every favor he’d ever earned, threatened and beaten up more people than he could remember, loving every minute of it. The result was he was closing in as her defenses and covers started falling away. Very soon it would be his turn. And what he’d done to Tony Wallace would pale next to what he had planned for the lady. The image of her slow destruction at his hands never failed to curl his lips into a smile. He was back in control. Bagger puffed contentedly on his cigar and sipped a finger of his bourbon.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Michelle, the one who really makes it all work.
To Colin Fox, thanks for a great editing job. Here’s to many books together.
To Aaron Priest, the master, enough said.
To Maureen, Jamie, Jimmy and all the rest at Hachette Book Group USA, for being great friends and business partners.
To Lucy Childs and Lisa Erbach Vance, for all you do for me.
To Dr. John Y. Cole at the Library of Congress, for making the Library come alive.
To Mark Dimunation and Daniel DeSimone at the Library of Congress, for showing me the gem that is the LOC Rare Book Reading Room.
To Diane van der Reyden at the Library of Congress, for making the rounds of your department with me. I hope I got it mostly right.
To Dr. Monica Smiddy, thank you for the detailed and thoughtful medical advice.
To Bob Schule, my eagle reader and world-class consultant.
To Deborah, who helps keep me sane and on schedule.
To Rosemary Bustamante, for your foreign language skills, and for being a great friend.
To Maria Rejt, for making it better from across the pond.
To Cornelius Behen, for the use of your name. Hope you liked the character.
And finally, to the memory of Robert (Bob) Bradley, who never got to see his name in the book but who lives in the hearts and minds of the Bradley and Hope families and all his friends.
The endpapers represent pages from the
Contents
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
