Chapters (82)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- Praise for Blood in the Water
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
She moved quickly, down into the heart of Southie, toward the projects and the public parks where the cold had chased away even the dealers and the junkies who normally stalked the place, preying on everyone and everything they could suck into their world. She walked with her head down, drawn more than driven, to the place where she’d spent so much of her youth. She’d given no thought to her intentions, but she knew where she was headed and why. Up ahead, on a dingy, narrow, time-darkened alley off Old Colony, next to a window front filled with roasted, skinless ducks twisting from their necks, the sign hung with all the subtlety of a Vegas streetwalker.
She didn’t even look up, just passed under it as the neon threw rainbows off her jet-black hair, pulled open the heavy black door, and was greeted by the bass-laden dance rhythm pounding off the darkened stairway. The door sealed behind her with a pneumatic pucker that signaled a removal from the real world. She placed her foot firmly on the first step, paused for only a split second, and continued to the second floor of the building.
SEVENTEEN
“You’re alive?”
Cormack turned his head. He looked weak and tired. “You don’t sound relieved.” It was a fair observation, but he had a wan smile as he said it. He pressed a button on the side of the bed and it raised him into a sitting position.
“No, I am,” Steele stammered. “It’s just … I’m surprised. They had you listed as DOA.”
“And so I was, apparently. At least nearly so. The cold slowed down my body so much they couldn’t find a pulse at first. The first ER doctor was an intern, just out of school. He called an official time of death and moved on to one of the wounded firemen. I was lucky, though. One of the other doctors took another look and realized I wasn’t actually gone. By then, word of my demise was already out on the street.”
“Jesus.”
“They say that if hypothermia hadn’t set in, I probably would have drowned. Thank God they got me out quickly.”
Kit looked over her shoulder to make sure they were alone in the room, then reached out and took his hand. “You’re still cold.”
“You too.”
“I’m trying to be sensitive.”
He laughed. “Try harder, luv.”
“I’m processing.”
“Like a computer.” He laughed again.
“I would have missed you, though. I would have.”
“You would have missed the information.”
There was some truth to that, she knew. “The information you give me helps me do my job and protects the country. You helped us stop that shipment of explosives last year that was headed for the crazy militia group in New Hampshire. Who knows what they planned to do with that? Without you, we never would have recaptured Vincente Carpio.”