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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

“I mean it’s gone. Cleaned out. Overnight.” Mike described the way he’d found the offices. “Place was stripped right down to the baseboards.”

“Where’s George?”

“Arrested. The feds have him. It’s a real mess.”

So it was the FBI. At least now she knew why George had sounded the alarm. Did Meiji also trigger the dismantling of the offices? If so, it was news to her.

“Where are they holding him?”

“I’m not sure. Not sure George knows, to tell the truth. I just got off the phone with him.”

“You talked to him?” Jenn was sitting forward now.

“Yeah, the feds let him make a call. He didn’t sound good. The feds want everything we have on Suzanne Lombard by today, or they’re dropping the hammer on George.”

“Christ.”

“He’s calling me back in an hour. What do we have?”

Jenn ran her tongue over her teeth, deliberating. “You got something to write with?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Gibson sat on the edge of the bathtub, feeding Billy tuna from a can. Hendricks refused to uncuff him, so it was slow and messy going. Billy hadn’t asked to go to the bathroom yet, but Gibson wasn’t optimistic about how that would go. Billy was trying to be cooperative but clearly remained afraid and angry. Being handcuffed to a toilet didn’t help any with morale.

“I feel like a child,” Billy said.

“Yeah, but that makes me your daddy, and I’m not cool with that.”

Billy cracked a weak grin that turned serious. “Are they going to kill me?”

“They’ll have to kill me first.”

“Is your dying seconds before me supposed to make me feel better about being dead?”

It was Gibson’s turn to grin weakly. “Thought that counts?”

His gallows humor wasn’t helping.

“Man, get me out of here.”

“I’m working on it.”

“Yeah? Well work faster, okay? ’Cause me? I’m handcuffed to a fucking toilet.”

Gibson hadn’t talked to Jenn or Hendricks since their debrief this morning. Collectively they were all running on fumes, so giving each other a wide berth for a few hours seemed wise. Having Kirby Tate’s murder hanging over his head wasn’t doing wonders for Hendricks’s disposition, and for once Gibson could empathize with him. A little. But if Hendricks laid a hand on Billy, then they would be at a crossroads. The memory of Kirby Tate’s cell remained too vivid for comfort.

But so far this afternoon, Jenn and Hendricks had been occupied with Mike Rilling back in DC. Apparently, George was in federal custody, and they were trying to orchestrate a deal for his release—information for immunity.