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Back The Short Drop
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

“No,” he said. “No, she’s been dead a long time. I think the doer didn’t know who he was grabbing. I think he turned six shades of bitch when he found out he had a senator’s daughter. Once he understood the magnitude of the shit he was in, he didn’t waste any time in killing her and dumping the body.”

Gibson groaned. A low-throated moan that he didn’t realize he was making until Hendricks interrupted him.

“Hey, you asked.”

“I know,” Gibson said. “So what are you doing here?”

“It’s my job.”

“Come on.”

Hendricks dropped his cigarette, slid off the hood, and crushed it out with his heel.

“It’s important to the boss. So it’s important to me. Plus, and this is just me talking, but I don’t care for pedophiles. And I especially don’t care for clever ones that think they’re slick, sending taunting photographs of their victims. So what am I doing here? I’m here to put my foot on this guy’s throat. That’s what. And since we’re on the subject, why are you here?”

“In case she’s not.”

The perpetual grimace left Hendricks’s face, and he became honest and serious for a moment. “You don’t want to go doing that.”

“What?”

“Believing she’s alive. Not for one second.”

“Why not?”

“’Cause once you start, you don’t stop. Hear me. Hope is a cancer. One of two things happens. Either you never learn the truth, in which case it gnaws down to the bone until there’s nothing left, or worse, you do, and you go through that windshield at ninety because hope told you it was okay to make the drive without a seat belt.”

“So assume the worst.”

“Forty-eight hours ended a long time ago. So buckle up. All I’m saying. Find some other reason to be here.” With that, Hendricks went into his room and shut the door, leaving Gibson with his thoughts.

And with Hendricks’s cell phone, which the ex-cop had forgotten on the hood of the Cherokee. Gibson stared at it, calculating how long he’d have. Thirty minutes? Probably less. Was it worth the risk? Yes, he decided. Always have a plan B, even if you never needed it.

He snatched up the phone and shut himself in his room. He connected the phone to his laptop and started the program. One eye on his monitor, one ear listening for the sound of Hendricks’s door opening. The worst outcome was if Hendricks came out to look for it, it wasn’t there, and it magically reappeared afterward. Then Gibson would be cooked.

Twenty-seven minutes later, the phone was back where Hendricks had left it.

How was that for some cyber-ninja voodoo?

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN