Fatal Dawn Read online

  FATAL DAWN

  A JESS KIMBALL THRILLER

  DIANE CAPRI

  and

  NIGEL BLACKWELL

  Presented by:

  AugustBooks

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  Praise for

  New York Times and

  USA Today Bestselling Author

  Diane Capri

  “Full of thrills and tension, but smart and human, too.

  Kim Otto is a great, great character. I love her.”

  Lee Child, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Jack Reacher Thrillers

  “[A] welcome surprise….[W]orks from the first page to ‘The End’.”

  Larry King

  “Swift pacing and ongoing suspense are always present…[L]ikable protagonist who uses her political connections for a good cause…Readers should eagerly anticipate the next [book].”

  Top Pick, Romantic Times

  “…offers tense legal drama with courtroom overtones, twisty plot, and loads of Florida atmosphere. Recommended.”

  Library Journal

  “[A] fast-paced legal thriller…energetic prose…an appealing heroine…clever and capable supporting cast…[that will] keep readers waiting for the next [book].”

  Publishers Weekly

  “Expertise shines on every page.”

  Margaret Maron, Edgar, Anthony, Agatha, and Macavity Award-Winning MWA Grand Master and Past President

  Copyright © 2018 Diane Capri and Nigel Blackwell

  All Rights Reserved

  Published by: AugustBooks

  Visit the author websites: DianeCapri.com

  NigelBlackwell.com

  Fatal Dawn 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, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  License Notes:

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Publisher’s Note:

  The publisher and author do not have any control over and do not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without express written permission from the publisher. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  eISBN: 978-1-940768-98-4

  Original Cover Design: Cory Clubb

  Digital Formatting: Author E.M.S.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Reviews

  Copyright

  Dear Friends

  FATAL DAWN

  Cast of Characters

  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

  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

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  About the Authors

  Also by the Authors

  Dear Friends,

  Thank you for buying this copy of Fatal Dawn, the story that will change Jess Kimball’s life forever.

  I’m very excited to share this new Jess Kimball novel with you. Readers say Jess Kimball Thrillers are filled with “fast-paced, believable characters, taut action, and surprises all the way to the finish.” In all of these ways, Fatal Dawn will not disappoint!

  I’m always working on a new book. Please sign up for my mailing list to receive advance notice of new releases and lots of other exclusive stuff for members only. You can do that here: http://dianecapri.com/get-involved/get-my-newsletter/

  You can find a complete list of all my books here: http://dianecapri.com/books/

  And please let me know what you think. I love hearing from you. You can write to me anytime, and I hope you will. I’d love to get to know you better, and you can always reach me here: http://dianecapri.com/get-involved/message/

  Meanwhile, thanks so much for reading. Readers like you are the reason Nigel and I feel it’s an honor and a privilege to write for you.

  Caffeinate & Carry On!

  FATAL DAWN

  by

  DIANE CAPRI

  and

  NIGEL BLACKWELL

  Presented By:

  AugustBooks

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Jessica Kimball

  Henry Morris

  Emilio Fernandez

  Carter Pierce

  Mandy Donovan

  Lynette Tierney

  Ross Tierney

  Earle Gotting

  Shane Hallman

  Henrik Metcalfe

  Zander Norell

  Tanya Norell

  Ammerson Belk

  and

  Peter Kimball

  CHAPTER ONE

  Monday, May 29

  6:30 a.m.

  Humboldt Prison, Kansas

  Shane Hallman watched Earle Gotting’s spindly body shuffle down the wireframe steps from the upper cell block. His orange prison jumpsuit hung off his shoulders and rolled up sleeves exposed stick-like arms. In his hands were a few threadbare clothes and a couple of pictures. His worldly possessions. All of them.

  At the bottom of the steps lay the recreation area. A dozen steel tables all bolted to the concrete floor. Each table had a bench on either side, also bolted to the concrete. A str
ict code determined who could sit at which table and Gotting wasn’t welcome at any of them. He turned straight for the wall and moved along the side of the recreation area.

  Hallman crossed the room and put his foot on one of the benches, blocking Gotting’s path.

  Gotting moved to go around.

  Hallman blocked his progress. “You’re getting out.”

  Gotting’s face remained impassive. “Done my time.”

  Hallman snorted derisively. “So did I. Year ago I was up for parole. They denied me. Because of you.”

  “Not my problem.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “You’ve been inside for some chicken shit stuff. Drug running. Unlicensed guns. You’d have been here for life if they knew what you’d done.” Hallman glowered. “Six more months and I’m done here. Then I’ll make all of this your problem. Count on it.”

  “You’ve hung out with the wrong crowd in here, repeating the mistake you made out there with that thug Metcalfe.” Gotting tilted his head toward the exit and shrugged as if the threats were water off his back. “Got to pick your friends more careful.”

  Hallman leaned forward. He saw the strain around Gotting’s eyes as he enunciated each syllable separately. “I. Wasn’t. There.”

  “And I’m going to remember that after your gang beat me senseless,” Gotting said, chin jutting forward. He patted his right leg. The one they’d mangled.

  Hallman shrugged. “You should have told them what they wanted to know.”

  “You mean what you wanted to know,” Gotting said.

  “I wasn’t there!” Hallman growled. “You should have told them. You’d be walking straight.”

  Gotting snarled back. “You’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid and listening to the wrong stories. Think if I had some secret stash somewhere, I’d be limping out of here?”

  Hallman leaned closer and cracked his knuckles. “I think you’re so stupid it’ll take a lot more than a damaged leg to get that secret out of you.”

