C. Box - Endangered

—

“LOOK,” LUCY WHISPERED, pointing between Joe and Marybeth, toward the parking lot.

They turned as one.

A big man wearing hospital scrubs had his back to them as he slowly made his way through a row of cars to a waiting sedan under the dim glow of an overhead light. He had a blond ponytail and a pronounced limp.

When the passenger door of the sedan opened, the interior light came on. An attractive, dark woman was at the wheel. Liv, Joe thought.

Rather than flee immediately, Joe thought, Nate had obviously thought it all through. He’d erased the surveillance video and found a place to hide inside the hospital. Probably a room where he could change into scrubs and look like he belonged, just as Sheridan and Lucy had done. He’d contacted Liv to rent a car and come get him. Meanwhile, law enforcement was looking for him everywhere but here.

Nate turned and looked up.

Although Joe couldn’t believe he could see them all up there, Nate gave them a thumbs-up before he climbed in and the car drove away.

“Girls,” Marybeth said before Joe could say it, “he saved your sister’s life. What we just saw needs to stay on this balcony.”

Then: “Let’s go talk to the doctors and see how soon we can take April home.”

Stepping aside to let his family pass, Joe looked over his shoulder and down as the taillights of the sedan became pinpricks in the cold Montana dawn.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank the many experts and first readers who assisted with aspects of this novel, including Bob Budd, the executive director of the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust; Hon. William F. Chinnock (Ret.); Vahé Alaverdian of Falcon Force (www.falconforce.com); Judge Peter Arnold (Ret.); Bill Haley, Wyoming Game Warden (Badge #1); Mark Nelson; and Dr. Charles Mackey.

Special thanks to my first readers Laurie Box, Becky Reif, Molly Donnell, and Roxanne Woods.

Thanks to Don Hajicek for cjbox.net and Jennifer Fonnesbeck for social media expertise and merchandise sales.

It’s a sincere pleasure to work with professionals at Putnam, including the legendary Neil Nyren, Ivan Held, Kate Stark, Michael Barson, and Tom Colgan.

Ann Rittenberg, you’re the greatest.

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ALSO BY C. J. BOX

THE JOE PICKETT NOVELS

Stone Cold

Breaking Point

Force of Nature

Cold Wind

Nowhere to Run

Below Zero

Blood Trail

Free Fire

In Plain Sight

Out of Range

Trophy Hunt

Winterkill

Savage Run

Open Season

THE STAND-ALONE NOVELS

The Highway

Back of Beyond

Three Weeks to Say Goodbye

Blue Heaven

SHORT FICTION

Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country

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Copyright © 2015 by C. J. Box

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Box, C. J.

Endangered / C. J. Box.

p. cm.—(A Joe Pickett novel ; 15)

ISBN 978-0-698-18443-5

1. Pickett, Joe (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Game wardens—Fiction. 3. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. 4. Wyoming—Fiction. 5. Suspense fiction. 6. Mystery fiction. I. Title.

PS3552.O87658E53 2015 2014049854

813'.54—dc23

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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