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f155652
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It's me. Where's Rina?" "With Yanni. I brought her back after our tour." "Do me a favor, and go get them. The ATF knows I was at their building, and suspects I was seeing a source. They want the source." Cole made a soft whistle. "How do you know?" "I just spent three hours with them." Pike sketched out what he found at Willowbrook, what happened when Walsh had him picked up, and the information she gave him about Darko."
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Robert Crais |
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9ddcad4
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Somewhere between Burger King and now, the Syrian's sleight-of-hand security system worked. Pike wasn't here. I never doubted, not once, he would find me. My task was to stay alive until it happened or I could escape on my own. The United States Army sent me to something called Ranger School. The Ranger motto was sua sponte. It meant you're on your own, asshole. Okay.
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Robert Crais |
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8b7a896
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Pike said, "Yanni's building is being watched by the police. You shouldn't go back." Yanni mumbled something in Serbian, and Rina chattered something back. She said, "The police don't care about Yanni. Why would they watch?" "They followed me earlier today. They know I'm trying to find Darko, so now they believe someone in Yanni's complex has information about him. They will look for that person." Rina and Yanni launched into more Serbian, ..
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Robert Crais |
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e972f9b
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I said, "What is this place?" "Old date farm. This building here is where they used to box up the shit and load it onto trucks." Rows"
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Robert Crais |
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1dfda6d
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His hair was a quarter-inch short, his skin was cooked dark, and his knuckles were scarred and coarse. Hydeck
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Robert Crais |
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8073ff0
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They led me across the commissary and along a short hall into the next building. The skinhead was named Royce, and Royce liked to bitch. He and most of the other guards had arrived yesterday, and didn't like busting their asses all night to put up the plywood. He went on about it until the Syrian told him to shut up. Then he shut, and we passed more guards. Most carried shock prods and clubs, but some had short black shotguns and one had a ..
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Robert Crais |
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4945e2d
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They climbed out of their car as Pike pulled in, and were waiting with their badges when he stepped from the Jeep. The man was in his fifties, with a fleshy face, thinning red hair, and a blue summer-weight sport coat. The woman was fifteen years younger, with raven hair, black eyes, and a navy pants suit that hung as if she had recently lost weight. Her gun dimpled the coat at her waist, and she stood with her hand floating close as if she..
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Robert Crais |
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7aaf478
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She shouted for help, screamed and shrieked, and thrashed again. He simply watched until she was winded. Then she finally spoke. "I was in the kitchen--" "Now you're not." She was stirring honey into hot tea. She had not heard him enter. Did not hear him approach. She never knew he compressed her carotid artery, cut off the oxygen to her brain, and put her to sleep. She had not seen him until this moment when she opened her eyes, there in t..
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Robert Crais |
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010b910
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Scott let Maggie out the rear, clipped her lead, and hurried to catch up as Sims and another Fugitive dick brought out Estelle Rolley. Rolley looked like a walking skeleton. Street officers called this "the meth diet." Cowly" --
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Robert Crais |
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d05fb61
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WALSH AND FOUR AGENTS from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms arrived at Cole's house an hour later. Two stayed with their cars, but two male agents came in with Walsh--a tough-looking Latin guy named Paul Rodriguez and a tall lanky guy named Steve Hurwitz. Hurwitz was wearing an olive green Special Response Team jumpsuit. SRT was the ATF's version of SWAT. They spread through Cole's living room with an air of watchful suspicion, ..
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Robert Crais |
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9f47f97
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Mills paced to the door, but didn't leave, as if he had needed motion to contain himself. "I"
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Robert Crais |
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a6d5cc5
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Pike stepped into the first bay and spotted the man from the Monte Carlo in an office at the rear of the building. He was in front of a television with his back to the door. The Dodgers were playing a day game. Pike checked to see that the other two men were still struggling with the fender, then slipped toward the office as silently as a fish gliding through water. On
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Robert Crais |
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3b1592e
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I glanced at the address. "He lives in Palm Springs?" "Somewhere in L.A., I think. His family has the house in Palm Springs, or it might belong to a friend, but I don't really know. Krista hasn't told me much about him." Old story. The less Krista told her, the less she could criticize. I put the address aside. "Okay."
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Robert Crais |
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a106774
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Okay. So how is she missing?" "She went for the weekend. That's what she told me, and she always tells me where she's going and exactly how long she'll be gone. But she's been gone now for a week, and she won't return my calls or texts, and I know it's that boy." That boy. "How long have Krista and that boy been together?" Thinking about it seemed to sicken her. "Six or seven months. I've only met him two or three times, but I don't like hi..
