THE FBI THRILLERS
Power Play (2014)
Bombshell (2013)
Backfire (2012)
Split Second (2011)
Twice Dead: Riptide and Hemlock Bay (2011)
Whiplash (2010)
KnockOut (2009)
TailSpin (2008)
Double Jeopardy (2008): The Target and The Edge
Double Take (2007)
The Beginning (2005): The Cove and The Maze
Point Blank (2005)
Blowout (2004)
Blindside (2003)
Eleventh Hour (2002)
Hemlock Bay (2001)
Riptide (2000)
The Edge (1999)
The Target (1998)
The Maze (1997)
The Cove (1996)
A BRIT IN THE FBI THRILLERS (WITH J. T. ELLISON)
The Final Cut (2013)
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
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Published by the Penguin Group
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Copyright © 2014 by Catherine Coulter
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ISBN 978-1-101-61875-2
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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Here’s to us, J.T., and to a partnership I hope lasts for a very long time.
CATHERINE
For Catherine, and Karen, and Anton, and Randy, and all those on Eternal Patrol.
J.T.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Clive Cussler for giving me splendid advice on how to find the perfect writer for Nicholas Drummond and Mike Caine. It’s an amazing experience, Clive, and you know what? I really lucked out. May you live long and prosper.
I would like to thank my brother-in-law, Alex De Angelis, for his assistance with all things Chinese. Alex, not only do you amaze me with how much you know, you are an incredibly kind, generous person. But lest you forget, I can kick your butt at Scrabble.
My rock—Karen Evans—thank you for always being here for me, for helping me find the right word, for never treating me like the technological idiot you know me to be.
And finally, I would like to thank all of those valiant men and women who came before us who fought to keep us free.
—CATHERINE COULTER
Life never ceases to amaze me. I always thought the ability to create characters, and story, was a lonely endeavor, something I’d spend hours locked away in my office developing, like a blind mole, hoping against hope that when I emerged, things would hold together.
And then Catherine came into my life, and I realized the combustible power of having two writers on a single project. Two approaches, two brainstorms, two brains!—it is a thing of glory. The Lost Key is a magnificent example of two brains being better than one.
I have to thank Catherine for the guidance and advice and too many laughs to count, and for loving the gulfstream-on-gulfstream violence. Working with you (and Mike and Nicholas) is a dream come true.
Darling Karen, for keeping us calm and focused;
Anton, for declaiming by the pool table;
Chris Pepe, for giving us brilliant notes and constant wrangling;
Scott Miller, for getting me into this in the first place;
Everyone who loved The Final Cut and reached out to let us know;
Jeff Abbott, Laura Benedict, Paige Crutcher, and Ariel Lawhon, who listened and yoga’d and fed me when necessary;
And, as always, my darling husband, Randy, who realized this book could only be made better by margaritas and new kittens. Love you, bunny.
—J. T. ELLISON
CONTENTS
Also by Catherine Coulter
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Epigraph
Prologue
DAY ONE
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
DAY TWO
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
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Epilogue
Author’s Note
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,