Jake turned the radio on but made sure it played music, not news. He’d had enough news to last a lifetime. Alanis Morissette sang about God and love and what you might ask the Holy Father if you had just one question. She was one of Angie’s favorites and it made him think of her, made him want to ring his wife-to-be and share the big news of the breakthrough with her. More than anything, it made him pledge to himself that from now on, there’d be no secrets between them. Not even if the president himself told him not to say anything.
He drove with the window down to catch some air. The Marines had made him hate desk life. He longed for real light, not nicotine-yellow artificial crap. He craved real air full of pine and grass, not the warmed-sock stink that was piped from office to office. And openness. He yearned for plenty of space above him as well as out front, to the side and behind him.
There were only a few cars on the road and the drive went quickly. He parked outside his condo at Mar Vista, a stone’s throw from Santa Monica airport and barely four miles from work. Maybe he’d persuade Angie to make a marital home down at Westchester, or if they found a little more money, farther west at Marina del Rey, with a view of the water and an old boat to take out on the weekends.
He slid up the window, killed the ignition and stepped out onto the empty sidewalk. It felt good to be the only one up and about. The road was so quiet he could hear his footsteps. The sky clear and black and endless. Stars sparkled as if they’d been chipped from a diamond and sprinkled on black velvet.
He caught rose scent as he walked the borders to the front of his apartment block. A couple of lights burned in neighbors’ homes. Some distant traffic hummed. A car door clacked behind him.
He turned.
The fucking press.
He couldn’t believe it. A camera light blinded him.
“Hey, buddy, enough’s enough.” Jake stepped forward. “Please turn that thing off before I do it for you.”
The light bobbed. Grew brighter, if anything.
Okay. He’d asked nicely. Now Jake was going to stuff that light where its beam wouldn’t shine.
A sharp, hot pain erupted in his right thigh.
Then his stomach.
And his chest.
Jake dropped to his knees.
He knew what had happened. Knew it before he heard the sound. Before he smelled the acrid smoke from the automatic weapon. Before the light dipped and a voice said, “Dead or alive, Mr. Grunt? I choose dead.”
Another burst of gunfire tore holes in the silence of the night.
This time, there was no Kevlar to protect him. All Jake Mottram saw was blackness.
About the Author
Michael Morley lives in the UK and has had two bestselling thrillers there, Spider and Viper. He is also the producer and director of some of the hardest-hitting crime shows on British television including The Cook Report, Murder in Mind, The Hunt for Baby Abbie, and A Shred of Evidence. These shows have not only broken boundaries but have also won several major awards.
He has three sons and lives a hundred miles north of London in the heart of the English countryside with his family, eleven ducks, a few squirrels, a flock of Canada geese, and a fat heron. Spree is his first serialized novel.
Look for Spree: Broken
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
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 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
About the Author
A Preview of Spree: Broken
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Michael Morley, Casa Strada Productions Ltd.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First published as an ebook by Headline Publishing Group in 2013
First Grand Central Publishing ebook edition: June 2014
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4555-5779-0
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