Jack Knife Read online

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  JACK KNIFE

  BY

  DIANE CAPRI

  Presented By:

  AugustBooks

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  http://www.dianecapri.com

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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 Worldwide 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

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  Copyright © 2022 Diane Capri, LLC

  All Rights Reserved

  Excerpt from Never Go Back © 2013 Lee Child

  Published by: AugustBooks

  http://www.AugustBooks.com

  Visit the author website:

  DianeCapri.com

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  Jack Knife 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: 9781942633600

  Original cover design by: Cory Clubb

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  Table of Contents

  Reviews

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Dear Friends

  NEVER GO BACK by Lee Child

  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

  More from Diane Capri

  About the Author

  Lee Child: The Reacher Report

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  Dedication

  Perpetually, for Lee Child, with unrelenting gratitude.

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  Dear Friends,

  Jack Knife is the thirteenth 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 sourcebooks 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 sourcebook. I’m not writing sequels here, though. FBI Special Agent Kim Otto has a totally new story every time, and that story spins off to a life of its own.

  The Jack Knife sourcebook is Never Go Back.

  The sourcebooks 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 sourcebooks 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. Jack Knife is the seventeenth book in my series, consisting of three exciting short reads and fourteen novels. I’m working on book number eighteen, novel number fifteen, 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 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 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!

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  NEVER GO BACK

  By Lee Child

  Reacher said, “I’m a detective and I know what you’re going to say.”

  Turner said, “Do you?”

  “It was always fifty-fifty. Like flipping a coin.”

  “I can’t just walk away.”

  “And I can’t stay. Not here. Not anywhere.”

  “The 110th was your creation, if that makes you feel any better.”

  “And now it’s yours.”

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  Cast of Characters

  Kim Otto

  William Burke

  Jake Reacher

&nbsp
; Margaret Reacher

  Carlos Gaspar

  Charles Cooper

  Lamont Finlay

  Petey Burns

  Hugh Sullivan

  Susan Turner

  Greg Jones

  Leonard Dover

  Michael Flint

  Brad Coda

  Rupert Adams IV

  John Templar

  Dr. Felipe Sanz

  and

  Jack Reacher

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  Chapter 1

  Tuesday, May 24

  Chicago, IL

  FBI Special Agent Kim Otto was all too aware that life could pivot from comfortable to catastrophic in an instant. Particularly in Chicago.

  Always vigilant, she carried threat level awareness in her body at the cellular level.

  Twenty minutes into her run, a driver mashed the grabbers and laid on his horn. Kim jumped several inches off the sidewalk and turned toward the danger.

  The sedan stopped mere inches before he would have mowed down a jaywalker wearing earbuds who was crossing the street, oblivious to the danger.

  Kim’s heart picked up a couple of beats.

  The pedestrian increased his pace and jogged across the street out of the sedan’s path. The driver accelerated on his way, perhaps a bit more carefully.

  And that was the end of it. No one got hit. No one died.

  The driver didn’t jump out and shout at the careless pedestrian.

  The pedestrian didn’t flip the guy off or yell obscenities about driving recklessly in a residential neighborhood.

  Kim’s heartbeat returned to normal and the tension in her shoulders eased as she moved along. Crisis averted.

  In general, Chicagoans were polite Midwesterners. Which was one reason Kim enjoyed the city. The vibe felt normal and comfortable to her. Very similar to her home in Michigan.

  Like law enforcement everywhere, she was hyper-aware of Chicago’s increasingly violent crime statistics. More than six hundred homicides had been committed here last year alone.

  Her situational awareness kept the needle pegged in the red zone on her internal threat meter at all times.

  But it felt great to be outside, using her body, stretching her muscles. Forced inactivity was against her nature as well as a waste of time and she hated it.

  She ran in the posh neighborhoods where, statistically speaking, the population was less likely to kill each other mid-week in broad daylight.

  She had spent too many hours waiting, doing paperwork, and sitting on the sidelines the past few days.

  Which had motivated her to run twice a day. Meaning she’d completed her usual five-mile fitness routine in the morning and now a more relaxed five miles in the afternoon.

  Running was automatic and soon she was in the zone where her body did the work without conscious volition while her mind was free to wander back to problems with her job and her new partner.

  Her assignment was to find Jack Reacher, and he was slipping through her fingers. Every minute she spent here in Chicago instead of tracking Reacher’s movements gave him time to widen the gap between them.

  It was her new partner’s fault and she couldn’t forgive him for it. Not yet, anyway.

  Nor could she simply leave Burke here alone. He was her number two. She was responsible for him. She didn’t have it in her to blow him off, even though he’d abandoned her more than once.

  But as her mother often said, two wrongs didn’t make a right, no matter how you did the math.

  She’d demanded a new partner after her previous one retired. Twelve days ago, The Boss had assigned FBI Special Agent William Burke.

  On paper, Burke was perfect. He had served as a Navy SEAL before joining the FBI, which meant he should have been both supremely capable and reliable.

  He should also have understood the chain of command. She was the lead agent on this assignment. She’d been on the hunt for Reacher since the beginning.

  Burke was the new guy. He’d been reminded of that status by The Boss more than once, yet he blew off his orders as if they’d been written in sand. He took risks he shouldn’t take, with his life and with hers.

  She’d never warmed up to Burke and her gut said the lack of appropriate feelings of loyalty, camaraderie, and friendship was mutual.

  In short, he made her uneasy and she couldn’t put her finger on the exact reason. Which made her even more uneasy.

  For the second time since he’d come on board, Burke was in the hospital. He’d be released tomorrow, which might be the good news or the bad news.

  She’d been expecting a full report about Burke from a confidential source at the NSA. The report hadn’t come through and she’d waited in Chicago waiting as long as she could without arousing undue suspicion. Time to move on and hope the NSA report would catch up with her soon.

  She’d finished the mountain of official paperwork late last night and sent it all off to The Boss.

  Today, she’d written more extensive, confidential reports, which she’d uploaded to her secure server—secretly paying her insurance premium.

  This whole assignment would go wickedly, horribly wrong at some point. She was certain. She’d find herself testifying about the hunt for Jack Reacher. Heads would roll. A few souls would end up in Leavenworth.

  When pompous bureaucrats looked her way for a scapegoat, which they would, her contemporaneous reports could save her ass. She hoped.

  After the last report loaded, she’d closed down the server and disconnected her laptop’s parallel operating system. The only way to eliminate all traces of her cyber activities from the laptop was to destroy it, but at this point destruction was not an option.

  Satisfied with her progress, she’d suited up and headed out for her run.

  She intended to clear her head and work the kinks out of her body. The day was glorious. Nothing better than springtime in Chicagoland. She smelled the fragrant mixture of spring tulips and forsythia and daffodils that lined the streets in cheerfully bright colors after the long, gray winter.

  Covering five miles of ground seemed to pass in five minutes.

  When she slowed to walk the last few blocks back to her hotel, she noticed an independently owned ice cream shop on the corner of a busy street.

  The throng of people coming and going and the unmistakable aroma of freshly brewed coffee drew her closer. She wondered what all the enthusiasm was about.

  The whimsical metal sign swinging from the top of the door depicted a single scoop of caramel-colored ice cream perched atop a Wedgwood china cup.

  The caption read, “Coffee. With Attitude.”

  What coffee addict could resist?

  She grinned, stepped inside the coffee ice cream emporium, and deeply inhaled its wonderful bouquet.

  Shelves and displays filled with trinkets and collectables lined the walls. All the items sported coffee and ice cream images and slogans.

  Patrons were licking ice cream scoops, drinking coffee, laughing at the silly slogans, and generally amusing themselves. In short, people were acting normally for springtime in Chicago. The atmosphere was refreshing.

  The mean streets of the city’s unsafe areas seemed a thousand miles away.

  Kim stood at the end of the line, reading the menu board as she waited her turn. The patient customers were well mannered and the queue moved quickly.

  When she reached the confectioner behind the counter, the wholesome young man flashed a smile that promised expert and friendly service.

  He brandished his scooper and flashed a flirty grin when he asked, “Which of our flavors might you enjoy most today?”

  “How is the Totally Awesome Dark Mocha Toffee Crunch?” she replied, reading from the list.

  His smile broadened to light up his whole face when he exclaimed, “It’s totally awesome!”

  She laughed. This place was infectious in the best of all possible ways. “One scoop, please.”

  “Two scoops are twice as good,” he suggested, holding the scooper poised for action.

  She shook her head. “I’ve already run ten miles today. I don’t have the oomph to pound out another ten to run off those calories.”