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  Hala crawled on toward a third grate. She moved stealthily, as if she were sliding into position for a sniper’s shot, which she was. The last ten feet took nearly ten minutes, leaving her twenty-eight minutes before her role turned crucial.

  Irritating Christmas music blared from somewhere. Hala peered through the grate. She was fifteen feet up the east wall of a loading dock platform owned by the U.S. Postal Service. Directly below her were large canvas hampers holding canvas bags that were filled with mail. A skeleton crew of three men worked on the dock, transferring the mailbags from the hampers into an open compartment at the rear of a railcar.

  Hala flashed on an image of herself much younger, out in the desert with Tariq, before the children came. He was teaching her how to shoot a pistol. How odd it had been, that aiming and firing a gun came so naturally to her. Then again, shooting was something precise, like medicine, where attention to technique and detail came together to create a little miracle. And wasn’t that what a perfectly placed shot was? A little miracle? A gift from God?

  Hala thought so. She got the silenced Glock out of the tool bag and aimed down through the slats of the grate at a fat Latino guy with muttonchops. He was farthest from her, closest to the tracks. The one most likely to get away.

  About the Authors

  JAMES PATTERSON has created more enduring fictional characters than any other novelist writing today. He is the author of the Alex Cross novels, the most popular detective series of the past twenty-five years, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. Mr. Patterson also writes the bestselling Women’s Murder Club novels, set in San Francisco, and the top-selling New York detective series of all time, featuring Detective Michael Bennett. James Patterson has had more New York Times bestsellers than any other writer, ever, according to Guinness World Records. Since his first novel won the Edgar Award in 1977, James Patterson’s books have sold more than 240 million copies.

  James Patterson has also written numerous #1 bestsellers for young readers, including the Maximum Ride, Witch & Wizard, and Middle School series. In total, these books have spent more than 220 weeks on national bestseller lists. In 2010, James Patterson was named Author of the Year at the Children’s Choice Book Awards.

  His lifelong passion for books and reading led James Patterson to create the innovative website ReadKiddoRead.com, giving adults an invaluable tool to find the books that get kids reading for life. He writes full-time and lives in Florida with his family.

  MARSHALL KARP has written for stage, screen, and TV and is the author of The Rabbit Factory and three other mysteries featuring LAPD detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs.

  jamespatterson.com

  Follow James Patterson on Facebook.

  Download the FREE James Patterson app.

  Books by James Patterson

  Featuring Alex Cross

  Kill Alex Cross

  Cross Fire

  I, Alex Cross

  Alex Cross’s Trial (with Richard DiLallo)

  Cross Country

  Double Cross

  Cross (also published as Alex Cross)

  Mary, Mary

  London Bridges

  The Big Bad Wolf

  Four Blind Mice

  Violets Are Blue

  Roses Are Red

  Pop Goes the Weasel

  Cat & Mouse

  Jack & Jill

  Kiss the Girls

  Along Came a Spider

  The Women’s Murder Club

  11th Hour (with Maxine Paetro)

  10th Anniversary (with Maxine Paetro)

  The 9th Judgment (with Maxine Paetro)

  The 8th Confession (with Maxine Paetro)

  7th Heaven (with Maxine Paetro)

  The 6th Target (with Maxine Paetro)

  The 5th Horseman (with Maxine Paetro)

  4th of July (with Maxine Paetro)

  3rd Degree (with Andrew Gross)

  2nd Chance (with Andrew Gross)

  1st to Die

  Featuring Michael Bennett

  I, Michael Bennett (with Michael Ledwidge)

  Tick Tock (with Michael Ledwidge)

  Worst Case (with Michael Ledwidge)

  Run for Your Life (with Michael Ledwidge)

  Step on a Crack (with Michael Ledwidge)

  The Private Novels

  Private Games (with Mark Sullivan)

  Private: #1 Suspect (with Maxine Paetro)

  Private (with Maxine Paetro)

  Stand-alone Books

  Zoo (with Michael Ledwidge)

  Zoo: The Graphic Novel (with Andy MacDonald)

  Guilty Wives (with David Ellis)

  The Christmas Wedding (with Richard DiLallo)

  Kill Me If You Can (with Marshall Karp)

  Now You See Her (with Michael Ledwidge)

  Toys (with Neil McMahon)

  Don’t Blink (with Howard Roughan)

  The Postcard Killers (with Liza Marklund)

  For Readers of All Ages

  Maximum Ride

  Nevermore: The Final Maximum Ride Adventure

  ANGEL: A Maximum Ride Novel

  FANG: A Maximum Ride Novel

  MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel

  Maximum Ride: The Final Warning

  Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

  Maximum Ride: School’s Out—Forever

  Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

  Daniel X

  Daniel X: Game Over (with Ned Rust)

  Daniel X: Demons and Druids (with Adam Sadler)

  Daniel X: Watch the Skies (with Ned Rust)

  The Dangerous Days of Daniel X (with Michael Ledwidge)

  Witch and Wizard

  Witch & Wizard: The Fire (with Jill Dembowski)

  Witch & Wizard: The Gift (with Ned Rust)

  Witch & Wizard (with Gabrielle Charbonnet)

  Middle School

  Middle School: Get Me Out of Here (with Chris Tebbetts, illustrated by Laura Park)

  Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (with Chris Tebbetts, illustrated by Laura Park)

  Thank you for buying this e-book, published by Hachette Digital.

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  Or visit us at hachettebookgroup.com/newsletters

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Prologue: The Chameleon

  One

  Two

  Book One: There’s No People Like Show People

  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

  Book Two: Major Rewrite

  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

  Book Three: The Show Must Go On

  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

  Epilogue: End Credits

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Acknowledgments

  A Preview of Merry Christmas, Alex Cross

  About the Authors

  Books by James Patterson

  Newsletter

  Copyright

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2012 by James Patterson

  Excerpt from Merry Christmas, Alex Cross copyright © 2012 by James Patterson

  Cover design by Keith Hayes; art © Tom Nagy / Gallerystock

  Author photograph by Deborah Feingold

  Cover © 2012 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  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 constitute 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.

  Little, Brown and Company

  Hachette Book Group

  237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

  littlebrown.com

  First e-book edition: October 2012

  Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc., and is celebrating its 175th anniversary in 2012. The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for

  speaking events. To find out more, go to hachettespeakersbureau.com or call (866) 376-6591.

  ISBN 978-0-316-19989-6

 


 

  James Patterson, NYPD Red

  (Series: NYPD Red # 1)

 

 


 

 
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