A Voice from the Field (34 page)
Read A Voice from the Field Online
Authors: Neal Griffin
Connor wasn't amused. “I already told you, I'm holding on to bigger secrets than that, Tia. Some of 'em would make pretty good bargaining chips if need be. But yeah. I say it's nobody's business what happened twenty-some years ago. I say we look forward. To the future, Tia. Not the past.”
Tia took a knee by the gravestone, thinking of a little girl dying in a Texas labor camp. A mother, somewhere in Mexico, praying for a daughter she had given up. Another, praying for the return of one who had somehow lost her way. A young marine holding on to life in a foreign desert, ten thousand miles from home.
There was no undoing all the twists and turns that had brought any of them to this time and place, but Tia was certain of one thing.
This is where I belong.
Connor reached down and touched her cheek. “I don't want you to leave, Tia. We can have a life together. You and me.”
“My dad said I should come home, Connor.” She stood, reached up, and took him by the back of the neck, pulling his head down so she could whisper in his ear.
“I told him,
I am home.”
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In my twenty-seventh year of police work, it's bittersweet to realize I'm much closer to the end of my watch than the beginning. With that in mind, I'd like to recognize the thousands of men and women I've had the honor to work with during my law enforcement career. Men who had much in common with Ben Sawyer; and women not unlike Tia Suarez. Cops who possess those attributes that can't be handed out by a department supply clerk or standardized in an academy exam: heart and desire to do the job the right way. Hopefully America realizes these cops are the overwhelming majority of the men and women who protect and serve the towns and cities of this country. It has been my honor to serve alongside them all these years.
As a writer, I'm just getting started and I want to acknowledge those who continue to help me along. Thanks to my friends at the Wednesday night San Diego Writers, Ink group led by Tammy Greenwood. Your feedback every week kept me on track and your fingerprints are all over this book. Thanks for the tough love.
Thanks to my agent, Jill Marr, and everyone at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. We've come a long way together and we're still going strong.
My editor, Melissa Ann Singer, has once again stood by me all the way from first draft to the book you now hold in your hands. Thank you, Melissa, and the incredible team at Forge Books: Tom, Linda, Patty, Emily, Christopher, and everyone else. No writer could ask for a more supportive and capable group of professionals than the one assembled around me.
A special thanks to Seth Lerner, who once again created a book cover that demands to be opened.
And to my family. We've managed to spread ourselves all across the country but somehow we grow closer every year. Your love and support mean the world to me.
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NEAL GRIFFIN
is a twenty-five-year veteran of law enforcement who grew up in the kind of town he writes about. He often speaks about law enforcement issues and police ethics to civilians and fellow cops. Griffin has participated in special training at FBI headquarters. Currently serving in a department in Southern California, Griffin is married and has four children. His first novel,
Benefit of the Doubt,
was a
Los Angeles Times
bestseller. You can sign up for email updates
here
.
    
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ALSO BY
NEAL GRIFFIN
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Contents
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
A VOICE FROM THE FIELD
Copyright © 2016 by Neal Griffin
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Michael Graziolo
Cover art © 2015 Shutterstock
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Forge
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Griffin, Neal C., author.
Title: A voice from the field / Neal Griffin.
Description: First Edition. | New York: Forge Books, 2016. | “A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
Identifiers: LCCN
2015033359
| ISBN 9780765338518 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781466839038 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Human traffickingâFiction. | Missing personsâInvestigationâFiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Thrillers. | GSAFD: Mystery fiction. | Suspense fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3607.R54845 V65 2016 | DDC 813/.6âdc23
LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015033359
e-ISBN 9781466839038
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at
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First Edition: February 2016