Three Bullets To Queensland Page 3

  Luna stopped.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t like to talk about it. My father was a respected man. I don’t have the influence he had. No one among the Juarez press did. He was incorruptible. Please, Jack, you must never reveal what I told you. If the cartel knew that I was a witness, they’d kill me. Swear you will not tell anyone, please.”

  Gannon gave Luna his word then drove her home to her family.

  That night he stepped out to his hotel balcony.

  He gazed upon the twinkling lights of the city. He could hear sirens and see a helicopter’s search light sweep over the latest killing as a creeping sense of looming failure came over him.

  How would he make sense out of this chaos?

  He was tired and his thoughts shifted back to himself, the price of being alone. Unlike the teen gangster in the morgue, Ramon Chavez, no one would mourn Gannon. His parents were dead. He’d been estranged from his older sister since she’d run away from home some twenty years ago.

  Shut up, he told himself. Quit wallowing.

  He got into bed.

  But before sleep came, Gannon fell into his usual pattern of wondering what had happened to his sister.

  Is she still alive?

  -Buy In Desperation for Kindle-

  Cover Art Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited.

  Text and cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. and Harlequin Enterprises Limited ® and TM are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies used under license.

  The Story Behind IN DESPERATION

  The best fiction is what we know to be true

  By Rick Mofina

  A thread woven into my stories about crime reporter Jack Gannon is the heartbreak he bears for his sister Cora.

  When Cora was seventeen she ran away from their blue-collar home in Buffalo, New York, devastating Jack.

  At the time, Jack was twelve and as close to Cora as any brother can be to his sister. She’d helped nurture his dream to become a reporter, taking him to the library, convincing their parents to buy him a second-hand computer.

  Cora was Jack’s guiding light before she was consumed by dark forces which drove her away, ultimately becoming a ghost that would haunt him throughout his adult life. But as years passed he never gave up wondering if he would ever see Cora again.

  Jack’s question and everything it entails surfaces in my new thriller, IN DESPERATION.

  I used this theme of tragic estrangement as a foundation for Jack Gannon’s character because it is grounded in truth.

  In my early days as a writer, the mantra of “write what you know” wasn’t working for me. I was living in a small town. I hadn’t seen much of the world. What did I know?

  A combination of luck and circumstance allowed me to visit for an afternoon with a great author nearing the twilight of his career. After hearing my greenhorn’s complaint of not having travelled, fought in wars or seen much of anything, he gave it some thought before asking me a few questions.

  “Have you ever had your heart broken?”

  “Of course,” I said.

  “I’ll bet you’ll never forget what that feels like?”

  “Sure.”

  “Have you ever felt cheated? Betrayed? Maybe afraid you were going to lose something important to you? Or, in fact, did lose something that was important to you?”

  “Yes, but I’m sure everyone has felt these things in one way or another.”

  His eyes twinkled. I had been enlightened.

  He’d taught me “write what I know” by looking at universal human experiences. Drawing on what I knew to be true gave me the best shot at making my fiction real.

  When I came to create Jack Gannon’s life I drew on what I knew. Many years ago, an older relative of mine who’d played a role in my life was, at a young age, overwhelmed by a tragedy.

  She drifted away from her family and faced further tragedies. There were efforts to help, most were in vain. Word of them would travel along the family grapevine but, regrettably, I never saw her again.

  Over the years I would pause to remember her.

  Much the way Jack Gannon reflects on his sister, wondering how things would have gone if we were to see each other again.

  Copyright © 2011 by Rick Mofina

  About the Author

  Rick Mofina is a former journalist and an award-winning author of several acclaimed thrillers. His reporting has put him face-to-face with murderers on death row in Montana and Texas. He has covered a horrific serial-killing case in California and an armored car-heist in Las Vegas, flown over Los Angeles with the LAPD Air Support Division and gone on patrol with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police near the Arctic. He has reported from the Caribbean, Africa and Kuwait’s border with Iraq.

  Rick’s true-crime articles have appeared in the New York Times, Marie Claire, Reader’s Digest and Penthouse while his thrillers have been published in 19 countries and praised by James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly, Sandra Brown, Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Heather Graham, Peter Robinson, Allison Brennan, David Morrell, Linwood Barclay and Kay Hooper.

  Rick is a two-time winner of The Arthur Ellis Award and the International Thriller Writers, Private Eye Writers of America and The Crime Writers of Canada have listed his crime fiction as being among the very best in the genre.

