Eric Lustbader - Blood Trust

“If we want it, Annika, then we’ll have it.”

The question he left unsaid was: Do both of us really want it?

“Until I met Alli, I never thought about having children,” Annika said.

“You wish Alli was your daughter.”

She pulled back a little to peer into his eyes. “Is that so terrible a desire?”

“Not at all.” He ran a hand down her cheek. “On the other hand, I don’t see you changing diapers.”

She put her head down, resting her forehead on his shoulder. “That’s not so terrible, either.”

“What’s wonderful is the love Alli has awakened in you.”

“My mother loved very deeply—and you know what happened to her.”

Jack did. She had taken her life after Annika’s exceedingly powerful father had kidnapped Annika at the age of four.

“You’re not your mother, Annika. She was weak; you are anything but.”

She was silent for some time. He could feel her heart beating in her chest, could imagine her blood coursing through her veins and arteries.

“Annika,” he said softly, “this isn’t what you want to be talking about.”

She remained silent, but connected to him in the most intimate, visceral way.

“What is it you want to ask me?”

She stirred at last, as if from a dream. “Nothing.” She kissed him warmly on the lips. “Nothing at all.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Safe Banking Systems does, in fact, exist. Located in Mineola, New York, SBS provides the financial services industry with software solutions that combat money laundering, fraud, terrorist financing, and other criminal activity. SBS has the unique capability to find the “bad guys” by uncovering hidden risk and identifying the “six degrees of separation” between disparate individuals and entities.

SBS’s public service report, issued in June 2009, identified terrorists and drug kingpins with valid FAA licenses, including the infamous PanAm Lockerbie bombers. When this story broke in The New York Times, six FAA licenses were revoked within twenty-four hours, but not without some embarrassment in Washington, D.C. The story resonated in the halls of Congress and received national media attention. How this relatively small, privately owned company could find a serious threat to U.S. national security that went undetected by the government agencies mandated to do so generated much interest. David and Mark Schiffer, the principals of SBS, were invited to meet with the chief counsels and their investigative teams at both the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee and U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security. As a result, there was an official mandate for improvements to the vetting process and interagency cooperation between the FAA and TSA. The inspector general’s office also contacted SBS during its investigation of the vetting process. The IG’s report has not been made public yet.

In October 2010, The Enterprise Report published a three-part exclusive article on Viktor Bout, the alleged notorious worldwide arms dealer currently under arrest in Thailand. SBS’s data mining and analysis determined that Bout may hold a private pilot’s license issued to him by the FAA in 1993. SBS also identified seven key associates and participants in Bout’s aviation cargo transportation businesses.

BY ERIC VAN LUSTBADER

THE JACK MCCLURE/ALLI CARSON NOVELS

First Daughter (2008)

Last Snow (2010)

Blood Trust (2011)

THE PEARL SAGA

The Ring of Five Dragons (2001)

The Veil of a Thousand Tears (2002)

Mistress of the Pearl (2004)

THE SUNSET WARRIOR CYCLE

The Sunset Warrior (1977)

Shallows of Night (1978)

Dai-San (1978)

Beneath an Opal Moon (1980)

Dragons on the Sea of Night (1997)

THE CHINA MAROC SERIES

Jian (1986)

Shan (1988)

THE NICHOLAS LINNEAR/NINJA CYCLE

The Ninja (1980)

The Miko (1984)

White Ninja (1990)

The Kaisho (1993)

Floating City (1994)

Second Skin (1995)

THE JASON BOURNE NOVELS

The Bourne Legacy (2004)

The Bourne Betrayal (2007)

The Bourne Sanction (2008)

The Bourne Deception (2009)

The Bourne Objective (2010)

The Bourne Dominion (2011)

OTHERS

Sirens (1981)

Black Heart (1983)

Zero (1987)

French Kiss (1989)

Angel Eyes (1991)

Batman: The Last Angel (1992)

Black Blade (1993)

Dark Homecoming (1997)

Pale Saint (1999)

Art Kills (2002)

The Testament (2006)

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.

BLOOD TRUST

Copyright © 2011 by Eric Van Lustbader

All rights reserved.

A Forge ®eBook

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lustbader, Eric.

Blood trust / Eric Van Lustbader.—1st ed.

p. cm.

“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”

ISBN 978-0-7653-2974-5

1. United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation—Fiction. 2. Children of presidents—Fiction. 3. International relations—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3562.U752B56 2011

813'.54—dc22

2011007887

First Edition: May 2011

eISBN 978-1-4299-7207-9

First Forge eBook Edition: May 2011