Fire in Bone: A Jake Pettman Thriller
Page 23
“I understand.”
“She’ll find them. The chief, I mean—Gabriel. And the child.”
“I hope she does.”
“But she doesn’t want your help.”
“I understand.”
“She said she comes from a place where they do things properly.”
“That’s refreshing.”
“So, you see my dilemma?”
“I don’t just see it, Lillian. I understand it.”
“She thinks he might still be in the area, in one of the adjoining towns. The main roads out were blocked. He’d been hemmed in.”
Jake finished his water. “Any news on the traces of blood found in the basement?”
“I shouldn’t say. I really shouldn’t.”
“This last question, then I’ll leave you to get on with it.”
“The blood belonged to Ayden MacLeoid.”
“He wasn’t a child.”
“No.”
“But his sister was.”
Lillian nodded.
Jake’s blood ran cold—Kayla MacLeoid, Piper’s half-sister.
“You didn’t hear that from me.”
“Wow,” Jake said.
“You need to stay out of it until she’s found. Please?”
“Of course,” Jake lied. “You won’t hear a peep from me.”
SALISBURY, ENGLAND
He ended the phone call. It’s over. He ran a thumb and forefinger over his moustache. Unexpected. However, he was a man resilient to surprises, and this job itself didn’t warrant emotional responses to any situation. His instructions, as always, were specific.
The target has been located. Your brief is complete. Clean. You were never there. Return the car to the address you were given. Head to the rendezvous point for your new identity.
He looked out the window to see Sheila Pettman leaving her home to take her son Frank to school. He knew her routine like clockwork. He reflected briefly on how the most important information could, in a matter of a second, become the most irrelevant. He made a mental note of the date and time, as he always did when he was about to become someone new and his target ceased to be of relevance to him.
His first instruction: Clean.
He heard the door open behind him.
“Stuart?” She sounded nervous.
“Yes, Mary.”
“I heard you talking on the phone. I couldn’t understand you.”
“I was speaking Russian.” He reached into his inside pocket.
“Russian? You never said you could— How do you know Russian?”
His hand closed on the garotte wire in his pocket. “Because I am Russian, Mary, and I’m afraid it is now time for me to leave.”
BLUE FALLS
AN EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT OF THE NEXT JAKE PETTMAN THRILLER
WES MARKIN
ON THE DAY JAKE PETTMAN LEAVES BLUE FALLS
13:18
BLOOD RAN INTO Jake Pettman’s eyes. He leaned on his rented Ford’s hood—it was that or go arse over tit—and surveyed the bent fender.
A deep voice behind him asked, “You okay?”
He held up the back of his hand to signal he was, then felt the hand on his shoulder; the Samaritan had not bought his bullshit. Feeling some steadiness return, Jake abandoned his smoking hood and stood upright, forcing the man’s hand to fall away. “I need your help.”
Jake’s Samaritan was seventy-plus, but his tense and eager pose suggested he would be as effective as a man half his age. Good. Time is running out.
Jake used his sleeve to rub blood from his eyes. “What’s the time?”
The old man told him.
Fuck. Jake slammed a fist on his crumpled hood. Fuck … fuck … “I’m out of time.” He eyed his vehicle. Bastard car. The crash must have put him under for almost ten minutes. He regarded the elderly man again and shielded his eyes. The summer sun was coming in strong. Jake spied the old red Buick the man had arrived in. The door was open, and the engine was still running. “I need you to take me to the top of Ross Hill.”
“If I take you anywhere, son, I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“That’s not an option.”
“It’s the only option, son. You’re at death’s door. Besides, I’ve already called an ambulance―”
Jake stepped forward.
The old man recoiled but struck a pugnacious pose. “You’re not thinking clearly, son.”
You got that right. Which is why I’m not brushing you aside. Jake looked at the Buick again. I don’t think I could aim that beast straight right now. Jake scanned an empty highway framed by cornfields. “I’m not the bad guy here. You need to take me up there.” He pointed to the summit of Ross Hill. “Before anybody dies.” He nodded at the Buick. “I don’t think me and your old girl are going to get on all that well, but I’ll give it a whirl if I have to.”
The old man sighed. “Well then, I’m driving. She’s the only family I got.”
Fighting back a wave of nausea, Jake said, “We need to leave right now.”
The old man nodded. “Get in, then, but you better be the good guy.”
Jake only stumbled once as he approached the Buick. He was optimistic that control was finding its way back to him. Jesus, he hoped so. God only knows what awaited him at the top of Ross Hill. Jake opted for the back seat, believing he would remain more threatening than opting for riding shotgun.
The elderly man passed an oil-stained rag to him. “Sorry, it’s all I have.” He patted the wheel. “But it serves my baby well when she’s bleeding.”
“It’ll serve me well too, thanks.” Jake pressed it to his leaking forehead. “But we have to hurry.”
The old man responded and exited the highway onto the dirt path up Ross Hill. “What are we going to find up there?”
Jake felt his nausea build but took it as a good sign that his adrenaline was ramping up. “You mean, what will I find, old man. You’ll be staying well back.”
“It sounds like you’re going to war.”
“If I’m too late, you can bet I will be.”
His cellphone beeped. He cast the rag aside, slipped the cell from his pocket, and read the message: I warned you. The cell beeped again. With tears in his eyes, Jake opened the photograph with a trembling finger. The phone slipped from his hand. He took a deep breath, desperately trying to process what he had just seen. He clenched his hands, focused on the roof of the car, then roared. At the same time, he punched the back of the passenger seat again … and again.
