Second voice spoke, young and uncertain. This is Ilan. Can you hear me? Their voices had the hollow, faraway quality that came with being on speaker. I
People worked us across the plaza and down to the parking structure. I moved with the crush of bodies the way a leaf is carried by the wind, a part of an unseen world, yet not.
Country without reporting it
And you would never know they were gone, but losing a child left an emptiness so large it screamed to be filled with memories.
You’ll notice, Pike said, that the only people in here who look like thugs are me and you. You, maybe. I look like Don Johnson. You look like Fred Flintstone.
Wozniak wet his lips. You’ve got Paulette and Evelyn to think about. Wozniak’s wife and daughter. The cloudy eyes flicked to Pike, as bottomless and as dangerous as a thunderhead. I’ve been thinking a...
Wilson said, It was the same two cops as yesterday, the Mexican gal, what’s her name? Dru frowned. Officer Hydeck probably wouldn’t appreciate being called a Mexican. Or a gal. She’s supposed to tell...
When the doors opened, Bud led them into a reception area where an older woman with curly blond hair sat at a desk. She recognized Bud and waved them past. He’s back there somewhere. If he’s not in hi...
When Pike reached home, he stretched in the parking lot to cool, then peeled off his sweatshirt, deactivated the alarms, and let himself in. His condo was austere and functional with little in the way...
When Pike finally released the pressure, he knew the pain would burn on with the ferocity of ant poison, so he touched another spot, this one in the man’s neck, which reduced the pain. The man sagged,...
When I reached the sidewalk a tall, muscular black guy appeared beside my car. As he reached the car a heavy white guy in his early fifties climbed out of a blue sedan parked across the street and sta...
What was it Jiminy Cricket said? Little man, you’ve had a busy night. I put some of the chili paste on the squid and some on the rice and mixed it and ate and drank the beer. I’m a big brown mouse, I...
What the fuck are you doing in my house? I could’ve shot your ass. Is someone in Los Angeles selling military munitions? Talk about non sequitur. Jon
We’re not so different. The girl burst out laughing. Ohmigod! Oh my God—dude! Maybe you’re high! Pike put the car in gear, but kept his foot on the brake. Their sameness seemed obvious. You want to be...
We went through an unmarked door and along a sterile tile corridor and through another unmarked door and then we were in the Blue Corridor and then the Blue Room.
We have to look at the people who opened the case, and see how they’re tied with the I-Man. Melon gave me a hint. He told me the I-Man never does anything alone, and only with people he trusts. He was...
We drove slowly, neither of us speaking, and worked our way out of the Marina, up through Venice, and along the beach. It was automatic driving, going through the motions without conscious thought or...
Waiters and busboys flowed in and out of the kitchen, and walked on tightropes between the tables.
WHEN COLE CUT HIM FREE, Jon amscrayed back to West Hollywood. He hadn’t been home long enough to heat his pool, but Jon stripped as he walked through his house, and hit the water like a naked lawn dar...
Twenty-eight days after the towers, Pike and I finished sealing the deck. It was slick and gleaming and smelled of marine-grade varnish. After the varnish had cured, we put the deck chairs and the Web...