Mean Streak
Sandra Brown
Language: English
Pages: 496
ISBN: 1455581151
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
From #1 New York Times best-selling author Sandra Brown comes a heart-pounding story of survival, that takes the age-old question, "Does the end justify the means?" and turns it on its head.
Dr. Emory Charbonneau, a pediatrician and marathon runner, disappears on a mountain road in North Carolina. By the time her husband Jeff, miffed over a recent argument, reports her missing, the trail has grown cold. Literally. Fog and ice encapsulate the mountainous wilderness and paralyze the search for her.
While police suspect Jeff of "instant divorce," Emory, suffering from an unexplained head injury, regains consciousness and finds herself the captive of a man whose violent past is so dark that he won't even tell her his name. She's determined to escape him, and willing to take any risks necessary to survive.
Unexpectedly, however, the two have a dangerous encounter with people who adhere to a code of justice all their own. At the center of the dispute is a desperate young woman whom Emory can't turn her back on, even if it means breaking the law. Wrong becomes right at the hands of the man who strikes fear, but also sparks passion.
As her husband's deception is revealed, and the FBI closes in on her captor, Emory begins to wonder if the man with no name is, in fact, her rescuer from those who wish her dead - and from heartbreak.
Combining the nail-biting suspense and potent storytelling that has made Sandra Brown one of the world's best loved authors, MEAN STREAK is a wildly compelling novel about love, deceit, and the choices we must make in order to survive.
throat before she could. “And the people who bullied him?” “I’m leaving them to their own miserable selves. Their meanness might catch up with them one day, or not. But it won’t come from me.” Her heart swelled with love, but there was still one thing she must know. “That day, that awful last day, before the ambulance arrived and you were holding me, you whispered something into my hair. What did you say?” “I asked you not to give up on me.” “But then you disappeared, Hayes.” “For the last
just learned to live with it.” When she realized how silent the room had become, she turned her head and pulled him into focus. He was sitting perfectly still, watching her intently. “No other immediate family?” “No. Just me. We were well known in Baton Rouge. I couldn’t go anywhere without running into someone who wanted to talk about Mom and Dad and extend condolences. The reminders got hard to take. It seemed that my survival depended on leaving, starting fresh somewhere else. So, after
reply. She moaned. “I wish you’d just get it over with.” “What?” “Whatever it is you’re going to do to me. I wouldn’t have to go on dreading it, fearing it. The suspense is killing me. Is that part of the torture?” Her hands were on her knees, clenched into fists so tight that all the blood had been wrung out of them. They were bone white and cold to the touch when he placed his hand over them. When she tried to pull them from beneath his palm, he held on. “Look at me.” She turned her head
toward the bed, where Lisa lay, crying softly. Emory had stripped the surgical gloves from her hands. She was holding them inside out, but he saw that the fingers of them were stained dark. “Then what’s the matter with her?” “She’s in labor.” Chapter 15 z Jeff read the name of the caller on his cell phone and considered not answering. Speaking to Alice directly wasn’t the best of ideas. But then, everyone knew her to be a friend to him and Emory as a couple. Naturally she would be worried and
called us this morning.” Grange corrected him, mumbling around a bite. “Dr. Butler.” Knight turned to his partner. “Huh?” “Dr. Butler’s the lady. Dr. James is the man.” “Oh, right,” Knight said. “I keep getting their names mixed up. Anyhow, Jeff, she called.” “She called me, too.” “Did she?” He nodded as he blew on his coffee. “To let me to know that the clinic is offering an award for information.” “That’s something, isn’t it?” Knight exclaimed. “Twenty-five grand.” Jeff said, “I’m