by Sean Black
‘Very well,’ she said. ‘You understand, of course, that anything that’s signed is merely a way of formalizing what both parties here agree?’
Lock sighed. ‘You mean that if anyone opens their mouth then we’re all in trouble.’
‘Quite,’ said Liepowitz, with a smile that was all teeth and lipstick, reaching over to press an intercom button. ‘Lisa, could you come in here for a moment? I have some material that needs to be dealt with straight away.’
By ‘dealt with’, Lock guessed that she meant that the letters in the envelope between Clayton Mills and Raven would be shredded and then burned to ashes. He got to his feet. The smell of the place, a mix of money and hypocrisy, was getting to him. He needed some fresh air.
‘You don’t want a copy of the agreement from my client?’ she called after him.
He stopped in the doorway, Ty behind him. ‘Mail it to me.’
‘And where should I mail it?’ the attorney asked.
The question was one that Lock hadn’t given much thought to. He’d been living in a hotel just off the Sunset Strip for the past few weeks with only Angel for company. The apartment in New York belonged to Carrie, and the thought of living there without her was more than he could take.
He had no home, he realized. Not in any real sense anyway. Carrie had been his home and now she was gone.
‘Mr Lock?’ Fay Liepowitz prompted him, with a shrug of her shoulders.
‘Send it to Ty,’ Lock said finally. ‘He’ll be able to find me.’
As Lock passed the South Pasadena exit of the 10 freeway heading out of Los Angeles, the dense, choking wall of vehicles surrounding him began to clear. Ahead of him lay open road. He clicked on the radio, then clicked it off again after the first few bars of music. It didn’t matter what song it was: upbeat songs held a mark of disrespect, and love songs, even the cheesier ones, reduced him to a maudlin mess. He had never before been so aware of the power of music. He settled instead for an imperfect silence.
He glanced at the front passenger seat, expecting to see Carrie. It was empty; another cruel lapse of memory.
For the past few weeks he had been surrounded by people who told him that he shouldn’t dwell on what had happened. But not to dwell seemed like a betrayal. And yet he knew that at some point he would have to let go. The weight of doing that felt more painful right now.
He had lost friends before. He had lost family. He had killed and seen those he loved killed in return. His was an existence populated by the ghosts of those who had passed. He knew he was not alone in that regard.
He slowed the car a little, the muscles in his shoulders and back tightening. For a rare second, and for the first time since he had landed in Los Angeles, the highway ahead was completely clear. Ahead of him lay the nation he now loved and hated in almost equal measure; loved for all the good reasons – life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness – but hated because it had allowed men like Reardon Galt and Clayton Mills back on to the streets to destroy those same rights for others.
Finally, blinking away the weight settling on his eyelids, he decided to take the only option open to him. Pressing down on the accelerator, Ryan Lock kept moving forward. He had no destination in mind. He trusted that he would know it when he got there.
Acknowledgements
A huge thank-you to my family, friends, agents and publishers for their continued encouragement and support. A special mention also to my brother-in-law. Lieutenant Ron Spicer of the Los Angeles Police Department, for his guidance. I should stress, however, that any procedural or other errors are entirely my own. Above all, though, I would like to thank Ryan and Ty’s fans, my readers, who make it all worthwhile.
About the Author
To research the Ryan Lock series of thrillers, Sean Black has trained as a bodyguard with former members of the Royal Military Police’s specialist close protection unit, spent time inside America’s most dangerous maximum security prison, Pelican Bay Supermax in California, and undergone desert survival training in Arizona. A graduate of Columbia University in New York, he also holds a degree in Politics and Economics from Oxford University, England. The Ryan Lock books have been translated into Dutch, German and Russian, with a Spanish translation of the latest book in the series, The Devil's Bounty, scheduled for 2013, from the translator of The Kite Runner.
For more information on Sean Black and his books, see his website at www.seanblackbooks.com, or follow him on Facebook: www.facebook.com/seanblackthrillers.
Other novels in the Ryan Lock series
Deadlock
Gridlock
The Devil's Bounty
Lock & Load: A Ryan Lock Short
First published in Great Britain
in 2011 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Sean Black 2011
Sean Black has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.