“Gorgeous here,” he said.
Alex looked past Wood’s shoulder, a quietness spreading through her as she stood on the dock. Like a calming whitewash of the lines that were overly dark and the ones that should have never been on the page, the image of herself now showed a likeness she understood, one she’d come to accept. One she even liked. But the image was still incomplete. The drawing showed solid promise but was yet unfinished. She could take what was already on the page and go in many directions to fill that white space. What she added, though, must live up to that original image’s promise. Make it better, even.
Finally, he turned and stared at her. “Too gorgeous to give up?”
“How long do I have to decide?”
He smiled, a predator’s grin hidden by the façade of an appointed politician. “Take a week. Two, even.”
Alex contemplated the opportunity to retain access inside the foundation where her parent’s secrets were buried. The only place where she could find the answers to the questions that had surfaced in these weeks. The ones that she had not just a burning desire to answer, but a need at the human, the primal level.
Director Wood walked back through the bungalow, swept the computer into the bag and moved to the entrance in smooth succession. He stopped at the doorway, glanced back and said, “I’ll be in touch.”
Pulling her robe tight again, Alex avoided the temptation to glance up at the satellites as she said, “I’ll have an answer soon,” all the while thinking, I’m sure you will.
You always will.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction based on fact: between April 2003 and June 2004, the Federal Reserve Bank bundled and airlifted $12 billion of cash, primarily in $100 bills, using twenty-one C-130 military cargo flights to Iraq. There has been much public debate about whether $6.6 billion of this cash was misappropriated or stolen during the war. A final report issued by the independent auditor assigned to situation, the Special Inspector General (SIGC) for Iraq Reconstruction, later claimed to have located most of the missing money. However, SIGC admits that the accounting records for these findings have yet to be fully discovered. Some people believe the money is still missing. Additionally, the bombing referred to at El Descanso restaurant outside of Madrid, Spain is a real event and occurred on April 12, 1985. The explosion killed 18 and injured 82 others, including 11 American servicemen; police believe Americans were the target of the attack. I have taken significant liberty and literary license with both events. I should also note that the characters in this novel are entirely fictitious, though there are minor references to actual persons.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To my editor, David Downing of Maxwellian Editorial Services, thank you for your insight, suggestions, and perspective on THE SHADOW ARTIST and spy thriller novels as a whole. To my copyeditor Elyse Dinh, your attention to detail is incomparable, and you no doubt saved me from ignorance and humiliation in countless ways. A special thank you to Theresa, your conversation with Victoria about strong women in fiction led to the story of Alex Winter as we see her now. Thank you for thinking of me and for your energy in the process. Alex wouldn’t exist without you. And Victoria, you forced me to re-think and re-write more times than I care to ever admit to myself, no less the rest of the world. Without you, I couldn’t have done it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Grayson graduated from Yale University in the early ‘90s with a major in Political Science and a minor in Art. He has lived in Boston, New York, Connecticut, and Texas, and now spends much of his time in Southern California and Europe. He is an investor by day and artist by night. When he’s not busy working, writing, or drawing, it’s a safe bet you can find him with a glass of wine in one hand and a spy novel in the other.
Connect with James online:
www.jamesgrayson.net
https://twitter.com/_jamesgrayson
https://www.facebook.com/JamesGraysonBooks
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COPYRIGHT
THE SHADOW ARTIST. Copyright © 2015 by James Grayson
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Alistern Press, LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
ISBN: 978-1-940221-03-8
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