Blindside(77)
“It may not matter to you, but it matters a lot to the Evans family. And they’re going to be happy to see you behind bars.”
“Good. Make those people happy for a few minutes, seein’ me behind bars.”
“I’m sure that’s what everyone will say about you. That he just wanted to make the world a better place.”
I walked him through the park in handcuffs. I called Terri Hernandez and told her to meet me in front of the Manhattan North Homicide building. I wanted to dump this mope and get on with my real life.
There were ten kids at home waiting to see me.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Lieutenant Luke Miller, NYPD, for his patience and diligence in answering questions and making sure the NYPD’s reputation remains positive.
Have You Read Them All?
STEP ON A CRACK
The most powerful people in the world have gathered for a funeral in New York City. They don’t know it’s a trap devised by a ruthless mastermind, and it’s up to Michael Bennett to save every last hostage.
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE
The Teacher is giving New York a lesson it will never forget, slaughtering the powerful and the arrogant. Michael Bennett discovers a vital pattern, but has only a few hours to save the city.
WORST CASE
Children from wealthy families are being abducted. But the captor isn’t demanding money. He’s quizzing his hostages on the price others pay for their luxurious lives, and one wrong answer is fatal.
TICK TOCK
New York is in chaos as a rash of horrifying copycat crimes tears through the city. Michael Bennett investigate, but not even he could predict the earth-shattering enormity of this killer’s plan.
I, MICHAEL BENNETT
Bennett arrests infamous South American crime lord Manuel Perrine. From jail, Perrine vows to rain terror down upon New York City – and to get revenge on Michael Bennett.
GONE
Perrine is back and deadlier than ever. Bennett must make an impossible decision: stay and protect his family, or hunt down the man who is their biggest threat.
BURN
A group of well-dressed men enter a condemned building. Later, a charred body is found. Michael Bennett is about to enter a secret underground world of terrifying depravity.
ALERT
Two devastating catastrophes hit New York in quick succession, putting everyone on edge. Bennett is given the near impossible task of hunting down the shadowy terror group responsible.
BULLSEYE
As the most powerful men on earth gather for a meeting of the UN, Bennett receives shocking intelligence that there will be an assassination attempt on the US president. Are the Russian government behind the plot?
HAUNTED
Michael Bennett is ready for a vacation after a series of crises push him, and his family, to the brink. But when he gets pulled into a shocking case, Bennett is fighting to protect a town, the law, and the family that he loves.
AMBUSH
When an anonymous tip proves to be a trap. Michael Bennett believes he personally is being targetted. And not just him, but his family too.
OFFICER RORY YATES IS TRACKING TWO KILLERS. THE TEXAS RANGERS ARE TRACKING HIM …
READ ON FOR A SNEAK PEAK OF TEXAS OUTLAW, COMING APRIL 2020
I PULL MY Ford F-150 into the small parking lot at the Rio Grande Bank and Trust in Waco. A big Dodge pickup, even bigger than mine, is taking up two handicapped spaces right in front. I drive around to the shady side and find an opening far from the door.
It’s my lunch break, and I need to deposit a check for my girlfriend.
“Tell me again, Rory,” my lieutenant and new boss says from the passenger seat, “why your girlfriend doesn’t get a bank account in Tennessee.”
Kyle Hendricks and I became Rangers right around the same time and have always been competitive. Up until about a month ago, Kyle and I were the same rank. Then my old boss, friend, and mentor, Lieutenant Ted Creasy, retired and Kyle got promoted. A lot of Rangers wanted me to take the lieutenant’s exam, but I wasn’t in the right headspace to apply for the job. I’ve been through hell and back in the last year.
Now that Kyle’s my boss, I remind myself to be respectful of his position. After all, he’s in his late thirties, a few years older than me. The Texas-bred good old boy has hair the color of straw and the long, lean body of the baseball pitcher he was back in high school and college. Since football was my sport, I thought of Kyle and me as two quarterbacks vying for the starting spot, fueled by a mix of mutual respect and distaste—then suddenly one of them became the coach.
“Coach” invited me to lunch at a local restaurant called Butter My Biscuit, which I took as a good sign that he wants to smooth this transition. But the way he’s been ribbing me about Willow makes me think that maybe he hasn’t changed much after all.
“Hell,” Kyle says, “it’s the twenty-first century. They got national banks now, you know. Wells Fargo. Capital One. You might have heard of ’em.”