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A L R E A D Y
T A K EN
(A Laura Frost Suspense Thriller —Book Six)
B L A K E P I E R C E
Blake Pierce
Blake Pierce is the USA Today bestselling author of the RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes seventeen books. Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising fourteen books; of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising six books; of the KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising five books; of the MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE mystery series, comprising six books; of the KATE WISE mystery series, comprising seven books; of the CHLOE FINE psychological suspense mystery, comprising six books; of the JESSE HUNT psychological suspense thriller series, comprising twenty four books; of the AU PAIR psychological suspense thriller series, comprising three books; of the ZOE PRIME mystery series, comprising six books; of the ADELE SHARP mystery series, comprising fifteen books, of the EUROPEAN VOYAGE cozy mystery series, comprising four books; of the new LAURA FROST FBI suspense thriller, comprising nine books (and counting); of the new ELLA DARK FBI suspense thriller, comprising eleven books (and counting); of the A YEAR IN EUROPE cozy mystery series, comprising nine books, of the AVA GOLD mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the RACHEL GIFT mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the VALERIE LAW mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); and of the PAIGE KING mystery series, comprising six books (and counting).
An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.
Copyright © 2022 by Blake Pierce. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. 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 recipient. 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. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Dmitry Laudin, used under license from Shutterstock.com.
BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE
PAIGE KING MYSTERY SERIES
THE GIRL HE PINED (Book #1)
THE GIRL HE CHOSE (Book #2)
THE GIRL HE TOOK (Book #3)
THE GIRL HE WISHED (Book #4)
THE GIRL HE CROWNED (Book #5)
THE GIRL HE WATCHED (Book #6)
VALERIE LAW MYSTERY SERIES
NO MERCY (Book #1)
NO PITY (Book #2)
NO FEAR (Book #3)
NO SLEEP (Book #4)
NO QUARTER (Book #5)
NO CHANCE (Book #6)
RACHEL GIFT MYSTERY SERIES
HER LAST WISH (Book #1)
HER LAST CHANCE (Book #2)
HER LAST HOPE (Book #3)
HER LAST FEAR (Book #4)
HER LAST CHOICE (Book #5)
HER LAST BREATH (Book #6)
AVA GOLD MYSTERY SERIES
CITY OF PREY (Book #1)
CITY OF FEAR (Book #2)
CITY OF BONES (Book #3)
CITY OF GHOSTS (Book #4)
CITY OF DEATH (Book #5)
CITY OF VICE (Book #6)
A YEAR IN EUROPE
A MURDER IN PARIS (Book #1)
DEATH IN FLORENCE (Book #2)
VENGEANCE IN VIENNA (Book #3)
A FATALITY IN SPAIN (Book #4)
ELLA DARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER
GIRL, ALONE (Book #1)
GIRL, TAKEN (Book #2)
GIRL, HUNTED (Book #3)
GIRL, SILENCED (Book #4)
GIRL, VANISHED (Book 5)
GIRL ERASED (Book #6)
GIRL, FORSAKEN (Book #7)
GIRL, TRAPPED (Book #8)
GIRL, EXPENDABLE (Book #9)
GIRL, ESCAPED (Book #10)
GIRL, HIS (Book #11)
LAURA FROST FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER
ALREADY GONE (Book #1)
ALREADY SEEN (Book #2)
ALREADY TRAPPED (Book #3)
ALREADY MISSING (Book #4)
ALREADY DEAD (Book #5)
ALREADY TAKEN (Book #6)
ALREADY CHOSEN (Book #7)
ALREADY LOST (Book #8)
ALREADY HIS (Book #9)
EUROPEAN VOYAGE COZY MYSTERY SERIES
MURDER (AND BAKLAVA) (Book #1)
DEATH (AND APPLE STRUDEL) (Book #2)
CRIME (AND LAGER) (Book #3)
MISFORTUNE (AND GOUDA) (Book #4)
CALAMITY (AND A DANISH) (Book #5)
MAYHEM (AND HERRING) (Book #6)
ADELE SHARP MYSTERY SERIES
LEFT TO DIE (Book #1)
LEFT TO RUN (Book #2)
LEFT TO HIDE (Book #3)
LEFT TO KILL (Book #4)
LEFT TO MURDER (Book #5)
LEFT TO ENVY (Book #6)
LEFT TO LAPSE (Book #7)
LEFT TO VANISH (Book #8)
LEFT TO HUNT (Book #9)
LEFT TO FEAR (Book #10)
LEFT TO PREY (Book #11)
LEFT TO LURE (Book #12)
LEFT TO CRAVE (Book #13)
LEFT TO LOATHE (Book #14)
LEFT TO HARM (Book #15)
THE AU PAIR SERIES
ALMOST GONE (Book#1)
ALMOST LOST (Book #2)
ALMOST DEAD (Book #3)
ZOE PRIME MYSTERY SERIES
FACE OF DEATH (Book#1)
FACE OF MURDER (Book #2)
FACE OF FEAR (Book #3)
FACE OF MADNESS (Book #4)
FACE OF FURY (Book #5)
FACE OF DARKNESS (Book #6)
A JESSIE HUNT PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES
