He"s a pro. He"s just watching his back.
Satisfied he wasn"t being followed, Zelvas entered the bathroom.
The Ghost stood up and surveyed the terminal. The only uniformed cop in the area was busy giving directions to a young couple fifty feet away.
The men"s room had no door-just an L-shaped entryway that allowed the Ghost to walk in and still remain out of sight.
From his vantage point he could see the mirrored wall over the sinks. And there was Zelvas, standing in front of a urinal, his back to the mirror.
The Ghost silently reached under his poncho and removed his equally silent Glock from its holster.
The Ghost had a mantra. Three words he said to himself just before every kill. He waited until he heard Zelvas breathe that first sigh of relief as he began to empty his bladder.
I am invincible, the Ghost said in silence.
Then, in a single fluid motion, he entered the bathroom, silently slid up behind Zelvas, aimed the Glock at the base of his skull, and squeezed the trigger.
And missed.
Some people are harder to kill than others.
Two.
WALTER ZELVAS never stepped up to a urinal unless the top flush pipe was made of polished chrome.
It"s not a perfect mirror, but it"s enough. Even in a distorted image, he could see all he needed to see.
Man. Hand. Gun.
Zelvas whirled on the ball of his right foot and dealt a swift knifehand strike to the Ghost"s wrist just as he pulled the trigger.
The bullet went wide, shattering the mirror behind him. Yet its now-webbed surface remained miraculously intact.
Zelvas followed by driving a cinder-block fist into the Ghost"s midsection, sending him crashing through a stall door.
The Glock went skittering across the tile floor.
The Ghost looked up at the enraged colossus who was now reaching for his own gun.
d.a.m.n, the Ghost thought. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d is still p.i.s.sing. Glad I wore the poncho.
He rolled under the next stall just as Zelvas"s first bullet drilled a hole through the stained tile where his head had just been.
Zelvas darted to the second stall to get off another shot. Still on his back, the Ghost kicked the stall door with both feet.
It flew off its hinges and hit Zelvas square on, sending him crashing into the sinks. But he held on to his gun.
The Ghost lunged and slammed Zelvas"s gun hand down on the hard porcelain. He was hoping to hear the sound of bone snapping, but all he heard was gla.s.s breaking as the mirror behind Zelvas fell to the floor in huge fractured pieces.
Instinctively, the Ghost s.n.a.t.c.hed an eight-inch shard of broken mirror as it fell. Zelvas head-b.u.t.ted him with his full force, and as their skulls collided the Ghost jammed the razor-sharp gla.s.s into Zelvas"s bovine neck.
Zelvas let out a violent scream, pushed the Ghost off him, and then made one fatal mistake. He yanked the jagged mirror from his neck.
Blood sprayed like a renegade fire hose. Now I"m really glad I wore the poncho, the Ghost thought.
Zelvas ran screaming from the b.l.o.o.d.y bathroom, one hand pressed to his spurting neck and the other firing wildly behind him. The Ghost dove to the floor under a hail of ricocheting bullets and raining plaster dust. A few deft rolls, and he managed to retrieve his Glock.
Jumping to his feet, the Ghost sprinted to the doorway to see Zelvas running across the terminal, a steady stream of arterial blood pumping out of him. He would bleed out in a minute, but the Ghost didn"t have time to stick around and confirm the kill. He raised the Glock, aimed, and then...
"Police. Drop it."
The Ghost turned. A uniformed cop, overweight, out of shape, and fumbling to get his own gun, was running toward him. One squeeze of the trigger, and the cop would be dead.
There"s a cleaner way to handle this, the Ghost thought. The guy with the mop and every pa.s.senger within hearing distance of the gunshots had taken off. The bucket of soapy mop water was still there.
The Ghost put his foot on the bucket and kicked, sending it rolling across the terminal floor right at the oncoming cop.
Direct hit.
The fat cop went flying, a.s.s over tin badge, and slid across the slimy wet marble.
But this is New York: one cop meant dozens, and by now a platoon was heading his way.
I don"t kill cops, the Ghost thought, and I"m out of buckets. He reached under his poncho and pulled out two smoke grenades. He yanked the pins and screamed, "Bomb!"
The grenade fuses burst with a terrifying bang, and the sound waves bounced off the terminal"s marble surfaces like so many billiard b.a.l.l.s. Within seconds the entire area for a hundred feet was covered with a thick red cloud that had billowed up from the grenade casings.
The chaos that had erupted with the first gunshot kicked into high gear as people who had dived for cover from the bullets now lurched blindly through the bloodred smoke in search of a way out.
Half a dozen cops stumbled through the haze to where they"d last seen the bomb thrower.
But the Ghost was gone.
Disappeared into thin air.
About the Authors.
