkley know she was alive."
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Robert Crais |
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1d5a8e2
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Larkin pushed the accelerator and felt the wind lift her hair. She bore south on Vine, then east on Wilshire, laughing as her eyes grew wet. Light poles flicked past; red or green, it didn't matter and she didn't care. Honking horns were lost in the rush. Her long hair, the color of pennies, whipped and lashed. She closed her eyes, held them closed, kept them shut even longer, then popped them wide and laughed that she still flew straight a..
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Robert Crais |
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acd739c
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She told herself it was the dry night wind and lashing hair, the way her eyes filled when her lonely race finished, but it was always the same whether the air was dry or not, whether her hair was down or up, so she knew. For those few minutes running across the city, she could be and was herself, purely and truly herself, finding herself in those moments only to lose herself once more when she slowed, falling behind as her true self ran fre..
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Robert Crais |
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5668df9
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She lurched across Alameda, her speed draining like a wound. --65-- --60-- --55-- Larkin turned north on an industrial street parallel to the river. Her building was only blocks away when the air bag exploded. The Aston Martin spun sideways to a stop. White powder hung in the air like haze; sprayed over her shoulders and arms. The other car had been a flashing shape, no more real than a shadow in the sea, a flick of gleaming movement broken..
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Robert Crais |
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03379bd
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The first patrol car arrived in seven minutes; the paramedics three minutes later. Larkin thought it would end that night when the police finished their questions, but her nightmare had only begun. In forty-eight hours, she would meet with agents from the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's. In six days, the first attempt would be made on her life. In eleven days, she would meet a man named Joe Pike. Everything in her world was ab..
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Robert Crais |
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cd0ef97
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Pike glanced over at her again. "What's your name?" She took off her glasses and frowned at him as if he were retarded. "What are you talking about?" "What's your name?" "I don't get it. Is this some kind of game we're playing, truth or dare, what?" "Your name." "I don't get why you're asking my name." "What is it?" Her face flattened in frustration and she pulled at her shirt. "I'm hungry. When are you getting me something to eat?" "Name."..
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Robert Crais |
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4de6ca2
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Pike glanced again into the shadows and saw the coyote pacing him without effort, sometimes visible, other times not as it loped between the palms. It was an old male, its mask white and scarred, come down from the canyons to forage. Every time Pike glanced over, the coyote was watching him, full-on staring even as it ran. The coyote probably found him curious. Coyotes had rules for living among men, which was how they flourished in Los Ang..
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Robert Crais |
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2f3b49d
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The church smelled of sage and urine. Beer cans and magazines dotted the concrete floor, filthy from the sand blown through the broken walls, and faded by time. Pike guessed the urine smell was left by animals. The man with the lank hair was standing beside a lean man with the intelligent eyes of a businessman and a mouth cut into a permanent frown. A cordovan briefcase sat on the ground by the door. Pike wondered which owned the briefcase ..
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Robert Crais |
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1543dd4
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Hello." Barkley was wearing a silk short-sleeved shirt that showed his belt bulge. The frowning man was tieless in an expensive charcoal sport coat. Pike was wearing a sleeveless grey sweatshirt, jeans, and New Balance running shoes. The frowning man took folded papers and a pen from his coat. "Mr. Pike, I'm Gordon Kline, Mr. Barkley's attorney and an officer in his corporation. This is a confidentiality agreement, specifying that you may n..
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Robert Crais |
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e5ad592
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Pike heard a car door slam and once more shifted to the window. Larkin Conner Barkley had gotten out of the limo to meet her father and Kline. She had a heart-shaped face with a narrow nose that bent to the left. Copper-colored hair swirled around her head like coiling snakes. She was wearing tight shorts that started low and finished high, a green T-shirt, and had a small dog slung in a pink designer bag under her arm. It was one of those ..
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Robert Crais |
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645ab12
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Pike studied her. She was pretty and used to it, and the clothes and the hair indicated she liked being the center of attention, which would be a problem. The Savile Row suits were still piling up bags.
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Robert Crais |
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eb2fff4
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Elvis Cole "JOE--?" Cole realized Pike had hung up. That was the kind of call you got from Joe Pike. You'd answer the phone, he'd grunt something like I'm coming up, and that was it. Polite communication had never been one of Pike's strong points."
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Robert Crais |
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8573da5
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THE CHOKE HOLD cut off blood to a man's brain, putting him to sleep like a laptop when its battery is low. It was an effective way to subdue a person, though sometimes that person did not wake up. Pike sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for the man to wake.
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Robert Crais |
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f4622dd
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When the man's eyes regained focus, Pike reached out with his left hand. This time he moved slowly, as if he were going to caress the man's cheek. He dug his thumb into the nerve where the jaw hinged with the zygomatic arch. The man tried to twist away, but he was taped to the chair. Pike held the pressure for a long time. When Pike let go, the man gulped air as if he had been under water. He worked his jaw, giving Pike the eyes you gave so..
