Ninety Days After Walker's Death
Kaiyer walk hisself."
"Okay, bub." Tim still guided Tyler through the penitentiary's outermost door. On its backswing the glass caught a reflection of the stern razor wire capping the double chain links. Tim paused, taking in the grounds. The place was removed from time, somehow. It seemed not a speck of dirt had shifted in the months since Tim had delivered the boy's grandfather.
Ahead the sally-port gate, the guard tower, COs with rifles.
And Dray leaning against the grille of her Blazer, arms crossed, face tilted to the sun. She took note of their accelerating progress back across the empty visitor lot. Tyler's steps grew shorter and choppier.
Halfway there he said, "Daddy up."
Tim held out his thumbs until the tiny hands grasped them, then lifted his son, seating him against his side.
They reached the Blazer and stopped. Tim took a breath and exhaled hard.
Dray said, "I bet."
Tyler squirmed a bit, so Tim set him down. Ty picked at the Scooby-Doo Band-Aid across the toe of his sneaker. Dray studied them, her face proud and tender, the sun shining straight through her ice green eyes.
"C'mon," she said. "Let's get you boys home."
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank a number of experts who lent me their time in order to make me appear smarter than I am. I'm hopeful that their efforts paid off. If they did not, then I'm dim and accountable.
As a former marine and Terminal Island correctional officer, and current deputy U.S. marshal, Mike Pennington proved to be my utility infielder, his knowledge second only to his affability. Christopher Murphy, a brilliant biochemist, exhibited endless patience while introducing me to the ins and outs of viral vectors.
I should also like to thank Kristin Baird, M.D.; Terel Beppu, my guns 'n' bullets guy; Ali Binazir, M.D., of Elite Communications; Jason Elliott, former Navy SEAL; Jimell Griffin of the U.S. Marshals Service; Bob Levy; Thomas Sendlenski; Pegeen Rhyne and Michael Winlin of the U.S. Attorney's Office; Cheryl Van Buskirk of Caltech; and Mason Wnyocker for his business acumen.
As always, I owe much gratitude to the efforts of Stephen F. Breimer; Marc H. Glick; Rich Green of CAA; Melissa Hurwitz, M.D.; Inkwell Management; Jess Nelson Taylor; and, of course, my entire team at William Morrow. Thanks additionally to the booksellers and librarians, who continue to show me much support.
And Delinah, Rosie, and Natalie. My family.
About the Author
GREGG HURWITZ is the critically acclaimed author of The Tower, Minutes to Burn, Do No Harm, The Kill Clause, The Program and Troubleshooter. He holds a B.A. in English and psychology from Harvard University and a master's degree from Trinity College, Oxford University. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is currently writing his next novel and adapting The Kill Clause for Paramount Pictures. For more information, go to www.gregghurwitz.net.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
ALSO BY GREGG HURWITZ
Troubleshooter
The Program
The Kill Clause
Do No Harm
Minutes to Burn
The Tower
Credits
Jacket design by Bernstein Andriulli, Inc.
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
LAST SHOT. Copyright (c) 2006 by Gregg Hurwitz. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER INTERNATIONAL AND PAN-AMERICAN COPYRIGHT CONVENTIONS. BY PAYMENT OF THE REQUIRED FEES, YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE NON-EXCLUSIVE, NON-TRANSFERABLE RIGHT TO ACCESS AND READ THE TEXT OF THIS E-BOOK ON-SCREEN. NO PART OF THIS TEXT MAY BE RE-PRODUCED, TRANSMITTED, DOWN-LOADED, DECOMPILED, REVERSE ENGINEERED, OR STORED IN OR INTRODUCED INTO ANY INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, WHETHER ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL, NOW KNOWN OR HEREINAFTER INVENTED, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF HARPERCOLLINS E-BOOKS.
