Chapters (107)
- Cover
- ABOUT THE AUTHORS
- Also by James Patterson
- Dedication
- CHAPTER 1
- CHAPTER 2
- CHAPTER 3
- CHAPTER 4
- CHAPTER 5
- CHAPTER 6
- CHAPTER 7
- CHAPTER 8
- CHAPTER 9
- CHAPTER 10
- CHAPTER 11
- CHAPTER 12
- CHAPTER 13
- CHAPTER 14
- CHAPTER 15
- CHAPTER 16
- CHAPTER 17
- CHAPTER 18
- CHAPTER 19
- CHAPTER 20
- CHAPTER 21
- CHAPTER 22
- CHAPTER 23
- CHAPTER 24
- CHAPTER 25
- CHAPTER 26
- CHAPTER 27
- CHAPTER 28
- CHAPTER 29
- CHAPTER 30
- CHAPTER 31
- CHAPTER 32
- CHAPTER 33
- CHAPTER 34
- CHAPTER 35
- CHAPTER 36
- CHAPTER 37
- CHAPTER 38
- CHAPTER 39
- CHAPTER 40
- CHAPTER 41
- CHAPTER 42
- CHAPTER 43
- CHAPTER 44
- CHAPTER 45
- CHAPTER 46
- CHAPTER 47
- CHAPTER 48
- CHAPTER 49
- CHAPTER 50
- CHAPTER 51
- CHAPTER 52
- CHAPTER 53
- CHAPTER 54
- CHAPTER 55
- CHAPTER 56
- CHAPTER 57
- CHAPTER 58
- CHAPTER 59
- CHAPTER 60
- CHAPTER 61
- CHAPTER 62
- CHAPTER 63
- CHAPTER 64
- CHAPTER 65
- CHAPTER 66
- CHAPTER 67
- CHAPTER 68
- CHAPTER 69
- CHAPTER 70
- CHAPTER 71
- CHAPTER 72
- CHAPTER 73
- CHAPTER 74
- CHAPTER 75
- CHAPTER 76
- CHAPTER 77
- CHAPTER 78
- CHAPTER 79
- CHAPTER 80
- CHAPTER 81
- CHAPTER 82
- CHAPTER 83
- CHAPTER 84
- CHAPTER 85
- CHAPTER 86
- CHAPTER 87
- CHAPTER 88
- CHAPTER 89
- CHAPTER 90
- CHAPTER 91
- CHAPTER 92
- CHAPTER 93
- CHAPTER 94
- CHAPTER 95
- CHAPTER 96
- CHAPTER 97
- CHAPTER 98
- CHAPTER 99
- Are you a fan of fast-paced, gripping thrillers set in the American Deep South?
- CHAPTER 1
- CHAPTER 2
- CHAPTER 3
And there’s been a few other miracles as well, like the one I keep on glancing at as I hurry to keep up with Marlene’s insistent and barking voice.
Across the street, sitting on a low concrete wall, are about a dozen white guys, dressed in yellow T-shirts, pants, or hoodies.
Members of the Franklin Avenue Soldiers.
But today they’re not waiting to gun for me.
They’re chowing down on my food. After I saved the city, I guess the Franklin Avenue gang was so appreciative they decided not to murder me.
Yeah, miracles indeed.
I’ve been interviewed, re-interviewed, and told that I can expect additional official interviews in the future from various government agencies and congressional panels. The Times-Picayune has been all over the story since the first responders came to Emily’s estate, and among the stories they’ve broken include the promotion of Cunningham, some unexpected retirements from the upper NOPD brass, and a small blurb about a high-ranking FBI official named Morgan who’s been tasked a new and important assignment.
As head of the FBI field office in Butte, Montana.
The line is long and I know we’re about to run out of food, but I don’t care. We’re alive, we’re well, and Marlene being Marlene, she’s also found a way to make an extra buck from all that’s happened: colorful T-shirts that show a drawing of the Killer Chef truck, with a shotgun blast exiting the rear door, a caricature of me running away, and the caption: I HAD A BLAST AT KILLER CHEF!
Then I hear a voice yelling from outside, “Hey, this place stinks! It discriminates against the less-abled! I’m going to sue, just you see!”
I walk over from the stove and fryer, look through the service window, and smile.
“Gordon, I’ll be right down!”
Marlene says, “Make it quick, damnit, that line’s not getting any shorter!”
I step out from the rear of the truck—where a new sign says, DON’T KNOCK IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO PAY, an attempt to thin out the autograph seekers and reporters—and race over to see my friend Gordon Andrews, the skilled PI who had helped me and New Orleans so much in my investigation. Along the side of the truck, near the posted menus, are scores of cards, handwritten notes, and even drawings from school children, all carrying the same message:
Thank you for saving New Orleans.
I didn’t want to post them outside the truck, but Marlene overruled me, as she usually does. “Think of the publicity and foot traffic, you silly man,” she said.
Gordon’s a middle-aged, gray-bearded man of true elegance and class, wearing a baby-blue seersucker suit and red bowtie, and as I approach, he expertly maneuvers his electric wheelchair around to face me.