Adrenaline (57 page)
Authors: Jeff Abbott
“He’s Round Table, right?” I asked Mila. The Round Table. My secret benefactors. A network of resource-rich and powerful people who want to be a force for good in the world, behind the scenes. They have Mila as their face to me; they gave me the bars to run, a web of safe houses around the world.
They helped me get back my son. I know little about them, except that they started off as a CIA experiment that finally broke free to pursue their own agenda.
“Yes,” Mila said. “Someone tried to kill a Round Table member. I want you to find out who.”
“I said I’d run the bars for you all. Nothing more.” I settled Daniel on my knee.
“Sam, perhaps Leonie wouldn’t mind taking Daniel for a walk,” Mila said. “The day is so lovely.”
“I don’t mind.” Leonie was normally chatty with me, but always quiet around Mila.
“No, would you leave him, please?” I got down on the blanket with him, wriggled fingers at him. I felt like I never got to see him enough, even when he was traveling with me.
“Fine,” Leonie said. “I’ll go get an iced coffee.” I thought she already had the ice in her voice. She left. Mila stood at the window while I played and made bubbling noises at Daniel, and I figured she waited until she saw Leonie on the street below.
“You need to be nicer to her,” I said. “You can trust her to keep her mouth shut about the Round Table.” And I knew we could—we’d given Leonie a far safer, brighter new life.
“I will never trust her.”
“I do, end of discussion.”
“I understand you want to be with your son,” Mila said. “I do. But the bars, a very good livelihood for you, were not free. There was a price attached.”
“I’m not ungrateful. But I’m also not a police detective.”
“The Round Table never wants the police involved. If this poisoning attempt on Monroe was because he is a member of the Table, then we must know without involving the police. Felix will help you.” Felix was the manager of The Select. Each senior manager of my bars know about the Round Table and were recruited to help with their work.
“What about you?”
Daniel grabbed my wiggling fingers and laughed. Sweetest sound ever.
“I have to return to Los Angeles tonight on other pressing business. I’m sure you can handle this.”
“And what do I do when I find out who tried to poison Monroe?”
“Give me their name. Then the Round Table will decide how to proceed.” She got up from the laptop, gave me a smile dimmer than her fake bridal one. “Don’t pretend you’re not itching for some action. A man like you doesn’t like to sit and play with a baby on a blanket for long.”
“Actually, I like nothing better.” I made a face at Daniel. “Don’t we? Don’t we like playing on the blanket.” Daniel concurred with laughter but then gave me a rather serious frown, as though a more detailed answer required thought.
Mila didn’t smile. “I know you love Daniel. But I also know you, Sam. You cannot sit at a desk; you cannot play on a floor. You need something more.”
I looked up at her. “No, I don’t.”
“Sam. Send Leonie and Daniel home to New Orleans tonight. They’ve been traveling with you for two weeks; a baby needs routine and order, not bars and airplanes. I’ll even give Leonie and Daniel a ride to the airport, get them their tickets. Then you go home when you’ve cleared up this little case for me, yes?”
I was a former undercover CIA agent, not a detective, but I nodded. Anything to get her to go. If I found Monroe’s poisoner, fine. If I didn’t, then maybe I could make a new deal with the Round Table. One that kept me out of trouble. One that let me play on blankets. Then I could go home to New Orleans for a while. I had to find a way to make this balance work.
“That planner will be so disappointed that we’re not getting married there,” I said. I don’t even know why I mentioned it. The words felt odd in my mouth, and I was glad Leonie wasn’t there, even though we were just friends now.
Mila crooked a smile at me. “Maybe if you find our poisoner,” she said, “I’ll throw you a big party.”
Sam Capra series
Adrenaline
The Last Minute
Downfall
Whit Mosley series
A Kiss Gone Bad
Black Jack Point
Cut and Run
Other fiction
Panic
Fear
Collision
Trust Me
ACCLAIM FOR
ADRENALINE
“Outstanding… genuinely moving… Abbott hits full stride early on and never lets up. Readers who thrive on a relentless narrative pace and a straight line to the finish won’t be disappointed.”
—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“Breathless fun… You really do keep turning page after page.”
—
Cleveland Plain Dealer
“ADRENALINE has all the hallmarks of a career-changer. It should launch him into the Michael Connelly or Dennis Lehane stratosphere… Abbott sets a merciless pace, but he never lets speed hinder his writing… glorious sensory acumen… with just the right amount of snarky wit.”
