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Back Deception Cove Save as PDF
Chapters (78)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Prologue
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Forty-Five
  52. Forty-Six
  53. Forty-Seven
  54. Forty-Eight
  55. Forty-Nine
  56. Fifty
  57. Fifty-One
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Fifty-Seven
  64. Fifty-Eight
  65. Fifty-Nine
  66. Sixty
  67. Sixty-One
  68. Sixty-Two
  69. Sixty-Three
  70. Sixty-Four
  71. Sixty-Five
  72. Sixty-Six
  73. Sixty-Seven
  74. Sixty-Eight
  75. Acknowledgments
  76. Discover More
  77. About the Author
  78. Also by Owen Laukkanen

Joy used the barrel of his rifle to lever himself into a crouch behind the fallen spruce. Slowly, stealthily, he eased his way around the far side to where Whitmer lay dying. He leaned down for the pistol, tucked it into his jacket. Stared down at Whitmer a beat and wanted to say something, but from the look in Whitmer’s eyes, Joy could tell the deputy already knew.

Hate. Frustration. Anger. Fear. The deputy would die hurting, and he would die unhappy.

But he would die nonetheless.

“Goodbye, Deputy.” Joy stepped across Whitmer’s body toward where Mason Burke had disappeared. Somewhere out there the murderer waited, and Joy intended to find him.

Then Whitmer coughed behind him. Rasped something out that Joy didn’t quite catch. Joy turned back.

“I beg your pardon, Deputy—”

BANG.

This time Whitmer didn’t bother with soliloquies. He’d dug another pistol from somewhere Joy didn’t know about, and with the last of his strength, he’d unloaded the weapon into Joy’s midsection, sending Joy staggering back into the trees and down into the brush.

Sixty-One

Sixty-One

The men were killing one another, somewhere else on the island. Jess hunkered down and scanned the woods, and hoped Burke was all right.

She’d heard the boom of his shotgun, a couple of times, and then some rifle fire, and now small-arms stuff. No more shotgun, and that didn’t bode well.

The fuckers were wearing body armor. Jess had figured this out when she watched Dale Whitmer emerge from the Grady-White in an orange rain slicker and hobble his way to the woods. She’d caught him square when she shot him, she knew it, and he should have died in the water, if not sooner.

But he was alive, and he’d rearmed himself. And she’d watched Joy fall back from where he was patrolling with Kirby and Cole, and now she knew Burke was probably fighting both of them. And if he hadn’t learned to shoot since last afternoon, he was probably losing bad, or he was about to.

He’s dying. Just like Afia.

Like Ty.

But Jess didn’t have time to worry about Burke. She couldn’t help him until she’d dealt with the problem at hand. And right now that problem was Kirby Harwood and Cole Sweeney, advancing up the incline toward her and hidden by a wall of trees.

If they were as smart as Dale, they’d be wearing body armor, she thought, watching as Sweeney swung out from a tall Douglas fir and dashed up to take cover behind another. And that complicated things just a tad.

But not much.