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97c3a4b
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It's six. We're closed. You need to leave, or I'll call the police." Eddie said, "Asshole fed." They were glaring at me when Eddie suddenly focused on something behind me, and his face sagged. "Oh shit." I turned as Rudy J reached behind his desk for a baseball bat, and then the door opened. A tough-looking Asian man in a nice suit and sunglasses swaggered in first. He had been born with a thick neck and large bones, but time in a gym gave ..
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Robert Crais |
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0ecc8c3
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Daniel hoped they were right. The arrow dude might be some kinda bad-ass mercenary, but if he had a hard-on for the waitress, he was way past the money stage. Men stayed sharp when it came to money. Men got stupid when it came to women. Daniel
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Robert Crais |
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4729ba8
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KELLY WALSH STOOD twelve inches from the table, close enough so he was forced to look up, but not so close as to touch the table. Pike recognized this as a controlling technique. By assuming a superior position she hoped to create a sense of authority. Like unplugging the camera. She was demonstrating she had the power to do as she wished, even at Parker Center. Pike
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Robert Crais |
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43360e1
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Stone's voice came in Pike's ear. "Movement." They were on cell phones, each with a Bluetooth bud in his ear. They had satellite phones, but the regular cells were easier so long as they had a signal and military-grade GPS units. "No joy." Meaning Pike didn't see the vehicles. Stone had a better view, and was using binos. "Van's backing out--" The dingy van crept into Pike's sight line as Stone said it. Pike started the Jeep, and nosed towa..
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Robert Crais |
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c3f92d9
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A young Latin guy with thick shoulders and dull eyes came out when I stopped, as if he had been waiting. "You the magazine guy?" The magazine guy. "That's right. Elvis Cole. I have a ten o'clock with Ms. Morales." "I gotta unlock the gate. See the empty spot where it says Delivery? Park there. You might want to put up the top and lock it." "Think it'll be safe?" That would be me, flashing the ironic smile at their overkill battlestar securi..
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Robert Crais |
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60039ac
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Krista Morales had a heart-shaped face, golden skin, and a smile that dimpled her right cheek. Her eyes were deep chocolate, and her hair glistened with the deep black sheen of a crow's wing in the sun. I smiled at the picture, then handed it back. "Pretty."
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Robert Crais |
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2356b08
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Okay, listen. The ATF analyzed the bomb from my car. You know what taggants are?" "Detection markers." Taggants had been required in plastic explosives since the nineties. "The"
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Robert Crais |
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33a979f
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Twenty-two miles west of the Salton Sea, one hundred sixty-two miles east of Los Angeles, yellow dust rooster-tailed behind them as the Escalade raced across the twilight desert. The sound system boomed so they could hear bad music over the eighty-mile-per-hour wind, what with the windows down to blow out the stink. Dennis
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Robert Crais |
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2fa6b12
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In the back seat, Khalil Haddad leaned forward. Haddad was a thin, dark Yemeni drug runner who had been hauling khat into Mexico before the cartels shut him down. Now, he worked for the Syrian like Orlato and Ruiz. Orlato was certain Haddad talked shit about him to the Syrian, Arab to Arab, so Orlato hated the little bastard. Haddad
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Robert Crais |
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625243f
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Grebner shuffled warily to his feet. Pike turned him around, tied off his hands, then pushed him back to the floor. Grebner squinted at Pike, trying to read him, but saw only the mirrored surface of Pike's sunglasses--blue bug eyes in an expressionless face. Pike knew Grebner would find this unnerving. Like Walsh when she had him at Parker Center, he was psyching the edge.
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Robert Crais |
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511ebc7
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Darkness towered above Joe Pike like an ominous black cloud. He did not know when or where he was, or how he came to be trapped here with this awful thing. He only knew the giant shadow would smother him with a darkness he could not escape. The shadow fell over him with the delicate grace of fog, but held him with the awful weight of concrete, a rising pool of blackness that would fill his mouth and nose and ears. Pike fought desperately to..
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Robert Crais |
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c55f875
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Maggie jumped to a full alert, her eyes locked on the greasy cube. Scott threw it hard, and Maggie sprinted after it. The chunk bounced and skipped through the grass thirty yards away. Scott didn't know if she could see it, but canine eyes were far more sensitive to motion than human eyes, and her nose would do the rest. Maggie's
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Robert Crais |
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6689b5e
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Streetlamps and security lights blazed hot in the confined lane, giving the mist a purple-blue glow. Pike stopped outside Dru's house. A few windows glowed dull ocher in the surrounding houses, but most were dark and all were quiet. No one was awake. Even Jared's window was dark. Pike
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kate-daniels
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Robert Crais |
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4546e51
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Pike closed the Jeep, and watched them. He was vaguely aware of the bodyguards, but they were as inconsequential as a passing thought. He focused on Darko. Darko had done these things, and now Pike had an obligation to Frank. The obligation existed because they carried each other's slack and trusted their teammates would pick them up if they fell. No one was left behind, which meant the obligation extended beyond logic and reason. It was an..