MICROSOFT READER AUGUST 2006 ISBN 0-06-119955-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hurwitz, Gregg Andrew. Last shot / Gregg Hurwitz.--1st ed. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-0-06-073146-5 ISBN-10: 0-06-073146-X
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The mood inside was nice and mellow until Spook taped razor blades to his
Chapter 1
Chapter 2 Decked out in Spider-Man shoes, an empty belted scabbard, Evel Knievel helme
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 Bear accelerated down the Harbor Freeway, his overused Ram protesting with a
Chapter 3
Chapter 4 The guard at the console gave them a cordial nod on their way into the secur
Chapter 4
Chapter 5 Unlike Sasso, who pivoted corners on the ball of his foot to preclude a brea
Chapter 5
Chapter 6 Tim, Bear, and Newlin sat on frail rolling chairs in the control center, sho
Chapter 6
Chapter 7 The crow lurched from one foot to the other on its spongy nighttime perch, i
Chapter 7
Chapter 8 Bear crouched with his prodigious ass floating above his heels and let his f
Chapter 8
Chapter 9 Fifth and Wall. The nucleus of a few blocks that stoically held out for squa
Chapter 9
Chapter 10 The rusting horizontal slats groaned their displeasure as the metal door sl
Chapter 10
Chapter 11 Even at 12:21 A.M. , cars lurched past the drive-through window. The manage
Chapter 11
Chapter 12 The run-down community within earshot of freeway traffic showed off couches
Chapter 12
Chapter 13 Boston bounded past Tim over the porch, leapt through the truck's open pass
Chapter 13
Chapter 14 Walker sat on the sagging couch watching the dust filter through the slant
Chapter 14
Chapter 15 Dolan cracked his knuckles for the third time that morning, psyching himsel
Chapter 15
Chapter 16 Maintaining a disciplined stillness at the head of a preposterously long co
Chapter 16
Chapter 17 Tyler's sturdy legs flexed as he tried to reverse his head out of the raili
Chapter 17
Chapter 18 Within the hour, when their stretches get stuck in traffic, I'm gonna have
Chapter 18
Chapter 19 There was no lock on the door, which made Walker nervous, but if he sat wit
Chapter 19
Chapter 20 Multiple-voice yelling rose above the blaring TV inside. Tim gave the doorb
Chapter 20
Chapter 21 A stray dog licked the necks of soda bottles in the recycle bin at the curb
Chapter 21
Chapter 22 The stumps of Marcel Deron's arms waved in circles as he laughed. The left,
Chapter 22
Chapter 23 Soiled with a fringe of water stain and an excessive smattering of bird shi
Chapter 23
Chapter 24 Tim flipped through the visitor log as he and Bear followed the head nurse
Chapter 24
Chapter 25 This time, despite the broken latch, Walker knocked on the back sliding doo
Chapter 25
Chapter 26 An attractive redhead sat behind a curved shield of a reception booth, elev
Chapter 26
Chapter 27 I need to be clear on this matter: I'm going to have to destroy the evidenc
Chapter 27
Chapter 28 Walker stepped down quietly into the model home's family room and aimed his
Chapter 28
Chapter 29 The denim couch seemed to sink around Pierce Jameson's weight, the cushions
Chapter 29
Chapter 30 A '72 Olds Cutlass Supreme held down the VIP space beside the entrance cano
Chapter 30
Chapter 31 We're past the twenty-four-hour mark. Tannino leaned into the squad room,
Chapter 31
Chapter 32 Wearing a light cotton Tommy Bahama camp shirt against the balmy August nig
Chapter 32
Chapter 33 Kaitlin opened the door, smoothing down a poof of bed head and yawning. Biz
Chapter 33
Chapter 34 Lights killed, the oversize Bronco idled beneath an overhang of pepper tree
Chapter 34
Chapter 35 Tim crouched over the blown-wide mass of flesh protruding from the neck. A
Chapter 35
Chapter 36 Ortiz got off a solid blow, and Kenny Shamrock's nose exploded in red mist.
