by Diane Capri
JACK FROST
BY
DIANE CAPRI
Presented By:
AugustBooks
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Praise for
New York Times and USA Today
Bestselling Author
Diane Capri
“Full of thrills and tension, but smart and human, too. Kim Otto is a great, great character. I love her.”
Lee Child, #1 World Wide Bestselling Author of Jack Reacher Thrillers
“[A] welcome surprise… [W]orks from the first page to ‘The End’.”
Larry King
“Swift pacing and ongoing suspense are always present… [L]ikable protagonist who uses her political connections for a good cause…Readers should eagerly anticipate the next [book].”
Top Pick, Romantic Times
“…offers tense legal drama with courtroom overtones, twisty plot, and loads of Florida atmosphere. Recommended.”
Library Journal
“[A] fast-paced legal thriller…energetic prose…an appealing heroine…clever and capable supporting cast…[that will] keep readers waiting for the next [book].”
Publishers Weekly
“Expertise shines on every page.”
Margaret Maron, Edgar, Anthony, Agatha and Macavity Award-Winning MWA Grand Master
Copyright © 2021 Diane Capri, LLC
All Rights Reserved
Excerpt from 61 Hours © 2010 Lee Child
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Jack Frost is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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eISBN: 978-1-942633-48-8
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Reviews
Copyright
Dedication
Dear Friends
Excerpt from 61 HOURS by Lee Child
Cast of Characters
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
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
More from Diane Capri
About the Author
Lee Child: The Reacher Report
DEDICATION
Perpetually, for Lee Child, with unrelenting gratitude.
Dear Friends,
Jack Frost is the eleventh novel in my Hunt for Jack Reacher Series, and I couldn’t be more excited for you to read it! More than two million readers already love the Hunt for Jack Reacher Series books—including Jack Reacher’s creator, Lee Child, thank heavens! Whew!
The first question new readers usually ask me is how I’m allowed to write about Jack Reacher. The short answer is that Lee Child and I are friends, and he’s a big fan of my work. I write these books with his full support, for which I’m eternally and unrelentingly grateful. I’ve included his Reacher Report at the end of this novel in case you’re not signed up to receive email from Lee directly (and you can sign up to hear from him on his website if you’d like to).
I hope you’ll see right away why amazing #1 worldwide publishing phenomenon Lee Child calls my books “Full of thrills and tension, but smart and human, too.” And why Lee gave the series an enthusiastic two thumbs up when he said, “Kim Otto is a great, great character. I love her!”
The second question I often hear is about the sourcebooks for my stories. As many of you already know, every Hunt for Jack Reacher Series novel uses one of Lee Child’s Reacher novels as its sourcebook. I’m not writing sequels here, though. FBI Special Agent Kim Otto has a totally new story every time, and that story spins off to a life of its own.
Jack Frost’s sourcebook is 61 Hours.
The sourcebooks are fun to read either before or after my Hunt for Jack Reacher Series books, and readers tell me they love both. Each of my books is a complete story, and, like Lee Child’s original novels, my books do not need to be read in any particular order. (Although many readers enjoy reading the books in publication order.)
A list of sourcebooks and publication order can be found in the back of this book here and on my website here: https://dianecapri.com/books/free-book-list-pdf/
The third most frequent question I get is when the next Hunt for Jack Reacher book will be published. Jack Frost is the fourteenth book in my series, consisting of three exciting short reads and, now, eleven novels. I’m working on book number fifteen, novel number twelve, now. There’s a link to preorder the next novel at the end of this book, so you won’t miss out! You can find a complete list of all of my books here: http://dianecapri.com/books/
Please sign up for my mailing list to receive advance notice of new releases and lots of other exc
lusive stuff for reading group members only. You can do that here: http://dianecapri.com/get-involved/get-my-newsletter/
While you’re waiting for a new Hunt for Jack Reacher Series book, please give my other books a try. I believe you’ll enjoy them just as much. And either way, let me know what you think. You can write to me anytime, and I hope you will. I’d love to get to know you better. You can always reach me here: http://dianecapri.com/get-involved/message/
Lee Child also suggests that you “Make coffee. You’ll read all night.” If you enjoy my books, I hope you’ll recommend them to your friends who love to read mystery/thriller/suspense, too.
Meanwhile, thanks so much for reading. It’s an honor and a pleasure to write for readers like you!
Caffeinate & Carry On!
61 HOURS
By Lee Child
Reacher didn’t answer. He was adrift. The world had flipped underneath him. All his life, to be taller had to be better. More dominant, more powerful, more noticed, more advantaged. You got credibility, you got treated with respect, you got promoted faster, you earned more, you got elected to things. Statistics bore it out.
You won fights, you got less hassle, you ruled the yard.
To be born tall was to win life’s lottery.
Born small, two strikes against.
But not down there.
Down there to be tall was a losing ticket.
Down there was a world where the small guy could win.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Kim Otto
William Burke
Reggie Smithers
Charles Cooper
Carlos Gaspar
Lamont Finlay
Fern Olson
Duff Keegan
Liam Walsh
Petey Burns
and
Jack Reacher
CHAPTER ONE
Friday, May 13
Carter’s Crossing, Mississippi
5:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time
Her phone pinged, awakening her from a sound sleep fueled by exhaustion. FBI Special Agent Kim Otto rolled over to read the text from her boss.
The first thing she noticed was the delayed transmission. Cyberspace didn’t work nearly as well as people assumed.
