Prepper Jack: Hunting Lee Child's Jack Reacher (The Hunt For Jack Reacher Series Book 12) Read online

  PREPPER JACK

  BY

  DIANE CAPRI

  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 World Wide 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

  Copyright © 2020 Diane Capri, LLC

  All Rights Reserved

  Excerpt from Die Trying © 1998 Lee Child

  Published by: AugustBooks

  http://www.AugustBooks.com

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  DianeCapri.com

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  Prepper Jack 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.

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  eISBN: 978-1-942633-21-1

  Original cover design by: Cory Clubb

  Digital formatting by: Author E.M.S.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Reviews

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Dear Friends

  DIE TRYING by Lee Child

  Cast of Primary 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

  More from Diane Capri

  About the Author

  Lee Child: The Reacher Report

  DEDICATION

  Perpetually, for Lee Child, with unrelenting gratitude.

  Dear Friends,

  Prepper Jack is the ninth novel in my Hunt for Jack Reacher Series, and I couldn’t be more excited for you to read it! More than two million readers already love the Hunt for Jack Reacher Series books—including Jack Reacher’s creator, Lee Child, thank heavens! Whew!

  The first question new readers usually ask me is how I’m allowed to write about Jack Reacher. The short answer is that Lee Child and I are friends and he’s a big fan of my work. I write these books with his full support, for which I’m eternally and unrelentingly grateful. I’ve included his Reacher Report at the end of this novel in case you’re not signed up to receive email from Lee directly (and you can sign up to hear from him on his website if you’d like to).

  I hope you’ll see right away why amazing #1 worldwide publishing phenomenon Lee Child calls my books, “Full of thrills and tension, but smart and human, too.” And why Lee gave the series an enthusiastic two thumbs up when he said, “Kim Otto is a great, great character. I love her!”

  The second question I often hear is about the source books for my stories. As many of you already know, every Hunt for Jack Reacher Series novel uses one of Lee Child’s Reacher novels as its source book. I’m not writing sequels here, though. FBI Special Agent Kim Otto has a totally new story every time and that story spins off from the source book.

  Prepper Jack’s source book is Die Trying.

  The source books are fun to read either before or after my Hunt for Jack Reacher Series books, and readers tell me they love both. Each of my books is a complete story and, like Lee Child’s original novels, my books do not need to be read in any particular order. (Although many readers enjoy reading the books in publication order.)

  A list of source books and publication order can be found in the back of this book HERE and on my website here: https://dianecapri.com/books/free-book-list-pdf/

  The third most frequent question I get is when the next Hunt for Jack Reacher book will be published. Prepper Jack is the twelfth book in my series, which consists of three exciting short reads and nine novels. I’m working on book number thirteen, novel number ten, now. There’s a link to preorder the next novel
at the end of this book so you won’t miss out! You can find a complete list of all of my books here: http://dianecapri.com/books/

  Please sign up for my mailing list to receive advance notice of new releases and lots of other exclusive stuff for reading group members only. You can do that here: http://dianecapri.com/get-involved/get-my-newsletter/

  While you’re waiting for a new Hunt for Jack Reacher Series book, please give my other books a try. I believe you’ll enjoy them just as much. And either way, let me know what you think. You can write to me anytime, and I hope you will. I’d love to get to know you better. You can always reach me here: http://dianecapri.com/get-involved/message/

  Lee Child also suggests that you “Make some coffee. You’ll read all night.” If you enjoy my books, I hope you’ll recommend them to your friends who love to read mystery/thriller/suspense, too.

  Meanwhile, thanks so much for reading. It’s an honor and a pleasure to write for readers like you!

  Caffeinate & Carry On!

  DIE TRYING

  Lee Child

  1998

  Reacher had no problem with how he had gotten grabbed up in the first place. Just a freak of chance had put him alongside Holly Johnson at the exact time the snatch was going down. He was comfortable with that. He understood freak chances. Life was built out of freak chances, however much people would like to pretend otherwise. And he never wasted time speculating about how things might have been different, if this and if that.

  CAST OF PRIMARY CHARACTERS

  Kim L. Otto

  Charles Cooper

  Lamont Finlay

  Carlos Gaspar

  John Lawton

  Michael Flint

  Holly Johnson

  Pinto Vigo

  Mason O’Hare

  Jake Reacher

  and

  Jack Reacher

  CHAPTER ONE

  Monday, April 11

  12:30 p.m.

  Albuquerque, New Mexico

  Mason O’Hare hadn’t seen the threat coming.

  He was running late, which was unavoidable during the busy tax return season. His tardiness shouldn’t have mattered much. His lunch date would have been comfortably seated in the air conditioning with a cool drink, relaxed and waiting.

  Mason had borrowed a sedan and parked in a lot two blocks away. He felt reasonably sure he hadn’t been followed, but he was no clandestine operations expert. He worked a regular job. Had a girlfriend with a kid.

  He was a regular guy in a tough spot, that’s all. No more, no less.