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Robert Crais |
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53e88b7
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The begging snapped into a sharp muffled shriek, just one, just the one terrible muted cry. Krista couldn't move. She stared at the door as if it were a nightmare painting from Hieronymus Bosch's personal, tortured hell. Then
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Robert Crais |
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77ec27a
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Stone held up something that looked like the GPS locator he removed from Pike's Jeep. "Remember this?" Walsh reddened as Stone went on. "It's not yours. We canned the one you put on his Jeep. This one's mine. White-burst digital ceramic, no RF, will not show on airport scanners or wands. It's better than yours." The"
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Robert Crais |
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db679dd
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Pollard took a breath. First Maria Juarez had disappeared, and now her tape had been destroyed, the same tape Maria claimed as her husband's alibi. Pollard found herself smiling, though without any humor. A hot breeze had picked up, but felt good on her face. She liked being on the summit. Pollard
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Robert Crais |
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140a6a7
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Cowly took the hand, and offered a perfunctory smile. "Joyce"
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Robert Crais |
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d98ff18
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Most dogs could hear four times better than a person, but Maggie's enormous, upright ears evolved to detect quiet predators and distant prey. She could control each ear independently of the other. Eighteen muscles articulated each ear, shaping and sculpting her sail-like pinna to gather and concentrate sounds at frequencies far beyond any a human could hear. This allowed Maggie to hear seven times better than Scott. She could hear the whine..
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Robert Crais |
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4288b7a
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Mrs. Bartello opened the screen wider, her eyes bunching with sorrow. "I'm sorry. You don't know. I'm sorry. Donna passed away." Holman felt himself slow as if he had been drugged; as if his heart and breath and the blood in his veins were winding down like a phonograph record when you pulled the plug. First Richie, now Donna. He didn't say anything, and Mrs. Bartello's sorrowful eyes grew knowing. She"
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Robert Crais |
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5012bd7
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Holman felt the slowness coalesce into a kind of distant calm.
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Robert Crais |
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8f482c8
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POLLARD HAD NEVER been good in the morning. Every morning for as long as she could remember--months, maybe years--she woke feeling depleted, and dreading the pain of beginning her day. She drank two cups of black coffee just to give herself a pulse. But
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Robert Crais |
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172d0c7
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During the past two months, Holman had trained part-time as a trimmer in the printing plant, which meant his job was to load five-, six-, and eight-foot-wide rolls of fabric into the printer, make sure the fabric fed square, then make sure the automatic trimmers at the end of the process made a clean cut.
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Robert Crais |
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41f40a0
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Holman studied the two cops. They were both in their thirties with solid builds and burnished faces as if they spent time outdoors. They were fit men and young, but neither had Holman's heavy shoulders and weight. The man seated beside Holman was wearing a wedding ring. Holman
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Robert Crais |
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67b789f
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I felt a stir of hope. Computers and smartphones left a number trail as distinct as tracks in the snow each time they touched the Internet. One of these numbers was assigned by providers but one was hardwired into the device. From the instant a person signed on, their computer's numerical path was logged and recorded by Internet service providers, networks, wireless hotspots, servers, and routers, forever linking the time, location, and pat..
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Robert Crais |
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df826bf
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I said, "Was it Amy?" "If it was, she was too smart for them, which is what drew their attention." Pike said, "They couldn't ID the source." "Meaning what?" Jon smirked. "Meaning the crap on these boards is usually posted by a crank in a garage, or a thirteen-year-old idiot, toked up on the big sister's weed. Thirteen-year-old idiots are easy to find. This computer was hidden behind anonymous proxies, virtual networks, and spoofed identity ..
