Eyes of the Innocent
Page 1
About the book
Matt and Zoé's baby, Jack, needs urgent treatment in a New York specialist clinic. Before treatment can start, baby Jack is snatched. Has Jack been taken for ransom, for body parts, by a weird cult for indoctrination? A man claiming to be an ex-cop offers to help, as does Simon Urquet (from Hands of the Traitor), and Archbishop Stephen Valdieri who is now ex-Archbishop Stephen Valdieri (from Hands of the Healer). Finding the baby still alive means a race against time. Zoé thinks that her mother's instinct will lead them to baby Jack, but she has to admit that she and Matt are, in her words, chasing the wild goose. Matt believes he has the answer, annoyed with himself for not putting the clues together sooner. But even that lead seems to finish at a dead end. And all the time the clock is ticking because Jack is not getting his urgent treatment -- assuming he's still alive.
Eyes of the Innocent
by
Christopher Wright
©Christopher Wright 2016
A Matt Rider Thriller #4
Eyes of the Innocent is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.
North View Publishing
email: northviewpublishing@gmail.com
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Contents
Cover
About the book
Author's Note
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Epilogue
More thrillers from North View Publishing
Author's Note
My original intention was to write just three Matt Rider thrillers, but readers of Academy of the Dead have asked what happened after the incident on Masaryk Railway Station in Prague at the very end of that book. I have often wondered too. So I thought I'd write this book so we could all find out.
Eyes of the Innocent reintroduces two characters from previous Matt Rider books: Archbishop Stephen Valdieri who played a prominent role in Shroud of the Healer, and lawyer Simon Urquet from Hands of the Traitor who is still working for DCI.
The four Matt Rider stories follow on from each other in time, irrespective of the year in which they were first published. Hands of the Traitor was first published in 2004 and reflects the technology available at a time when the Internet was more basic. Digital cameras were slowly replacing film cameras, even though the picture quality was generally inferior; computers were slow; and cell phones (called mobiles in some parts of the world) were simply for making calls, with no advanced operating systems like today's smartphones with thousands of apps we take for granted. The world of technology has certainly made amazing advances, and it's easy to imagine these things have been around a lot longer than they really have.
Although Eyes of the Innocent has only just been written, it follows on a few months from the third Matt Rider thriller, Academy of the Dead. So the technology available to Matt Rider in Eyes of the Innocent has to be the technology of that period. A small photographic drone, steered by a TV camera, would have been a great help at one stage. And proton beam (not photon beam) treatment for cancer was very much in the experimental stage.
Christopher Wright
Prologue
East Coast USA
"Just look at his eyes," she said. "They are so innocent." Then she burst into tears.
He held her tightly around her shaking body. She must suffer no longer. He would risk anything to find a solution. He stared at the little baby's white clothing. It reminded him of a shroud. And the cradle was like a baby's casket.
"Dry your eyes," he said. "I will find a way. You must trust me."