  A guard stepped up behind Hallman and spoke over his shoulder. “You leaving or hanging around, Gotting?”

  Hallman stepped aside, and gestured to the exit door, painted with the words “Way Out,” like any inmate was likely to mistake the exit for something else.

  It was the warden’s idea of a joke. A lame insider’s joke meant to convey that no inmate could find his way out. In the battle of the guards against the inmates, inmates made better jokes. Crude and vulgar. Cutting and remorseless. But the warden and his guards always got the last laugh. Walking out free was the only thing most of the inmates wanted.

  “Yeah, big day,” Gotting said to the officer.

  “We should meet up when I get out. Catch up on old times.” Hallman punched Gotting on the shoulder. “I insist.”

  Gotting tucked his bundle of possessions under his arm and rapped on the door with his knuckles. He glanced back at Hallman one last time before he walked out and closed the door from the other side.

  Hallman stood for a while watching the door. He should have been the one walking out. And he would. Soon. Only six more months. Make the best of it, Gotting. I’m coming for you. This will be the last six months you’ll draw breath. Trust me.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Six months later

  Monday, November 27

  8:00 a.m.

  Denver, Colorado

  Jess threaded her powerful Dodge Charger through the Monday morning Denver traffic on her way to work. She rarely spent enough time in Denver to battle rush hour traffic. She definitely remembered why she hated it.

  The weekend’s dusting of snow lingered in doorways and corners. She tuned into a radio report on the decline of the bee population. A specialist was encouraging conservation efforts before large-scale agriculture production was affected, he said.

  She turned off onto a quiet street well behind a white Lexus sedan. The traffic light turned red a moment before the Lexus reached the intersection. A Toyota cut across the lane into the cushion she’d left herself.

  Jess braked hard.

  The Toyota rear-ended the Lexus. Both cars rocked on their suspension.

  She stopped barely two feet from the Toyota’s rear bumper. She checked her rearview mirror. The car behind her was too close. She couldn’t back up.

  An elderly driver stepped out of the Lexus. He sorrowfully looked at the broken bumper on his car.

  A passenger stepped from the rear of the Toyota. He was too thin. Long blond hair straggled from his baseball cap. On the back of his neck was a tattoo she couldn’t make out from this distance.

  Jess leaned forward.

  The older man pointed at his car and said something.

  The skinny guy covered the distance between them in two strides and swung a punch. He had another tattoo on his hand.

  The Lexus driver toppled backward onto the sidewalk.

  Jess grabbed her phone and dialed 911.

  She stretched forward to see. The Toyota couldn’t move because it was trapped between her and the Lexus.

  The operator answered. “911, what’s your emergency?”

  The Toyota passenger rifled through the old guy’s clothes, taking his cell phone and wallet.

  “Police. Robbery. Junction of Fletcher and Bonnell.”

  The thin man jumped into the Lexus and screamed off in a cloud of smoke. The Toyota did the same right behind the Lexus.

  “Make that a carjacking. White Lexus sedan. Suspect also in a white Toyota.” Jess stabbed a button to transfer the call to her car’s speakers.

  “Are you safe?” the operator said.

  “It’s not my car. There’s an elderly man injured.”

  The old guy struggled to his feet.

  “Do you have the plate number?”

  Jess moved up to where the old guy was standing. “Get in.”

  “Do you have the Lexus’s plate?” the operator repeated.

  From the passenger seat, the old guy said, “I’m the owner. Ronald Walsh,” and reported his license plate. “They’ve got my wife.”

  The Toyota and Lexus were almost two blocks away already.

  Jess pulled away hard. She told the operator, “We’re pursuing the Lexus.”

  “Please don’t put yourself in any danger. I have alerted police,” the operator replied.

  Walsh fiddled to fasten his seat belt.

  “Two patrol cars are on the way. ETA two minutes,” the operator said.

  Jess stopped at the next light. Cross traffic was sparse, but running the red light was a risk she wouldn’t take. “They’ll be too late.”

  The Lexus and Toyota took different directions at the block ahead. When her light changed, Jess went after the Lexus.

  Walsh finally secured his seatbelt. “He had a gun. My wife has a weak heart.”

  “We’ll follow him until the police arrive. Then we’ll leave it to the professionals.”

  “She has asthma, too.”

  The road opened into two lanes. The Lexus raced away. Jess took the outside lane, struggling to keep up with the more powerful car.

  “Lexus is now heading east on Wilson,” she said to the 911 operator.

  “Please ma’am, the police are on their way.”

  “Tell them to hurry or these guys will be long gone.”

  The Lexus braked hard and whipped left through a gap in the traffic. Angry horns blared.

  Jess slowed. There was no gap in the traffic for her.

  Walsh strained forward to see the Lexus. “I can’t find them.”

  Jess accelerated for a space in the traffic.

  Walsh struggled to hold onto the grab handle and dashboard when she turned sharply at the next left.

  The street was one-way with two lanes. Jess used the left lane, racing between gaps in the traffic, slowing to search for signs of the Lexus. Four blocks down, she took another left.

  She whipped her head left to right. No sign of the attacker.

  The road ended at
a T-junction with a street that ran along a steep grass embankment.

  She turned left again.

  Walsh pointed down the embankment. “There she is.”

  The Lexus was on a parallel road at the bottom of the embankment.

  Jess accelerated to chase them.

  The Lexus’s wheels locked up in a cloud of smoke. The car fishtailed. Traffic behind it screeched to a halt.