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Robert Crais |
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9cae2f1
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Scott parked in plain view by a gnarled podocarpus tree, nose to nose with the Jeep. He tucked the suspect sketch into his pocket, got out, and went to the edge of the slope. Cole and his buddies were watching him like three crows on a fence. A rumpled black cat with a crooked ear was watching him, too. The cat's eyes were hateful. Cole
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Robert Crais |
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b4858fb
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Cole's interest was a tell. He wasn't expressing casual curiosity. He was all business, and carried himself like a man with a need to know. Scott didn't like the way Cole's friends were staring, like a couple of lions waiting to pounce. "I'd rather speak alone." "We're good." Cole"
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Robert Crais |
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1d525d9
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Meryl Lawrence was in her mid-forties, with sandy hair and the trim, sturdy build of a woman who took care of herself. She wet her lips as she stared at the phone, thinking, and finally glanced up. "What"
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Robert Crais |
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23c2d3d
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She fell silent for a time, then slowly looked at me. "She was just so lonely, you know? It was painful. I told her to try one of those online matchmaking services. I pushed. Women like Amy can be--" She searched for the right word, but wasn't pleased with the result. "--persuaded. I talked her into it." "You think this is your fault." "Isn't it? I badgered. I nagged. She started swapping emails with someone. This is how I know there's a ma..
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Robert Crais |
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7a9c453
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Maybe he's just some guy. Maybe he doesn't have anything to do with why she left or why she took the money." Meryl Lawrence made a tiny self-loathing snort. "I'll ask her if you can find her." I took the envelope. She watched me put it away but didn't look any less unhappy with herself or relieved. "Thank you." "I promised." She gave me a rueful smile. "If"
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Robert Crais |
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86bbd43
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POLLARD CALLED IT the blood tingle. She blasted up the Hollywood Freeway, high-fiving the dashboard and pumping her fist, feeling the electric buzz in her fingers and legs that had always come with making a breakthrough in a case--the blood tingle.
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Robert Crais |
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bdb649a
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he believed the window of time through which he could enter was shrinking.
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Robert Crais |
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b0b261c
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Sergeant Dominick Leland was tall, thin as barbed wire, and peered at the world through a permanent scowl. A rim of steel-colored fuzz circled his mocha pate, and two fingers were missing from his left hand, lost to a monstrous Rottweiler-mastiff attack dog he fought to protect a K-9 partner. With thirty-two years on the job as a K-9 officer, Dominick Leland had served as the Platoon's Chief Trainer longer than anyone in the history of the ..
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Robert Crais |
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0c2f642
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Every second we have with these fine animals is a blessing. No creature, human or otherwise, will love you with such devotion, or trust you so fully. Remember this, Officer James. These dogs will lay their precious hearts bare to you, and hold back no part for themselves. Can anyone else in your pathetic excuse for a life say the same? Such trust is a gift from God Almighty above, so best you be worthy. Scott
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Robert Crais |
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ab9ecca
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The line went dead as I checked the mirror. The blue Dodge was back, but didn't stay long. It appeared twice more, never closer than three or four cars, and I never picked out the cars that replaced it. I wouldn't have known the Dodge was following me if they hadn't jumped the red. Jumping the red had cost them. I passed UCLA and the National Cemetery in Westwood, and reached Brentwood when Pike texted. HERE Pike, saying he was ready. 12OUT..
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Robert Crais |
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d10893a
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Pike was silent for a moment, then simply hung up. To expect more was to be disappointed. Everett's
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Robert Crais |
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f185ab7
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I opened the material I had about Amy Breslyn and studied her picture again. She didn't look like a person who would embezzle four hundred sixty thousand dollars, but people can fool you. She looked like a sad version of someone's marshmallow aunt: a kindly woman, slightly out-of-date, who wore sensible shoes and minded her own business. I
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Robert Crais |
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b727356
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the lobby pay phone, and called her. She answered on the second ring.
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Robert Crais |
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13ad5e4
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The Burbank Studios in beautiful downtown Burbank.
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Robert Crais |
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8b30262
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shoulder cast climbed
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Robert Crais |
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b62608f
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Levy introduced them to Mike Fowler's widow and four sons, Mellon's wife, and Ash's parents. All of them seemed drained, and Holman thought Fowler's wife was probably sedated. Everyone treated him politely and with respect, but Holman still felt conspicuous and out of place. He caught the others staring at him several times and--each time--he flushed, certain they were thinking, That's Holman's father, the criminal. He felt more embarrassed..
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Robert Crais |
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9150d09
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there was nothing." "Did you look for oil drips?" Cole said it just like that, without accusation, and Chen felt himself darken. "What do you mean?" "The Lake Hollywood report mentions oil drips that you found at the scene. You took samples up there and identified the oil." "Penzoil 10-40." "If the shooter's car was leaking up at the lake, it probably left drops here, too. If we found them, maybe you could prove they'd come from the same ve..
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Robert Crais |
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4865782
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Holman looked back at Chee. He said, "Remember when you offered to front me some cash? I hate to do it, man, you being so nice with the car and this phone, but I gotta go back on what I said. I need a pack." A pack was a thousand dollars. When banks wrapped used twenties, they bundled fifty bills to a pack. A thousand dollars. Chee"
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Robert Crais |