  Praise for Rick Mofina’s books

  In Desperation

  "A blisteringly paced story that cuts to the bone. It left me ripping through pages deep into the night." -- James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author

  "Hell hath no fury like a mother wronged. In Desperation is "A superbly written thriller that plumbs the depths of every parent's nightmare. Timely, tense, and terrifying, this book is sure to be a big hit!" -- Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author

  The Panic Zone

  "The Panic Zone is a headlong rush toward Armageddon. It's brisk pace and tight focus remind me of early Michael Crichton." -- Dean Koontz #1 New York Times bestselling author

  Vengeance Road

  "Vengeance Road is a thriller with no speed limit! It's a great read!" -- Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author

  "A gripping no-holds barred mystery ... lightning paced ... with enough twists to keep you turning pages well into the wee hours." -- Allison Brennan, New York Times bestselling author

  Six Seconds

  "Six Seconds should be Rick Mofina's breakout thriller. It moves like a tornado." -- James Patterson, #1 New York Times bestselling author

  "Six Seconds is a great read. Echoing Ludlum and Forsythe, author Mofina has penned a big, solid international thriller that grabs your gut -- and your heart -- in the opening scenes and never lets go." -- Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author

  "Everything we need from a great thriller." -- Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author

  "A perfect thriller in every way. Very powerful and very very clever." -- Nick Stone, international acclaimed bestselling author

  "Filled with chills and thrills ... don't miss it." -- Heather Graham, New York Times bestselling author

  "An essential read for thriller fans." -- Library Journal, Starred Review

  "Suspense-packed rush." -- Publisher's Weekly, Starred Review

  A Perfect Grave

  "A lightning-paced thriller with lean, tense writing . . . Mofina really knows how to make the story fly!" -- Tess Gerritsen, New York Times Bestselling author of The Mephisto Club

  "Swiftly paced . . . a story of slow-simmering revenge." -- Adam Woog, The Seattle Times

  "Mofina writes family tragedy as powerfully as Ross McDonald with a modern twist." -- Jennifer Jordan, Crimespree Magazine, Milwaukee

  "Mofina has woven an intriguing tale about how the past always catches up to you, sooner or later . . . does a wonderful job of creating suspense." -- Sandra Ruttan, Spinetingler Magazine

  Every Fear

  "Pushes crackling
suspense to the breaking point and beyond... a must read!" -- Kay Hooper, New York Times Bestselling Author

  "Mofina shows his strength at creating gripping plots enhanced by realistic characters and social awareness in Every Fear." -- Oline H. Cogdill, Mystery columnist South Florida Sun-Sentinel

  The Dying Hour

  "Don't start this book late at night because you'll find yourself staying up to finish it." -- The Mystery Reader

  "The Dying Hour starts scary and ends scary. You'll be craving Mofina's next novel." -- Sandra Brown, New York Times Bestselling author

  Be Mine

  "Rick Mofina is writing a fine series of thrillers: Swiftly paced, entertaining, with authentic details of police procedure." -- Dean Koontz, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of The Face and Fear Nothing

  "Mofina continues his string of gripping, tense thrillers that explore the intricacies of crime reporting, the culture of a big-city newsroom and the fallout of what happens when those who report on the news become the news." -- Orlando Sentinel

  No Way Back

  "No Way Back is my kind of novel — a tough, taut thriller — Mofina knows the world he writes about." -- Michael Connelly, New York Times Bestselling author of Lost Light, Blood Work, City of Bones

  "A tightly wound spring of suspense and terror." -- David Morrell, author of The Protector

  Blood of Others

  "Tense, realistic, and scary in all the right places." -- James Patterson, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

  "This is urban grit with a vengeance." -- The Globe and Mail

  "Drawing on his experience as a journalist and crime writer, Rick Mofina (Cold Fear) brings a gritty realism to the printed page in Blood of Others... Mofina's flawed but sympathetic characters draw readers into the action." -- Publisher's Weekly

  "Mofina is a very talented writer capable of creating not only exceptional characters but a plot that is so riveting that pages fly by. The pacing is especially impressive. The story starts out quickly, slows down for character development then accelerates to a rapid, yet satisfying climax. Rick Mofina is a news reporter and his writing skills are immediately apparent. His first book has been nominated for the Arthur Ellis award in Canada. So he is well regarded there. He deserves a large following in this country, as well. Highly recommended." -- Deadly Pleasures, REVIEW OF THE WEEK, by Larry Gandle

  Cold Fear

  "A powerful gut wrenching thriller." -- The Midwest Book Review

  "Bursts with suspense. The action is so intense, the writing so realistic, it's as if we are there during the search. This is a book to cause icy shivers." -- Toby Bromberg, Romantic Times Magazine

  "Mofina's chilling tale is one of the best mysteries you'll read." -- The Ottawa Citizen

  "An entertaining, suspense-filled ride." -- Quill & Quire

  If Angels Fall

  "If you buy it for the flight, you'll be reading it on the escalator." -- National Post

  "Guaranteed to keep readers flipping the pages." -- The Toronto Sun

  For more information please visit

  http://www.rickmofina.com/

  Or join Rick Mofina on FaceBook.

  e-Formatting by Carrick Publishing

  Table of Contents

  Three Bullets To Queensland

  Author’s Note

  IN DESPERATION (Excerpt)

  The Story Behind IN DESPERATION

  About the Author

  Praise for Rick Mofina’s books

  For more information please visit