The woman with the thick waist showed us out through the cool of Frank Garcia’s home. Joe’s red Jeep Cherokee was parked beneath an elm tree at the curb. My car was parked behind it. Pike and I walked...
The two men shook hands, then the cowboy walked through the main gate to an anonymous Buick and drove away. Watching
The rocks and rotten branches cut into Daniel’s back. He took a tentative breath, and heard a wet popping in his chest. He coughed, but all that came out was aborted vomit. Daniel
The press still called, though with less frequency, and I avoided them. I listened to talk radio and gained weight, as if I felt a hunger that I couldn’t satisfy.
The next day I watched TV and read and lay on the couch and stared at my high-vaulted ceiling. Just after noon I showered and shaved and dressed and took a drive over to the County Medical Facility an...
The new guy smiled and put out a hand the size of a king crab. Brad Carter. You’re Mr. Cole? Yes, sir. Elvis Cole. He clutched my hand like a king crab, too. Thanks
The man’s breathing grew shallow and steady, his heartbeat slowed, and when the surge of his pulse grew no slower, Maggie knew he was sleeping. She lifted her head enough to see him, but seeing him wa...
The hunt was picking up speed, and now Pike wanted to push harder. The harder he pushed, the faster Meesh would have to react, and the more demands he would make on his men. His men would grow resentf...
The girls at the Porsche leaned against its fenders and looked past each other so they could see the Rabbit and me and Traci, and there was lots of laughter. One of them stared openly. I said, You thi...
The first patrol car arrived in seven minutes; the paramedics three minutes later. Larkin thought it would end that night when the police finished their questions, but her nightmare had only begun. In...
The cheery woman was coming toward me from the adjoining yard as if she had been standing at the corner of the house there, waiting. She was maybe five-eight, and dark the way you’re dark when you spe...
The buzz cut and his friend came over. You are coming with us. The buzz cut spoke the words with a careful, starched pronunciation that made me think of Arnold Schwarzenegger, only the accent was Russ...
The best dog training was based on the reward system. You did not punish a dog for doing wrong, you rewarded the dog for doing right.
The Platoon’s training facility was a low cinder-block building at the edge of a fenced grass field. The building was divided into two small offices and a makeshift kennel, where dogs could be penned...
The Los Angeles River is small, but mean. People who don't know the truth of it make fun of our river; all they see is a tortured trickle that snakes along a concrete gutter like some junkie's vein. T...
Stemms sniffed the air loudly, like a dog catching a scent. I’m smelling bullshit. Harvey spoke again, voice mellow and calm, like a jazz man at two in the morning. Relax, Jesse. What does she look li...
Staying groovy had nothing to do with being cool. It was an expression used by small recon units and sniper teams in hostile terrain. They would tell one another to stay groovy when the danger level w...
Somewhere between Burger King and now, the Syrian’s sleight-of-hand security system worked. Pike wasn’t here. I never doubted, not once, he would find me. My task was to stay alive until it happened o...
Sit down, Nancy. Did I do something wrong? Her eyes were dark as black forest chocolate, but wide as demitasse saucers. She probably thought he was going to chew her out, which he did, often, but now...
She touched the dash again, watching her fingers move along the gentle lines. You always follow the money. She shook her head and made a little smile. I’ve been doing this for twelve years. I’ve prose...