THE PERFECT WIFE (Book #1)
THE PERFECT BLOCK (Book #2)
THE PERFECT HOUSE (Book #3)
THE PERFECT SMILE (Book #4)
THE PERFECT LIE (Book #5)
THE PERFECT LOOK (Book #6)
THE PERFECT AFFAIR (Book #7)
THE PERFECT ALIBI (Book #8)
THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR (Book #9)
THE PERFECT DISGUISE (Book #10)
THE PERFECT SECRET (Book #11)
THE PERFECT FAÇADE (Book #12)
THE PERFECT IMPRESSION (Book #13)
THE PERFECT DECEIT (Book #14)
THE PERFECT MISTRESS (Book #15)
THE PERFECT IMAGE (Book #16)
THE PERFECT VEIL (Book #17)
THE PERFECT INDISCRETION (Book #18)
THE PERFECT RUMOR (Book #19)
THE PERFECT COUPLE (Book #20)
THE PERFECT MURDER (Book #21)
THE PERFECT HUSBAND (Book #22)
THE PERFECT SCANDAL (Book #23)
THE PERFECT MASK (Book #24)
CHLOE FINE PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES
NEXT DOOR (Book #1)
A NEIGHBOR’S LIE (Book #2)
CUL DE SAC (Book #3)
SILENT NEIGHBOR (Book #4)
HOMECOMING (Book #5)
TINTED WINDOWS (Book #6)
KATE WISE MYSTERY SERIES
IF SHE KNEW (Book #1)
IF SHE SAW (Book #2)
IF SHE RAN (Book #3)
IF SHE HID (Book #4)
IF SHE FLED (Book #5)
IF SHE FEARED (Book #6)
IF SHE HEARD (Book #7)
THE MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE SERIES
WATCHING (Book #1)
WAITING (Book #2)
LURING (Book #3)
TAKING (Book #4)
STALKING (Book #5)
KILLING (Book #6)
RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES
ONCE GONE (Book #1)
ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)
ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)
ONCE LURED (Book #4)
ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)
ONCE PINED (Book #6)
ONCE FORSAKEN (Book #7)
ONCE COLD (Book #8)
ONCE STALKED (Book #9)
ONCE LOST (Book #10)
ONCE BURIED (Book #11)
ONCE BOUND (Book #12)
ONCE TRAPPED (Book #13)
ONCE DORMANT (Book #14)
ONCE SHUNNED (Book #15)
ONCE MISSED (Book #16)
ONCE CHOSEN (Book #17)
MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES
BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)
BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)
BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)
BEFORE HE TAKES (Book #4)
BEFORE HE NEEDS (Book #5)
BEFORE HE FEELS (Book #6)
BEFORE HE SINS (Book #7)
BEFORE HE HUNTS (Book #8)
BEFORE HE PREYS (Book #9)
BEFORE HE LONGS (Book #10)
BEFORE HE LAPSES (Book #11)
BEFORE HE ENVIES (Book #12)
BEFORE HE STALKS (Book #13)
BEFORE HE HARMS (Book #14)
AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES
CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)
CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)
CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)
CAUSE TO FEAR (Book #4)
CAUSE TO SAVE (Book #5)
CAUS E TO DREAD (Book #6)
KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES
A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)
A TRACE OF MURDER (Book #2)
A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)
A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)
A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
CHAPTER ONE
Ike was eager to get finished for the day. It had been a long one, with no sign of a rest on the horizon if he didn’t get the harvest at least half done. The fields around his family farm had always been big, but every year that went by, Ike was starting to think they were expanding on him. Getting bigger while he slept.
How else could you explain it taking him half as long again to get the harvest in as it had when he was a young man?
He turned the tractor, moving along the next row of corn, checking the sky as he did so. There was a darkening on the edges of the bright blue, a tonal shift signaling the night coming on as the sun headed down into his corn. All those acres of waving golden heads, waiting for him to get to them. Fifteen years ago, he’d have been done already by this late in November.
Fifteen years ago, he wouldn’t have felt the ache in his bones as he turned his head to steer the tractor. He cricked his neck, twisting it to the side to try to iron out that kink that just wouldn’t go away. Maybe it was the bed. They’d had the mattress how long now? It sunk when Ike’s wife climbed in next to him, and—
What was that? A flash of something out in the corn, as he crooked his head from side to side. A disturbance.
A small one, but he looked again and—yes, there it was. An area of broken stalks. They seemed to trail back to the edge of the field, now he saw it.
Goddammit.