Chapter 36
Chapter 37 You're not safe here. Kaitlin followed Walker down the hall, over a dozen
Chapter 37
Chapter 38 The command post took shape as it usually did, around an enormous conferenc
Chapter 38
Chapter 39 The churning of the roller bottles in combination with the moist warmth of
Chapter 39
Chapter 40 I said no lime. The paunchy gentleman waved off the waiter with a flare
Chapter 40
Chapter 41 Dean barely glanced up when Tim and Bear entered. His office was surprising
Chapter 41
Chapter 42 Tim screeched his Explorer around overburdened gardener trucks clogging Wil
Chapter 42
Chapter 43 Sam ground a stick into the top of the anthill, leaving it protruding like
Chapter 43
Chapter 44 Kaitlin looked up from the pot on the stove and started, dropping the woode
Chapter 44
Chapter 45 Through the humid night air, Tim and Bear could hear the popping of ammo an
Chapter 45
Chapter 46 At half past nine in the morning, the electricity kicked back on. The TV bl
Chapter 46
Chapter 47 A young security guard led Tim and Bear down the shiny warehouse corridor.
Chapter 47
Chapter 48 The scent of brine, damp wood, and seaweed brought Walker back to exotic po
Chapter 48
Chapter 49 Tim's head throbbed from too much caffeine and from squinting at online dat
Chapter 49
Chapter 50 There's a pay phone on the northwest corner of Baldwin and Huntington in Ar
Chapter 50
Chapter 51 The pay phone rang, and Tim snatched it off the hook, hunching to the concr
Chapter 51
Chapter 52 Tim turned off the phone, sat on the garden bench, and watched the fat, mot
Chapter 52
Chapter 53 A lingering party remained at a back table inside the long-closed restauran
Chapter 53
Chapter 54 What were you thinking? Dray set a plate down on the open file in front of
Chapter 54
Chapter 55 The ground stank of sewage, and the night canyon fog wasn't helping any. To
Chapter 55
Chapter 56 ESTEBAN MARTINEZ, ATTORNEY-AT-LAW. Tim, Bear, and Dray sat on the couch bac
Chapter 56
Chapter 57 Walker flicked Tim's gun to indicate the front seat, sliding into the back
Chapter 57
Chapter 58 The front rooms of the Kagan house, mood-lit for a somberness uncharacteris
Chapter 58
Chapter 59 Other kids ran and squealed with after-school exertion, but Sam slumped in
Chapter 59
Chapter 60 Tim nosed out from behind a moving van and floored it, ignoring Bear, who c
Chapter 60
Chapter 61 The house, when quiet, worried Tim. Tyler's squalling arrival on the premis
Chapter 61
Chapter 62 Given the VIP handling, the carefully negotiated seating, and the dramatica
Chapter 62
Chapter 63 The glass sculpture behind the podium webbed instantly, thousands of cracks
Chapter 63
Chapter 64 The Nextel felt hot against Tim's cheek; he realized he was pressing it har
Chapter 64
Chapter 65 Tim had called for backup, but there was no way he and Bear were going to w
Chapter 65
Chapter 66 Before Tim could comprehend that the explosion came in surround sound from
Chapter 66
Chapter 67 Walker left the Accord two blocks away in an alley. Heat stabbed down his s
Chapter 67
Chapter 68 Dolan had spent the last hour pacing laps around the pool table, his agitat
Chapter 68
Chapter 69 The lawn was overgrown. Not a noteworthy observation elsewhere, but Tim had
Chapter 69
Chapter 70 Sam sprawled on the bed, mouth ajar, glasses askew over closed eyes, his br
Chapter 70
Chapter 71 Tim remained two strides into the dark apartment, gunfacing his shadowed do
Chapter 71
Chapter 72 Seemingly relieved to be back in submissive charge, Edwin made Tim and Bear
Chapter 72
Chapter 73 Morgenstein stepped out of the shower with a shaggy bath mat wrapped around
Chapter 73
Chapter 74 I heard you got shot. Bear took a turn too hard, and Tim braced against t
Chapter 74
Chapter 75 Freed fussed at a contraption that looked like something out of a science-f
Chapter 75
Chapter 76 Timing his approach to dodge overlapping security patrols, Dolan arrived sh
Chapter 76
Chapter 77 Using his left arm to cradle twenty or so vials of Xedral against his stoma
Chapter 77
Chapter 78 Edwin answered the door, regarded the FBI team soberly, nodded, and withdre
Chapter 78
Chapter 79 The desert scent of sage drifting through his open window, Tim cruised up P
Chapter 79
Chapter 80 The alarm chimed at 2:00 A.M . Dray's complaint was unintelligible. Tim got
Chapter 80
Table of Contents
Start
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