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Back The Family Next Door Save as PDF
Chapters (117)
  1. Also by
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Epigraph
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
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  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
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  42. 37
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  44. 39
  45. 40
  46. 41
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  48. 43
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  50. 45
  51. 46
  52. 47
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  54. 49
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  108. 103
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  110. 105
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  112. 107
  113. 108
  114. 109
  115. 110
  116. Teaser chapter
  117. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A buzz of panic electrified him.

Alone in the copse, he turned on his axis, spinning around, looking for clues, failure taunting him, teasing him. He’d lost him.

But Cooper was twenty-five years older than the postman.

His own heart was thundering in his chest, his legs burning with lactic acid. He stumbled and tripped over the stump of a dead tree.

In the silence of the woods, the postman heard the thump of a body falling. Northwest. He swung around to the left, following the path deeper into the woods.

Last time, he had done nothing. He had stood there, and he had stayed silent, and he had let them kill her. The woman he’d persuaded to risk everything. The woman who’d betrayed her lover and turned informant. The woman who had, even at the brutal, bloody end, protected him and kept his identity a secret from the drug-running gang he had covertly infiltrated.

But this time he was not going to stand by.

Cooper Clifton was lying on his side, his bound hands in front of him.

The postman straddled him, fumbled in his pocket for another pair of handcuffs.

Cooper stared at him, silent, eyes like saucers.

The postman cuffed his ankles, then flashed his warrant card, his own secret revealed.

104

104

Wednesday 1st August 2018, 6:43 A.M.

Blatches Woods

Wildeve Stanton had a stitch in her side. She’d barely eaten over the last couple of days and the pain made her want to bend double, to fall to her knees, but she fought against it. She would not weaken now.

Despite the early hour, sunlight was dappling the leaves, streaming through the gaps between the trees. Wood lice crawled over the bark. The woods were waking up.

Mac was at her side. “All right?” he said. She nodded, still catching her breath. He checked his phone. “They’re at the northwest corner. Fifty meters or so.” He took in a lungful of air. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you.”

She understood. An undercover police officer deserved the protection of his senior officers, no matter what. Mac—a former head of Essex Police’s specialist undercover unit—had personally requested him for the job. Adam had known about the operation, too, but not the mechanics of the surveillance or the officer’s name. And later, Roger Sampson was also made aware. But the postman’s loyalty had remained with his guv’nor, even if Mac had been forced out. That’s why Sampson and his team were still lumbering through the woodland. Old habits died hard and he’d tipped Mac off first.

When Wildeve reached them, Cooper Clifton was sitting up, leaning against the trunk of a hawthorn tree, his hands and ankles cuffed. The officer dressed as a postman nodded at her, laid a hand on her shoulder.

“For Adam, eh?”

For Adam.