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Robert Crais |
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aa67d91
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I read the file, Meryl. Her corporate biography makes a big deal out of her experience. Double- and triple-based composite fuels. Slurries, gels, and castable propellants. Plasticized accelerants. I had to Google those things to see what they were." "We"
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Robert Crais |
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a995980
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Something about the desk bothered me. I sat and touched the keyboard. The monitors didn't respond. They powered up when I turned them on, but the screens showed only a bright blue field. I looked under and around her desk. I found all the necessary system components except for the brain that tied them together. Amy's computer was missing. I said, "Hmm." Detectives said things like this when they were suspicious. I"
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Robert Crais |
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9d790e5
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Maggie reached the door well before Scott, and saw another door ahead. The intruder and another man were waiting beyond it. Ten thousand generations filled her with a guardian's rage. Scott
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Robert Crais |
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b65e1ee
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Maggie reached the door well before Scott, and saw another door ahead. The intruder and another man were waiting beyond it. Ten thousand generations filled her with a guardian's rage. Scott was hers to care for, and hers to keep. She
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Robert Crais |
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f21980d
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Mr. Locano lowered the note. His cool expression told me I had insulted him. "My practice is immigration law. I help clients obtain visas and green cards, and fight deportation and removal orders. If you believe I'm involved in something illegal, you misunderstand the nature of my work." "That isn't what I meant to suggest, Mr. Locano. If I sounded that way, I apologize." He didn't look mollified. "Nita"
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Robert Crais |
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cd9fb96
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Pike dug his thumb into the side of the man's neck where the C3 nerve root emerged from the third vertebra, crushing the root into the bone. This caused the man's shoulder and chest to go numb with a sharp flash of pain. His diaphragm locked and his breathing stopped mid-breath. The C3 nerve controlled the diaphragm. "If"
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Robert Crais |
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5198a02
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Pike dug his thumb into the side of the man's neck where the C3 nerve root emerged from the third vertebra, crushing the root into the bone. This caused the man's shoulder and chest to go numb with a sharp flash of pain. His diaphragm locked and his breathing stopped mid-breath. The C3 nerve controlled the diaphragm. "If you get up, I'll do this again. It will hurt worse." Pike released the pressure, and knew the man's shoulder and arm now ..
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Robert Crais |
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3a84966
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The Police Administration Building was a beautiful glass-and-concrete building with a triangular atrium that looked like the prow of a crystal ship. The cops who worked there called it the Boat. The opposite side looked like a Borg mothership. Furth
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Robert Crais |
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32345a0
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The new guy smiled and put out a hand the size of a king crab. "Brad Carter. You're Mr. Cole?" "Yes, sir. Elvis Cole." He clutched my hand like a king crab, too. "Thanks"
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Robert Crais |
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64993fb
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Familiar was good. Unfamiliar was bad. A soft scuffing came from beyond the old female's crate. Maggie instantly lifted her head, and cocked her ears toward the sound. She recognized human footsteps, and understood two people were coming up the drive. Maggie hurried to the French doors and pushed her nose under the curtain. She heard a twig snap, brittle leaves being crushed, and the scuffing grow louder. Tree rats stopped moving to hide in..
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Robert Crais |
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7f59fd2
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Jon had spent most of his career gathering intelligence, providing security, rescuing hostages, and, one way or another, in direct, boots-on-the-ground combat with individuals identified as terrorists by the United Nations, the United States government, and the civilized world. This being Nigeria, Jon knew the people responsible for the bombing would be members of Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group with ties to al-Qaeda, or a Boko Haram..
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Robert Crais |
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48590ca
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Jon went back inside, and Googled pictures of Jacob Breslyn. He found a tall young man with a thin face, relaxed smile, and high forehead. Geeky, but growing into himself. An everyday, normal civilian. Jon
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Robert Crais |
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c26bcc5
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Jon wondered if Pike needed money. If Pike needed money, Jon could make money. And Jon loved making money. The woman on the far side of the bed snored. The woman beside him stirred. Her voice was cloudy with three-hundred-dollar Scotch. "Qui est-il?" "Rendors-toi." Backpacking French hippie chicks Jon met when he came through Customs. The girl made a hazy smile as her eyes closed. "Il est soldat comme toi?" "Personne n'est comme moi, cherie..
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Robert Crais |
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5a64454
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A taupe couch faced matching taupe chairs across a blocky coffee table. Matching end tables that were too large for the space bracketed the couch, and a generic mass-produced painting hung on the wall. The furnishings appeared new, but looked like furnishings found in a discount motel chain. Pike
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Robert Crais |
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72f076d
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Jon Stone spoke thirteen languages and was fluent in six, French being one. He spoke it so well the girls thought he was a native Parisian pretending to be an American. This ability to blend with the natives was a valuable tool when Jon plied his trade. Jon eased from the bed. Floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors lined the back of his house, ten-foot-tall, custom-designed monsters so Jon could Zen on the view. Golden lights glittered to the..
