She stopped only once, for a restroom break and some dinner, which she ate in her car, looking at the stars swarming the big sky.
She held up her bottle of water and said, “See you soon, Sam.”
Pine drove on, timing it so she arrived at ADX Florence about ten minutes before midnight. She got out of her car, slipped on her jacket, and clipped her FBI badge to her belt.
By the time she cleared security and was being escorted down the corridor to the visiting room, it was one minute to midnight.
She sat in the same seat and looked through the same wall of polycarbonate glass, awaiting his arrival.
Just like last time a half-dozen guards brought Daniel James Tor to her.
They chained him down and left, waiting just outside as before.
Tor popped his neck, placed his manacled hands in front of him, and eyed her curiously. And she figured he had to be curious, since he had agreed to see her again.
She reached into her pocket and took out the picture.
She looked at it for a moment.
The image of Mercy gazed back at her.
Pine placed it against the glass so that Tor could see Mercy staring back at him.
“Where’s my sister?” she said.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Michelle, this book has a crackerjack female character who can eye roll with the best, which I know you will appreciate.
To Michael Pietsch, for going above and beyond.
To Lindsey Rose, for never, ever missing a single beat.
To Andy Dodds, Nidhi Pugalia, Ben Sevier, Brian McLendon, Karen Kosztolnyik, Beth deGuzman, Albert Tang, Brigid Pearson, Elizabeth Connor, Brian Lemus, Jarrod Taylor, Bob Castillo, Anthony Goff, Michele McGonigle, Cheryl Smith, Andrew Duncan, Joseph Benincase, Tiffany Sanchez, Morgan Swift, Stephanie Sirabian, Matthew Ballast, Jordan Rubinstein, Dave Epstein, Rachel Hairston, Karen Torres, Christopher Murphy, Ali Cutrone, Tracy Dowd, Martha Bucci, Rena Kornbluh, Lukas Fauset, Thomas Louie, Sean Ford, Laura Eisenhard, Mary Urban, Barbara Slavin, Kirsiah McNamara, and everyone at Grand Central Publishing, for continuing to reach higher and higher.
To Aaron and Arleen Priest, Lucy Childs, Lisa Erbach Vance, Frances Jalet-Miller, John Richmond, and Juliana Nador, for always being by my side.
To Mitch Hoffman, for pushing me on this book to such an extent that it went to ELEVEN (Spinal Tap reference!) on the final version.
To Anthony Forbes Watson, Jeremy Trevathan, Trisha Jackson, Katie James, Alex Saunders, Sara Lloyd, Claire Evans, Sarah Arratoon, Stuart Dwyer, Jonathan Atkins, Anna Bond, Leanne Williams, Natalie McCourt, Stacey Hamilton, Sarah McLean, Charlotte Williams, and Neil Lang at Pan Macmillan, for being the best in the business. Can’t wait to see the new digs!
To Praveen Naidoo and the team at Pan Macmillan in Australia, for raising your game with every book.
To Caspian Dennis and Sandy Violette, for being such great advocates and friends. Our tour-end annual dinner is something I always look forward to. Knickerbocker sundaes all around!
To Steven Maat and the entire Bruna team, for leading the way in Holland.
To Bob Schule, for your stellar work on reading through the manuscript.
To Mark Steven Long, for copyediting.
To my good friend Dr. Dana Ericksen, for all the hiking info on the Grand Canyon. The Heineken scene was for you, my friend!
To FBI Special Agent (retired) Bob Ulmer, for providing me with a ton of great information about the Bureau. And to his daughter Wendy Noory, for putting us in touch.
To Dana Schindler, for getting me great research sources, and being a wonderful friend.
To Anne and Paul Buellesbach, for sharing with me all your mule-riding adventures and cool information on the Canyon.
To charity auction winners Carol Blum (Amelia Island Book Festival’s Authors in Schools), Sung Nam Chung (Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights), Colson Lambert (Project Kesher), and David Roth (The Mark Twain House & Museum), I hope you were suitably thrilled with your characters. And thanks for supporting such great causes.
To Benjamin Priest, with a belated bar mitzvah gift.
To Michelle Butler, for helping to make Columbus Rose a lean, mean writing machine!
Long Road to Mercy
David Baldacci is one of the world’s bestselling and favourite thriller writers. With over 130 million copies in print, his books are published in over 80 territories and 45 languages, and have been adapted for both feature-film and television. He has established links to government sources, giving his books added authenticity. David is also the co-founder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation®, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across the US. Still a resident of his native Virginia, he invites you to visit him at DavidBaldacci.com and his foundation at WishYouWellFoundation.org.
Trust him to take you to the action.
BY DAVID BALDACCI
The Camel Club series
The Camel Club • The Collectors
Stone Cold • Divine Justice • Hell’s Corner
King and Maxwell series
Split Second • Hour Game
Simple Genius • First Family
The Sixth Man • King and Maxwell
Shaw series
The Whole Truth • Deliver Us From Evil
John Puller series
Zero Day • The Forgotten • The Escape • No Man’s Land
Will Robie series
The Innocent • The Hit
The Target • The Guilty • End Game
Amos Decker series
Memory Man • The Last Mile • The Fix • The Fallen
Atlee Pine series
Long Road to Mercy
Vega Jane series
The Finisher • The Keeper • The Width of the World
Other novels
True Blue • Absolute Power • Total Control • The Winner
The Simple Truth • Saving Faith • Wish You Well • Last Man Standing • The Christmas Train • One Summer
Short Stories
No Time Left • Bullseye
First published 2018 by Grand Central Publishing, USA
First published in the UK 2018 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2018 by Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5098-7437-8
Copyright © 2018 by Columbus Rose, Ltd.
Art Direction and design by Neil Lang/Pan Macmillan
Cover images: figure © Arcangel; Shutterstock
The right of David Baldacci to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Visit www.panmacmillan.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.
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