—
Dallas Morning News
“A thriller that will get even the most jaded reader’s pulse racing… ADRENALINE rivets the reader from the very first paragraph, and Capra proves to be a character with enough skills and depth to be extremely compelling… Everyone will want to see what Abbott, and Capra, have up their sleeve next.”
—Associated Press
“Thrilling.”
—
New York Daily News
“This is a book that’s getting a tremendous amount of buzz, everyone’s talking about it. I think Jeff Abbott’s the next Robert Ludlum. And I think Sam Capra is the heir apparent to Jason Bourne… The most gripping spy story I’ve read in years… It just grabs you. Great read!”
—Harlan Coben
“Exhilarating… keeps the intensity at a peak level… ADRENALINE proves worthy of its title.”
—
Columbus Dispatch
“[A] complex, mind-bending plot… If Sam improves on his parkour skills, the future thrillers will spill over with nonstop action, just as ADRENALINE does.”
—
San Antonio Express-News
“ADRENALINE lives up to its name. It’s pure thriller in pace, but Abbott manages to keep the book’s heart anchored in the right place. The characters aren’t cardboard action figures, but people under incredible stresses and strains. I read it in a big gulp.”
—Charlaine Harris,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Dead Reckoning
“This one hooked me and didn’t let go… Abbott does a great job with pacing and switching perspectives.”
—
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“A white-knuckle opening leads into undoubtedly the best thriller I’ve read so far this year… ADRENALINE will surely vault Abbott to the top of must-read authors. The relentless action will hook you from the heart-stopping opening to a conclusion that was as shocking as it was heart-rending… an irresistible new hero.”
—
Ventura County Star
(CA)
“Nail-biting.”
—
Austin Chronicle
“ADRENALINE, like its namesake hormone, is all about pace, and a high-speed pace at that. A word of caution: Don’t start reading [it] just before bedtime!”
—
BookPage
“Engaging from the first paragraph, terrifying from the second page, ADRENALINE accomplishes what most modern thrillers can’t. It makes us care about its characters even while we’re speeding headlong down the ingenious Rabbit Hole of its plot. Well done!”
—Eric Van Lustbader,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Bourne Objective
and
Last Snow
“Engrossing… ADRENALINE is a thriller which flows rapidly from page to page… definitely a page-turner… wonderful descriptive writing… Your senses are often captivated by the smells, sights, and sounds which are described in excellent detail… Abbott’s demonstrated ability creates a highly recommended 5-star book.”
—
Kingman Daily Miner
(AZ)
“This is a wonderful book and the start of one of the most exciting new series I’ve had the privilege to read. Jeff Abbott has been one of my favorite writers for more than a decade and Sam Capra is now on my short list of characters I would follow anywhere. ADRENALINE provides the high-octane pace one expects from a spy thriller, while grounding the action with a protagonist that anyone can root for. Sam Capra is the boy next door—assuming the boy next door to you is a CIA-trained agent who will do whatever is necessary to find and protect his loved ones.”
—Laura Lippman,
New York Times
bestselling author of
I’d Know You Anywhere
“Hero Sam Capra likes to unwind with parkour, leaping from building to building, clambering up walls and hurtling through space across the urban landscape… The sport’s a fitting metaphor for Abbott’s style, tumbling from page to page with the frantic inevitability of Robert Ludlum… It all works beautifully.”
—
Booklist
“The title of this book pretty much sets the pace for this action-packed thriller. Within its pages are all the best aspects of a very enjoyable good versus evil plot: intrigue, spies, double crosses, foreign locales, technology used for nefarious purposes, a good hearted hero, and the obligatory nasty bad guys.”
—
Suspense Magazine
“Sam Capra is the perfect hero—tough, smart, pure of heart, and hard to kill. And ADRENALINE is the perfect thriller. Taut and edgy, with breakneck pacing and perfect plotting, it’s a breathless race from the shocking, heart-wrenching opening sequence to the stunning conclusion. Jeff Abbott is a master, and ADRENALINE is his best book yet.”
—Lisa Unger,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Fragile
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Part One: November 14–April 10
Extraordinary Acclaim for
Adrenaline
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 © 2011 by Jeff Abbott
Excerpt from
Last Minute
copyright © 2011 by Jeff Abbott
Excerpt from
Downfall
copyright © 2013 by Jeff Abbott