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Back The Short Drop Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication
  4. CONTENTS
  5. START READING
  6. PART ONE
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. PART TWO
  23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  49. PART THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  56. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  57. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY
  59. EPILOGUE
  60. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  61. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

His phone vibrated. He snatched it up, happy to drive the thought away. He checked the number before answering.

“Hello, Jenn.”

“Gibson. How’s Virginia?”

“Beautiful. Go Hoos! You should come visit.”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

“Aw, miss me?”

“You’ve been busy.”

“So have you,” he said.

“We need to talk. You’ve put us in a bad spot.”

“Did I? Did I make you complicit in the kidnapping and torture of a US citizen? ’Cause if I haven’t, go fuck yourself and your bad spot.”

“Tate’s dead, Gibson. Someone killed him.”

Gibson put the phone down on his thigh and said something profane. His ears rang. Tate was dead. That would be murder one. Did they execute people in Pennsylvania? He put the phone back to his ear.

“Someone?”

“Yeah. So like I said, we need to talk.”

“Have a storage locker in mind?”

“Look, there’ll be time for that later. Maybe you’re right. But not now. Now, we need to share information because something’s going on. And whatever it is, we’re at the bottom looking up.”

“I don’t know, Jenn. Part of me wants to leave you and Hendricks to figure it out on your own. See what it feels like.”

“I can appreciate that, but we’re here. You’re going to talk to us. I’d prefer it to be friendly.”

“What do you mean ‘here’?”

“We’re at the Musgrove place. At the end of the driveway. I wanted to give you a heads-up. We’re not busting in on you; we just want to talk.”

Gibson was up on his feet. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“Good idea or not, we’re coming up now. Don’t rabbit on us,” she said and hung up.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

“Who’s here?” Billy stood in the doorway behind Gibson. The gun in his hand shook. “Did you tell them where we are?”

“No. But they found us.”

He stood and took a step toward Billy, and the gun came up to greet him. He stopped short, hands out and up.

“I don’t know how they found us. They just want to talk.”

“Talk . . . yeah, sure.”

They both heard the car coming up the driveway at the same time. Billy’s eyes went feral, and his head snapped around like an animal catching a scent.

“Billy, don’t!”

But Billy wasn’t in a listening frame of mind. He spun and ran back through the house. Gibson took off after him but veered left and sprinted around the house on the front porch, dodging furniture, staying low. Up ahead the Cherokee emerged from the trees and began to loop around the circular driveway.