“War it is, then,” the old man said.
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When a student party ends in violent murder, Michael Yorke begins to realise he harbours a fascination with crime which goes way beyond the norm.
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With bloody and disastrous consequences.
A super-fast one-hour thrill ride, which will define the relentless and compassionate police officer who stars in One Last Prayer for the Rays
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One Last Prayer for the Rays
"An explosive and visceral debut with the most terrifying of killers. Wes Markin is a new name to watch out for in crime fiction, and I can't wait to see more of Detective Yorke." – Bestselling Crime Author Stephen Booth
The disappearance of a young boy. An investigation paved with depravity and death. Can DCI Michael Yorke survive with his body and soul intact?
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mall town in the grip of a destructive snowstorm, the relentless detective uncovers a missing boy’s connection to a deranged family whose history is steeped in violence. But when all seems lost, Yorke refuses to give in, and journeys deep into the heart of this sinister family for the truth.
And what he discovers there will tear his world apart.
The Rays are here. It's time to start praying.
The shocking and exhilarating new crime thriller will have you turning the pages late into the night.
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The Repenting Serpent
A vicious serial killer slithers from the darkness, determined to resurrect the ways of a long-dead civilisation.
When the ex-wife of one of DCI Michael Yorke’s closest allies is left mutilated and murdered, Yorke and his team embark on their greatest test yet. A deeply personal case that will push them to their very limits.
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The Repenting Serpent is a true edge-of-the-seat, nail-biting page turner. Buy it now HERE
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The Silence of Severance
Your wedding day should be the most unforgettable day of your life.
And this is one wedding that will never be forgotten.
When a police officer’s wedding day ends in brutality and chaos, DCI Michael Yorke is pulled away from his own wedding into the bloodiest chain of events Wiltshire has ever seen.
As a heatwave tightens its grip on Salisbury, Yorke and his team face a race against time to find the most sinister and intelligent adversary they have ever faced. Christian Severance.
But as the team chase Severance into the shadows of a dark past, Yorke’s own history starts to drag itself into the present …
Can they stop Christian Severance before he achieves the unthinkable? And will Yorke survive the revelations that claw at him from the darkness?
The Silence of Severance is a shocking and compulsive crime novel. Buy it now HERE
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Rise of the Rays
They say that lightning doesn't strike the same place twice. How the people of Wiltshire wished that were true.
When Paul Ray decides to burn down his evil family's legacy, he falls into the clutches of those he thought gone.
And now Detective Yorke and his team face a race against time to find Paul before Wiltshire again falls under the dark spell of a ruthless family.
Unfortunately for Yorke, the answers lie in the most sinister of places. The beating heart of a long-dead killer.
Can Yorke find the truth before it's too late? Or will the curse of the Ray family prove too strong?
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How do you stop a perfect killer?
After the terrible events of the past year, DCI Yorke's team are on the verge of finding peace. But after a terrifying act of violence shatters their equilibrium, they are forced to dance with a skilled assassin who knows no equal.
After it becomes clear that this hitman is connected to the most shadowy of criminal organisations, Yorke is forced to dive into his own past, and face a future in which he is either alone, or dead.
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Yorke’s worlds collide in devastating fashion. Buy it now HERE
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If you fail to stop a killer, then they will only grow stronger.
DCI Michael Yorke and Emma Gardner are still plagued by guilt over their failure to catch the murderous psychiatrist known as the Conduit, and the loss of their former colleague to insanity.
On Christmas Day, following a brutal massacre in Leeds, Yorke and Gardner find themselves once again chasing the ruthless puppeteer, believing that they have the initiative.
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A rising tide of psychological warfare.
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A deadly game of cat and mouse with an old foe in Christmas with the Conduit. Buy it now HERE
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The Killing Pit
A broken ex-detective. A corrupt chief of police. A merciless drug lord.
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But Jake struggles to hide from who he is, and when a child disappears, he finds himself drawn into an investigation that shares no parallels to anything he has ever seen before.
Held back by a chief of police plagued and tormented by his own secrets, Jake fights for the truth.
All the way to the door of Jotham MacLeoid.
An insidious megalomaniac who feeds his victims to a Killing Pit.
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Some secrets are better left in the dark. Buy it now HERE
Acknowledgments
Jake seems to be an unstoppable force at the moment, and it won’t be long before he hits your shelves again with Blue Falls, but until then, I would like to deliver my gratitude to everyone who supported the production of Fire in Bone.
Firstly, my family, Jo, Janet, Peter, Douglas, Ian and Eileen for continuing to believe in what I am doing. My two children, Hugo and Beatrice, who are growing at a relentless rate, and so forcing us to consider moving!
Thanks, as always, to Jake, my sounding pit. Huge appreciation to Cherie Foxley who conjured up the River Skweda exactly how I imagined it!
Thank you to Jo Fletcher, Kath Middleton, Karen Ashman and Jenny Cook for getting their teeth into those earlier drafts. Thank you to all my Beta Readers who took the time to help shape my new episode in this journey – Keith, Dee. Carly, Cathy, Donna, Yvonne, Holly and Alex. Thank you to the bloggers who remain behind me – Shell, Susan, Caroline and Jason.
I hope you all join me in October for the conclusion of the trilogy when Jake’s time in Blue Falls reaches its devastating conclusion…
Stay in touch
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