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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

She hurried back to the magazine. Could hear Harwood fighting the climb, slipping, swearing, getting closer regardless. She had only seconds. She picked up the magazine, jammed it into the pistol just as Harwood came over the top. She swung up and fired, caught him center mass—but of course the bastard was wearing armor.

Harwood didn’t even blink, though Jess knew from experience it must have hurt like a motherfucker. There was something bad in his eyes, something mean and full of venom, something like she’d seen in the men who’d tried to kill her and stolen Afia in that little village in the valley.

This was personal for the deputy. This wasn’t just about a million dollars anymore.

This was a fight to the death.

Harwood came at her. She fired again, at his head this time, but missed low and found armor again, and then the deputy was on top of her, knocking her back with a forearm like a grizzly bear, sending the pistol clattering across the clearing and flattening her to the ground.

Harwood kept coming. Went down with her, pinned her on her back. Rained punches at her head as she struggled to fight back, clawed at his eyes, his mouth, tried to block the blows.

He was too strong. She was strong for a woman, but he was strong, period, and he weighed double what she did. She couldn’t move him from atop her chest, couldn’t get the leverage to hit him back.

All she could do was lie there and try to grab at his arms, fight the best she could and try to stay conscious, hope somehow Burke found her before Harwood beat her skull in.

Sixty-Two

Sixty-Two

But Mason was in some trouble of his own.

He felt his chest burning as he backed off into the forest. When he looked down, he saw blood on his jacket, a hole in the material a couple of inches above the bottom of his rib cage. He hadn’t felt it at first, with the adrenaline rushing. He’d taken a round from the other guy’s rifle.

It hurt, and hurt bad, but there was no time to get upset over it. He was bound to hurt worse if the new guy caught up, and he retreated back into the trees, listening to the hellfire erupting on the other side of the island and hoping Jess was making out okay.

You’ve got to get over there.