JAMES PATTERSON has had more New York Times bestsellers than any other writer, ever, according to Guinness World Records. Since his first novel won the Edgar Award in 1977, James Patterson"s books have sold more than 205 million copies. He is the author of the Alex Cross novels, the most popular detective series of the past twenty-five years, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. Mr. Patterson also writes the bestselling Women"s Murder Club novels, set in San Francisco, and the top-selling New York detective series of all time, featuring Detective Michael Bennett.
James Patterson also writes books for young readers, including the award-winning Maximum Ride, Daniel X, and Witch & Wizard series. In total, these books have spent more than 200 weeks on national bestseller lists, and all three series are in Hollywood development.
His lifelong pa.s.sion for books and reading led James Patterson to launch the website ReadKiddoRead.com to give adults an easy way to locate the very best books for kids. He writes full-time and lives in Florida with his family.
MICHAEL LEDWIDGE is the author of The Narrowback, Bad Connection, and, most recently, the coauthor, with James Patterson, of Tick Tock. He lives in New York City.
Books by James Patterson.
FEATURING ALEX CROSS.
Cross Fire * I, Alex Cross * Alex Cross"s Trial (with Richard DiLallo) * Cross Country * Double Cross * Cross * Mary, Mary * London Bridges * The Big Bad Wolf * Four Blind Mice * Violets Are Blue * Roses Are Red * Pop Goes the Weasel * Cat & Mouse * Jack & Jill * Kiss the Girls * Along Came a Spider THE WOMEN"S MURDER CLUB 10th Anniversary (with Maxine Paetro) * The 9th Judgment (with Maxine Paetro) * The 8th Confession (with Maxine Paetro) * 7th Heaven (with Maxine Paetro) * The 6th Target (with Maxine Paetro) * The 5th Horseman (with Maxine Paetro) * 4th of July (with Maxine Paetro) * 3rd Degree (with Andrew Gross) * 2nd Chance (with Andrew Gross) * 1st to Die FEATURING MICHAEL BENNETT.
Tick Tock (with Michael Ledwidge) * Worst Case (with Michael Ledwidge) * Run for Your Life (with Michael Ledwidge) * Step on a Crack (with Michael Ledwidge) OTHER BOOKS.
Now You See Her (with Michael Ledwidge) * Toys (with Neil McMahon) * Don"t Blink (with Howard Roughan) * The Postcard Killers (with Liza Marklund) * Private (with Maxine Paetro) * The Murder of King Tut (with Martin Dugard) * Swimsuit (with Maxine Paetro) * Against Medical Advice (with Hal Friedman) * Sail (with Howard Roughan) * Sundays at Tiffany"s (with Gabrielle Charbonnet) * You"ve Been Warned (with Howard Roughan) * The Quickie (with Michael Ledwidge) * Judge & Jury (with Andrew Gross) * Beach Road (with Peter de Jonge) * Lifeguard (with Andrew Gross) * Honeymoon (with Howard Roughan) * Sam"s Letters to Jennifer * The Lake House * The Jester (with Andrew Gross) * The Beach House (with Peter de Jonge) * Suzanne"s Diary for Nicholas * Cradle and All * When the Wind Blows * Miracle on the 17th Green (with Peter de Jonge) * Hide & Seek * The Midnight Club * Black Friday (originally published as Black Market * See How They Run (originally published as The Jericho Commandment) * Season of the Machete * The Thomas Berryman Number FOR READERS OF ALL AGES.
Daniel X: The Manga, Vol. 2 (with SeungHui Kye) * Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (with Chris Tebbets, ill.u.s.trated by Laura Park) * Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 4 (with NaRae Lee) * ANGEL: A Maximum Ride Novel * Witch & Wizard: The Gift (with Ned Rust) * Daniel X: The Manga, Vol. 1 (with SeungHui Kye) * Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 3 (with NaRae Lee) * Daniel X: Demons and Druids (with Adam Sadler) * Med Head (Against Medical Advice teen edition; with Hal Friedman) * FANG: A Maximum Ride Novel * Witch & Wizard (with Gabrielle Charbonnet) * Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 2 (with NaRae Lee) * Daniel X: Watch the Skies (with Ned Rust) * MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel * Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 1 (with NaRae Lee) * Daniel X: Alien Hunter (graphic novel; with Leopoldo Gout) * The Dangerous Days of Daniel X (with Michael Ledwidge) * Maximum Ride: The Final Warning * Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports * Maximum Ride: School"s Out-Forever * Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment * santaKid For previews of upcoming books and more information about James Patterson, please visit his website or find him on Facebook or at your app store. www.JamesPatterson.com Copyright Copyright 2011 by James Patterson Excerpt from Kill Me If You Can 2011 by James Patterson 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 written permission of the publisher.
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ISBN: 978-0-316-12723-3.