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Robert Crais |
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2be1f72
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Pike dug his index finger into the soft tissue beneath the man's collarbone where twenty-six individual nerves joined into the brachial plexus. The supraclavicular nerve, which carried information into the spinal cord, ran close to the skin at that point, following a groove in the bone. When Pike crushed the nerve bundle hard into the bone, the entire brachial plexus fired a pain signal not unlike that from a root canal without novocaine.
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Robert Crais |
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8d9ed86
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When Pike finally released the pressure, he knew the pain would burn on with the ferocity of ant poison, so he touched another spot, this one in the man's neck, which reduced the pain. The man sagged, and his face paled to the color of meat left in water.
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Robert Crais |
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1cfe3a5
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We're not so different." The girl burst out laughing. "Ohmigod! Oh my God--dude! Maybe you're high!" Pike put the car in gear, but kept his foot on the brake. Their sameness seemed obvious. "You want to be seen; me, I want to be invisible. It's all the same." The girl stared at him, then straightened herself the way he had straightened himself. She said, "An idealist."
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Robert Crais |
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27c72f9
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where I keep my computer. I opened
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Robert Crais |
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636ca8f
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She gazed up at the buildings and imagined angels perched on the edge of the roofs; tall slender angels with drooping wings; standing in perfect silence, watching her without expectation as if in an eternal dream: We give you the city. No one is watching. Set yourself free.
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freedom
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Robert Crais |
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1a91af0
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After a bit, she said, "Do you believe in angels?" "No." "I do. That's why I go driving like this. I look for angels. They only come out at night."
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believe-in-angels
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Robert Crais |
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02ab6da
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In the desert. How you looked at your father. Not looking to see him, but to see if he was paying attention. He was focused on Bud and his lawyer and me, so you would say something outrageous to get his attention. You needed to have him see you." She glanced out the window. "I don't care if he sees me or not." "Not now maybe, but once. You wouldn't need it so badly if you didn't care." She looked back at him, and now the line between her br..
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Robert Crais |
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2b992ac
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Cole got out of his car first. He scanned the surrounding roofs and windows like a Secret Service agent clearing the way for the president, then meandered around his car to the passenger side. He hefted a long green duffel from behind the seat and slung it over his shoulder. Pike saw him wince. From the way the bag pulled, you could see it was heavy. Cole came back to the girl's side of the car.
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Robert Crais |
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e00514f
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Nothing smelled worse than the death of another human being. Not horses or cattle or rotten whales washed onto a beach. Human death was the smell of what hid in the future, waiting for you.
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Robert Crais |
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55d5d14
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Pike knew something was wrong. The tension in Cole's body was as obvious as a corpse hanging from the ceiling. Cole was pretending to be fine for the girl.
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Robert Crais |
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052080a
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Chen turned back to the box and examined the picture through the glass. White smudges were appearing on the front and back surfaces of the photograph, but he still had a long way to go. Fingerprints were nothing but sweat. After the water evaporated, an organic residue was left. The fumes from the superglue reacted with the amino acids, glucose, and peptides in the organics to form a white goo, but growing the goo took time. John figured he..
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Robert Crais |
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782b225
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Chen was pleased. He had twelve separate and singular prints, each showing defined typica. Typica were the characteristic points by which fingerprints could be identified--the loops and swirls and bifurcations that make up a fingerprint.
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Robert Crais |
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5029bc5
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COLE STOPPED by his office that morning to pick up the calling logs before heading on to stay with the girl. His friend at the phone company had faxed twenty-six pages of outgoing and incoming phone numbers, some of which were identified, but many of which were not. Cole would have to go through the numbers one by one, but the girl would probably help. Cole liked the girl. She was funny and smart and laughed at his jokes. All the major food..
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Robert Crais |
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ba65d17
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as much as I'd like to lick chocolate syrup off your body, I want you to shut up.
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Robert Crais |
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eee078c
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He left ICM last year to start his own talent agency and things just haven't gone the way they should. He's had to worry about the house payments and the cars and schools.
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Robert Crais |
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58820f1
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Jon said, "Two hundred kilograms is four hundred forty pounds. That much C-4 takes up about eight cubic feet, which is your basic cardboard box." Amy"
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Robert Crais |
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8e5baeb
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Is Dolan there?" "What's it to you?" "I want to talk to her." "Haven't seen her. You wanna know what I heard Krantz say?" "I'm not going to like this, am I?" "Krantz says you were probably in on it with that bastard, Pike. He says if he can tie you into it, maybe you and Pike can do the IV tango together." Williams" --
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Robert Crais |