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Robert Crais |
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55f3f8b
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What the fuck are you doing in my house? I could've shot your ass." "Is someone in Los Angeles selling military munitions?" Talk about non sequitur. Jon"
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Robert Crais |
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77f5453
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Jon glanced at his bedroom again. Nothing moved within the black rectangle framed by the doors. "Al-Qaeda." Pike nodded. "Listen, so you know, just because some idiot sells this crap doesn't mean it's going to terrorists. All-American morons turn grenades into paperweights, and RPGs into lamps." "The woman doesn't care about morons. She's been trying to contact an FTO." FTO. Foreign terrorist organization. Jon"
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Robert Crais |
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0b89e9f
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Jon Stone studied his friend. Pike's face was an empty mask, unknown and unknowable. The reflection of the city in his dark glasses was the only sign of life. Pike said, "Suicide bomb in Nigeria. No suspects or arrests. She wants answers, Jon. I guess she figures she has to go to the source." "Terrorists." "Or someone with access and connections." "In Los Angeles?" "Echo Park." Jon went to the edge of the deck. He watched the helicopters pr..
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Robert Crais |
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7eaf290
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Jon found the phone and took it outside. This particular phone, the phone Jon used for business, scrambled its signal into garbage only a phone with a similar chip could unscramble. Deep
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Robert Crais |
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9c8dc86
|
The Predators The African lion makes a kill only twice out of every ten hunts. Leopards do better, catching their prey twenty-five percent of the time, and cheetahs do best of all the big cats, with a kill ratio of nearly fifty percent. The deadliest four-legged African predator is not a big cat. It cannot be outrun or outdistanced, its pursuit is relentless, and it captures its prey nine out of every ten hunts. The most dangerous predator ..
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Robert Crais |
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1bda4b8
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The best dog training was based on the reward system. You did not punish a dog for doing wrong, you rewarded the dog for doing right.
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Robert Crais |
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791af92
|
The living room, dining room, and kitchen proved to be a waste of time. Another phone sat in the kitchen with another empty memory. I was having what we in the trade called an unproductive morning. The
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Robert Crais |
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8b66fa3
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The Platoon's training facility was a low cinder-block building at the edge of a fenced grass field. The building was divided into two small offices and a makeshift kennel, where dogs could be penned between sessions. The Platoon's daily shift didn't begin until mid-afternoon, but several black-and-white K-9 cars already dotted the parking lot. A lone Bomb Detection K-9 truck stood out among them like a rhino among cattle. Scott
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Robert Crais |
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6dbfc5b
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I reset the alarm, let myself out, and went to my car. I dumped the yearbooks and files onto the passenger seat, but didn't drive away. I thought about the gun. Amy might have had second thoughts. She might have decided it was too loud or too smelly or just wasn't fun. Maybe having a gun around the house made her feel less safe, so she got rid of it. There were plenty of innocent reasons her gun was missing, but guesses weren't facts. I
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Robert Crais |
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8702ced
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Scott told himself to be patient, but wondered what Cole knew. Cole's offer to help was like a worrisome terrier that wouldn't let go of his ankle. Cole might be one of those people who colored outside the lines, but people who hung it over the edge weren't always wrong. Cole might be able to use his secret knowledge and shady connections to break the case faster than Carter. Scott
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Robert Crais |
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41f81f5
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Scott clipped the lead to Maggie's collar, and paused beside the car to let her look around. He thought she might have to pee, so he took her on a short walk. Scott let her set the pace, and sniff trees and plants for as long as she wanted. He talked to her as they walked, and when she stopped to worry a smell, he stroked his hand along her back and sides. These were bonding techniques he learned from Leland. Long strokes were soothing and ..
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Robert Crais |
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917ba2a
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Walsh looked at Cole. "Both of you?" Pike said, "He's going to have people. It'll look better if I have people, too." Cole pointed at himself. "I'm his people." Pike went on with it. "He thinks we're meeting to pick up the money. The real reason is to give him this." Stone showed them a handheld GPS locator." --
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Robert Crais |
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40a2d77
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Ramos nodded, then glanced back at me. His eyes were the hard, bright eyes of a feral desert dog smelling blood. "Harlan"
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Robert Crais |
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86e62e9
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Pike stood six-one and weighed one ninety-five, all ropy muscles and crimson arrows inked on his delts. He wore a sleeveless gray sweatshirt, sun-faded jeans, and running shoes. Dark glasses masked his eyes. No
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Robert Crais |
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0e312d1
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Jon Stone was more Joe's friend than mine, though 'friend' probably wasn't the right word. Jon was a private military contractor, which meant he was a mercenary. He was also a Princeton graduate and a former Delta Force operator. His primary client was the Department of Defense. Same boss, different pay grade. Pike
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Robert Crais |