Ike switched off the engine, swinging his legs down out of the tractor’s cockpit and jumping to the ground. The impact jarred his bones the way it always seemed to lately. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going to have no damn college kids using his crops as a damn hoax project, making crop circles to put on that FaceTube or whatever they were calling it these days. They looked like they’d only just started. Must not have heard the tractor coming. He stomped through the corn, pushing it aside easily to find the channels between the rows he’d planted himself.
Damn kids were going to get the fear put up them.
Up ahead, he could see the place where the stalks broke, the heads disappearing from view. He’d seen it many times over the years. Kids thinking they were funny. This time, he swore to God, they were going to get a swift kick up the rear, and he’d be damned if the Sheriff was going to arrest—
Ike stopped dead, meeting the break in the corn and seeing only one other person in view.
Someone lying facedown on the ground, the stalks trampled and flattened around him.
After a moment, in which the person on the ground did not move, Ike rushed forward. He’d forgotten his anger, discarded immediately when he saw it.
The blood on the stalks.
He awkwardly fell to his knees at the side of the person—a man, he saw now—trying to ignore the old pain in his left knee from when he’d fallen a few years back. Ike reached out, touching the man’s shoulder, lifting him just enough so he could see his face.
And swore and fell backwards, almost dislocating his one good hip in the process.
The air felt colder all of a sudden, the cries of the birds flying overhead more ominous. Ike swore again, looking around fast. Whatever happened here, he wanted no part in it.
But it was on his land already, and he’d gotten out of the tractor to take a look. He was out in the open. Exposed.
Ike swore a third time and scrambled to his feet. The corn scratched at his hands as he pushed up, stumbling back through the corn the way he’d come. At least he knew the way. Wasn’t going to get lost in the corn like some townie might.
He reached the tractor and hoisted himself up into the seat, slamming the door closed behind him. It wasn’t exactly much in the way of protection, but at least the vehicle itself doubled as a weapon.
Catching his breath for a moment, Ike realized he’d seen no one around. The man had been there a long time. He could tell. The blood was dried on the ground. That didn’t happen in five minutes.
He was probably safe. Safe enough, at least, to make the call now.
And, Ike thought to himself grimly, if the bastard was still out there, at least the Sheriff would know about it when they came to get Ike’s body, too.
The line connected on the stupid little cell phone his daughter had made him get a few years back, and Ike waited for the speaker on the other end.
“Nine one one, what’s your emergency?”
“Best send the Sheriff, Diane,” he said, recognizing the voice of the dispatcher. It was a small town, and he’d had to call his fair share of times—for joyride cars and trucks on fire, mostly. “I’ve got Jamie here lying in my field, throat cut side to side. Looks like they gave him a second smile.”
“Well, shit, Ike,” Diane said. “I’m sending the Sheriff right away.”
CHAPTER TWO
Laura had watched him fall.
The vision had been so strong, and the headache following it so intense. She knew it was happening now. It had to be. It was so strong, there was a chance that she was even too late.
But she couldn’t be.
Not for Nate.
She had to save him.
She’d gotten a concussion when the killer in her last case tried to make her one of his victims, sure, and maybe that was making the headache worse—it was hard to tell—but somehow in her gut, Laura knew. He was in danger. The worst kind of danger. And with the intensity of the headache that always followed her visions and gave her a clue about the urgency of what she had seen, she knew she barely had any time to get to him.
But there was one big problem. She couldn’t see what he was falling from. The vision hadn’t shown her enough to know where he was, and Nate still wasn’t answering her calls. There was still time to save him, to push things onto a timeline where the vision she had seen of the future never came to pass.
But only just.
If Division Chief Rondelle didn’t answer her call and tell her where Nate was—
“Laura,” Rondelle said, his voice crackling through the phone she’d stuck between her left ear and her shoulder, propping it up so she could drive the car. She was heading through the dark streets of D.C. already, toward Nate’s place, even if she didn’t know whether he was going to be there. It was the only starting point she had, given it was too late at night to expect him at the FBI headquarters.
“Sir,” Laura shot back, her voice desperate, “I need to know where Nate is right now!”
There was a pause.
She knew what he was thinking. Nathaniel Lavoie had requested a transfer. He didn’t want to be Laura’s partner anymore. The tension between them was obvious. Laura had been trying to get in touch with Nate for weeks, and Rondelle had borne the brunt of a lot of that attempted contact.
It must have sounded to him like she was losing it.
Like she was going to go over and scream at Nate until he cancelled the transfer and agreed to be her partner again, or something worse.
“Laura,” Rondelle began, but she didn’t let him finish. She knew that tone. She’d heard it from him so many times before. When he was telling her to drop the bone she had and let it go. When he was telling her she wasn’t allowed any information about Amy Fallow, the little girl Laura had saved from a homicidally violent father—a ban she’d managed to circumvent anyway. And all the times recently when he’d told her to let Nate go, to stop trying to convince him to stay, to leave him be.
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