Left To Die

Adele frowned. “Exactly. If you don’t need him anymore, then I do.” She turned back to Ms. Jayne, nodding once. “I’ll do it—I’ll come to Lyon tomorrow, if that’s what you want. But first, you have to give me assurance that Robert will be involved. If it’s an issue of salary, you can take it out of mine.”

Executive Foucault looked ready to protest again, but Ms. Jayne spoke over him at the mention of salary. “Done,” she said, simply. “I can’t promise what capacity, but we’ll find a place for Agent Henry, you have my word.”

Adele felt a small jolt of satisfaction which she hid behind a cough and a swallow. “Well,” she said, slowly. “I—”

But before she could continue, her phone started to buzz. Adele frowned for a moment, but then her eyes widened.

“I’m so, so sorry,” she said. “So sorry.” She held up a finger and fished her phone from her pocket.

The blue screen carried a single word: Dad.

“It’s—it’s important,” she said, backing slowly toward the opaque glass door. “I’m sorry,” she kept repeating. “But I have to take this.”

Without waiting for a reply, Adele backed out of the room full of supervisors—all of whom held her career in their hands—and stepped into the hall, lifting the phone and staring at the answer button.

She swallowed, brushed a few loose strands of hair from her face.

Perhaps it wasn’t the wisest course, stepping foot into the DGSI headquarters wearing pink slippers, then leaving a meeting with powerful members of the intelligence community to take a personal call. But then again, perhaps Angus had been right. Perhaps the job couldn’t come first every time.

Adele answered the phone, hurrying toward the elevator and stepping into the empty compartment. She held the phone up, staring into the camera. Her father’s face blinked into view and, for a brief moment, he almost seemed to smile. He had bandages on his face, but otherwise, he looked healthy enough.

“Hey, Dad,” Adele said. “You look good.”

Her father studied her for a moment. And this time, he actually did flash a smile. The elevator doors closed with a quiet ding. “Hello, Adele,” he said, his voice rasping. “How are you?”

Adele tried to respond, but found a lump in her throat. Her dad never called her by her name. The elevator whirred to life, carrying Adele back down to the lobby, the walls and floor vibrating softly around her. “I’m—I’m doing fine,” she said, quietly. “I’ve got some good news. It sounds like I might be visiting Germany quite a bit now…”

The Sergeant’s eyes widened at this. “Good,” he said. The word seemed to take an effort to utter, but after he did, his gaze almost seemed to soften. “Tell me about it,” he said.

The elevator dinged, but Adele didn’t get off. She stood in the empty compartment, facing the lobby, holding up her phone and chatting with her father. She’d once upon a time lost a parent in France. But there, standing in the elevator, hunched over her phone with a smile on her face, Adele felt perhaps she wasn’t so alone as all that. A father from the US, living in Germany, married to a French woman… Adele could only shake her head softly at the thought.

But, for a moment, she thought of Robert’s comments to her. “Perhaps it isn’t you don’t have a home. But that you have more than one.”

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!

LEFT TO RUN

(An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book 2)

“When you think that life cannot get better, Blake Pierce comes up with another masterpiece of thriller and mystery! This book is full of twists and the end brings a surprising revelation. I strongly recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader that enjoys a very well written thriller.”

--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Almost Gone)

LEFT TO RUN is book #2 in a new FBI thriller series by USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews.

A serial killer is ravaging the American expat community in Paris, his kills reminiscent of Jack the Ripper. For FBI special agent Adele Sharp, it’s a mad race against time to enter his mind and save the next victim—until she uncovers a secret darker than anyone could have imagined.

Haunted by her own mother’s murder, Adele throws herself into the case, delving into the grisly underbelly of a city she once called home.

Can Adele stop the killer before it’s too late?