split it down the middle?”
She reached over and hugged him. He was tentative at first, but finally Robie hugged her back.
She got out of the car and slowly walked up to her apartment. She turned back, waved at him, and then, despite her still-gimpy leg, Julie skipped up the last few steps.
Like a kid.
Robie smiled and watched until he could no longer see her.
Her injuries would fully heal. At least her physical ones. And her emotional ones might too, given her age.
Robie could not say the same for himself.
The image of Annie Lambert came bursting into his mind like it had been fired there with a rocket launcher. Every moment they had spent together. Everything they had said to each other. Every possibility he might have given thought to about what could have been between them.
And she had been a killer.
Just like he was a killer.
His had been by choice.
She had had no real choice in the matter.
So who was the guiltier one?
It was like Julie had said. You had to take life as it came. It gave no quarter, spared no feelings. Limited no pain. Put no ceiling on happiness.
This was his world.
He was who he was.
He could not change that.
He was not an innocent.
And the people he hunted certainly weren’t innocent.
Maybe the best Robie could do was protect those who actually were.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
TO MICHELLE, your extraordinary enthusiasm for this book really meant a lot.
To David Young, Jamie Raab, Emi Battaglia, Jennifer Romanello, Tom Maciag, Martha Otis, Chris Barba, Karen Torres, Anthony Goff, Lindsey Rose, Bob Castillo, Michele McGonigle, and all at Grand Central Publishing, who support me every day.
To Aaron and Arleen Priest, Lucy Childs Baker, Lisa Erbach Vance, Nicole James, Frances Jalet-Miller, and John Richmond, for being the best team a writer could ever have.
To Maja Thomas, who continues to lead the way on ebooks.
To Anthony Forbes Watson, Jeremy Trevathan, Maria Rejt, Trisha Jackson, Katie James, Aimee Roche, Becky Ikin, Lee Dibble, Sophie Portas, Stuart Dwyer, Anna Bond, and Matthew Hayes at Pan Macmillan, for catapulting me to the top in the UK.
To Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy, for terrific audio performances.
To Steven Maat at Bruna, for taking me to the top in Holland.
To Bob Schule, for your friendship, enthusiasm, and editorial skills.
To the charity auction winners: Jane Wind, Gabriel Siegel, Elizabeth and Brooke Van Beuren, Diana Jordison, Cheryl Kosmann, and Michele Cohen. I hope you enjoyed your characters.
To David and Catherine Broome, for the use of your last name, although you’re much cooler than the “Broome” characters in the novel.
To Kristen, Natasha, and Erin, because I’d be lost without you.
And last but far from least, to Roland Ottewell for another great copyediting job.
ALSO BY DAVID BALDACCI
Absolute Power
Total Control
The Winner
The Simple Truth
Saving Faith
Wish You Well
Last Man Standing
The Christmas Train
Split Second
Hour Game
The Camel Club
The Collectors
Simple Genius
Stone Cold
The Whole Truth
Divine Justice
First Family
True Blue
Deliver Us from Evil
Hell’s Corner
The Sixth Man
One Summer
Zero Day
Contents
Welcome
Dedication
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
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Acknowledgments
Also by David Baldacci
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 © 2012 by Columbus Rose, 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 is 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 [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First e-book edition: April 2012
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ISBN 978-0-446-57300-9