The text had been sent at 3:55 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, but she’d received it two hours and five minutes later.
The Boss had booked her on a flight out of Memphis, departing shortly after one o’clock, Central Daylight Time, to Rapid City, South Dakota. From there, she’d travel to Bolton. A place she’d never heard of before.
No objections entertained.
She’d rolled over for a few more hours of shuteye before she’d packed up, said goodbye, and left Carter’s Crossing for the drive to Memphis.
Nine hours after the Boss had sent the text. Seven hours and five minutes after she’d received it, Kim sidestepped the mass of passengers waiting for screening and approached the TSA checkpoint at Memphis International Airport.
The Boss had notified TSA’s Officer Garrett, who was expecting her. Garret would ask to see her badge, and he’d simply pass her through. Without examining her bags or confiscating her service weapon. Which was absolutely against the rules.
Ideally, none of the other passengers would notice that she’d skipped the screening devices and systems required for everyone else. The last thing she needed to deal with was an angry mob.
Years after 9/11, a surprisingly large number of casual flyers remained edgy about the security measures applied at all U.S. airports. Anything a passenger proposed to carry past the security checkpoint was subject to inspection. Even though there had not been another U.S. jetliner hijacked in years.
Everything is screened. Whether passengers liked it or not.
No exceptions.
Mrs. Otto’s daughter, Kim, a petite Asian-looking woman dressed in a black suit, with a travel bag, a laptop case, and a suspicious bulge caused by a holster resting under her arm, should have been subject to the same security measures as everyone else.
The list of contraband not allowed beyond the TSA checkpoint was long and, sometimes, overreaching. At least in the eyes of the public.
Tensions could run especially high among civilians asked to stand inside a scanner and raise their arms to be checked for explosives residue. Especially if other passengers weren’t required to submit to the indignity of it all.
Some passengers were nervous flyers. Others were belligerent citizens. Still others were mentally or physically impaired. All of them went through screening, regardless of individual concerns.
TSA officers never came to work expecting the day’s routine activities to flow smoothly. Agent Garrett was likely as skeptical as the rest of his fellows. Kim didn’t plan to give him any reason to apply that skepticism to her.
She scanned the area until she located Garrett at his duty station. He was a gray-haired guy carrying about twenty extra pounds around his waist. She’d have placed him at about fifty if forced to guess.
He was working the center checkpoint line, standing with his hands on his duty belt, ten feet beyond the conveyor that trundled carry-on items through the X-ray system.
The female agent operating the screening device noticed something that had been placed on the belt by a flamboyantly dressed man near the head of the line. Kim hadn’t seen the item, which was enclosed by the X-ray machine.
The agent stopped the conveyor belt that had been running through the scanner and called Garrett over for a second opinion. They whispered, the woman pointing to the screen and glancing at Garrett for confirmation.
While she waited, Kim’s phone buzzed with a new text. Instead of connecting as planned in Rapid City, he’d been rerouted to meet her here in Memphis.
She looked around for her new partner, William Burke. She’d never met the guy. But she’d pulled up his photo on her phone before she came into the terminal. She’d recognize him instantly in any crowd.
Not that he was especially memorable.
Burke wouldn’t stand out in any particular way. He was six feet tall, fit, dark hair, dark eyes, boring haircut. In short, everything a solid FBI agent should look like if he wanted to blend into a group of regular Americans.
Kim was the lead agent on the Reacher assignment, and Burke was her new number two. She was younger than Burke by a couple of years, but she had more time in the field and a lot more experience on the Reacher case.
She didn’t see him standing around in the security screening area. Maybe he was already at the gate.
Kim rubbed her neck and rolled her shoulders. The drive from Carter’s Crossing had been uneventful. But she was tired. She’d been running on her standard triple As for way too long. Adrenaline, ambition, and anxiety could only carry her so far. Eventually, she also needed sleep and a good meal.
A strong whiff of freshly brewed java reached her nose. As soon as she was done here, she’d make a beeline for it. Maybe they’d have a sandwich or a bagel or something, too. Her stomach had been growling for an hour. Food and coffee would help.
“What the hell are you doing?” The flamboyant passenger who owned whatever was holding up the line at the screening machine had run out of patience.
Kim looked ahead. People in line behind the guy were restive, too. They wanted to move through security and get on to the next phase of what had become the nightmare of air travel.
Add in a couple of crying babies, and cranky toddlers, and things were about to get ugly. Kim could feel the vibe.
She moved closer, hoping to catch Agent Garrett’s eye, but he was focused on the unruly passenger now.
“Sir, please step aside. We’ll need to ask you a few questions,” he said, indicating a chair on the other side of the trace portal machine. He stretched his palm forward to indicate the entrance. “Walk through the puffer first, please.”
“Absolutely not,” the man said, much louder than necessary. “I want my bag. Give it back to me right this minute.”
Age
nt Garrett was an old hand at his job. He wasn’t about to let things get out of control. He gestured to a third agent standing on the other side of the checkpoint. She walked his way, as the passenger’s belligerence increased exponentially instead of throttling down.
“I said, give me my bag!” he shouted. He moved closer to the X-ray machine and lifted his arm, trying to reach inside. But his arms were too short to clear the Plexiglas shields mounted on either side.
Agent Garrett grabbed the man’s bicep firmly. “Sir, I need you to step over here, please. You’re holding up the line.”