  He hurried nervously along the unfamiliar section of San Felipe Street, glancing back over his shoulder and scanning side to side from behind the oversized sunglasses he’d bought at the drugstore that morning.

  Mason had never been to The Last Chance Saloon. It was a tourist spot located in an adobe building in the heart of historic Old Town Albuquerque. He’d checked the place out online before he’d chosen it. He’d heard Bruce Ray mention the place a couple of times, but no one Mason knew hung out here. He didn’t expect to be recognized.

  He looked both ways before he jaywalked quickly across the street to the saloon’s entrance. He planned to start working out when tax season ended. He’d made the promise to his girlfriend several times before, but somehow he never found the time to follow through.

  All of which meant that he was a little breathless, somewhat paunchy, more than a little out of shape, and plenty nervous. He’d had very little contact with law enforcement in his lifetime and he’d have been very happy to keep it that way.

  But the way he looked at it, he’d had no choice but to poke his head out of his hole and report what he’d seen. And now here he was. Nothing he could do to change things at this point. He just had to suck it up and get it over with.

  Mason pulled the saloon’s heavy wood door open and stepped into a cold cave of darkness, realizing instantly that he’d made another serious mistake. The place was way too busy. There were too many people here.

  The noise of a hundred conversations going at once, along with some kind of piped in Mexican music, slammed against his ears.

  The air-conditioned dining room was dimly lit, but it was the change from the hot, bright sunshine coupled with his dark sunglasses that blinded him.

  Sweat dripped from his armpits and trickled down inside his shirt. What had possessed him to wear a suit and tie today? He never wore suits anymore. Not since he’d moved to Glen Haven. No wonder he was uncomfortably hot and sweaty. Could he possibly get heat stroke so early in the season?

  He stood inside the doorway at the end of a long line of patrons waiting for a table. He removed his sunglasses and dropped them into his breast pocket, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He reached into his pocket for a handkerchief to blot the salty rivulets from his brow.

  A casually dressed man approached from the shadows on his left.

  This guy wasn’t a local. His skin wasn’t sun-leathered and he had no crinkles around his eyes from squinting against the relentless sun. He was six feet tall, give or take. Normal looking brown hair. Nicely dressed in what fashionistas called business casual.

  “O’Hare?” the man asked.

  When Mason nodded and shook his hand, he said, “John Lawton.”

  Lawton tilted his head to the dining area on his left. “This place is jammed. There’s two tour buses in the parking lot out back. They’ve taken every table in the place and it looks like they just got seated. Probably won’t finish up for a while. We won’t be able to talk here. Is there another spot nearby?”

  Mason considered the question, which made him more nervous. He wasn’t familiar with the restaurants in the area. He didn’t know another place to suggest.

  Lawton tapped him on the shoulder and walked toward the exit because conversation was impossible inside the saloon. Mason unfolded his sunglasses, slipped them onto his face, and followed.

  On the sidewalk, Lawton inclined his head toward the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History and Old Town Plaza. “Let’s walk.”

  “Yeah, sure. We can do that,” Mason replied, taking a few steps beside Lawton on the sidewalk, hustling to keep pace. “I’ll need to get back to work soon, though. They’ll start to wonder where I am. I almost never leave my desk during tax season, you know?”

  Mason glanced around, hoping to see the plaza crowded with tourists. But it was one of those almost freakish times when, for no reason at all, the popular destination was practically deserted.

  After walking along for a few yards, Mason heard footsteps behind them on the sidewalk, following in the same direction, keeping pace. The footsteps made him uneasy, too, but looking behind seemed foolish, somehow. So he didn’t.

  At the traffic light on the corner, Lawton paused while two pickup trucks, an SUV, and a couple of sedans sailed through. The light turned yellow.

  They waited for a white panel van to pass before they stepped into the crosswalk.

  Mason noticed the van’s front windows were tinted darker than permitted by law and the back had no windows at all. He figured it had to be a hundred degrees or more inside that steel box.

  The van sped up to rush through as the light turned red.

  The crosswalk sign flashed “walk.”

  Mason and Lawton stepped off the curb, which was the last normal thing he remembered.

  Everything after that was one big blur.

  On the other side of the traffic light, just beyond the range of the cameras mounted on the pole at the corner, the van’s driver mashed the breaks.

  The wheels locked.

  The tires squealed as they skidded leaving black marks on the pavement.

  The van jerked to a full stop.

  The side door zipped open.

  Lawton had been a step ahead. Before he had a chance to react, he was propelled from behind and his feet scrambled to keep him upright. He lurched toward the open maw of the van and tumbled inside.

  Within the dim interior of the van, two m
en grabbed Lawton and shoved him face down onto the floor. One man struck him on the head with the butt of a shotgun. His body went limp.

  A split second later, Mason felt a hard shove against his back. He stumbled forward, almost losing his balance.

  “What the hell?” Mason swung his arms wide and swiveled his head to see who had pushed him.

  He tried to pivot, but there was not enough space between him and the big dude holding the pistol jammed into his back.

  All Mason had a chance to see was a beard, a baseball cap, and a pair of sunglasses.