Shadow of Death

Praise for New York Times bestselling authorHeather Graham “This thriller [is] a steamy one.... Will keep you turning the pages.” —Florida Times-Union on Danger in Numbers “Danger in Numbers is a captivating cop fiction with an extra serving of gruesome crime and grit, layered onto a unique setting described in such detail that it transports you right to the middle of it all.... Loaded with gripping detail... A well-developed and twisted read!” —Mystery and Suspense “Fast-paced...twists and turns...steamy... This book doesn’t disappoint.” —MysterySequels.com on The Final Deception “Heather Graham delivers a harrowing journey as she always does: perfectly.... Intelligent, fast-paced and frightening at all times, and the team of characters still keep[s] the reader’s attention to the very end.” —Suspense Magazine on The Final Deception “Taut, complex, and leavened with humor...[a] riveting thriller.” —Library Journal on A Dangerous Game “Immediately entertaining and engrossing.” —Publishers Weekly on A Dangerous Game “Intricate, fast-paced, and intense, this riveting thriller blends romance and suspense in perfect combination and keeps readers guessing and the tension taut until the very end.” —Library Journal on Flawless New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Heather Graham has written more than two hundred novels. She is pleased to have been published in over twenty-five languages, with sixty million books in print. Heather is a proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers and was awarded the prestigious Thriller Master Award in 2016. She is also a recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from RWA and The Strand and is the founder of The Slush Pile Players, an author band and theatrical group. An avid scuba diver, ballroom dancer and mother of five, she still enjoys her South Florida home but also loves to travel. Heather is grateful every day for a career she loves so very much. For more information, check out her website, theoriginalheathergraham.com, or find Heather on Facebook. Shadow of Death Heather Graham For Daniel Palmer, Lisa Gardner, Kathy Antrim, Gregg Hurwitz, Kathleen Miller and Karen McManus, and the wonderful little family we formed during our days in Sharjah. For Kim Howe and all that she does for so many. And very especially for the Sharjah International Book Fair team, Qurratulain Yahya, Abdul, Mohammed and all their wonderful people. Their graciousness created one of the most amazing experiences for us all. And to the UAE, an incredible country where diversity and kindness can be found throughout. Contents EPIGRAPH PROLOGUE 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 EPILOGUE EXCERPT FROM WHISPERS AT DUSK BY HEATHER GRAHAM A Stygian Darkness And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld And lo, a black horse, And he that sat on him had a pair Of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, And three measures of barley for a penny; And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. PROLOGUE Caves Carey Allen paused, looked around, and breathed in deeply. She loved this area of Colorado just outside of the bustling city of Denver. The sky on a day like today was amazing. Blue just touched with delicate white puffs of clouds here and there. And the air! It was fresh, clean, delicious, and the scent of nature was wonderful. Of course, she shouldn’t have been where she was without permission and a guide, but she was an experienced hiker. She had climbed all manner of mountains, and she had received her diver’s certificate at Lake Mead and gone on to cave dive! Hey, it was America. She was an adult, she knew what she was doing, and she had every right to be here. She closed her eyes for a minute, listening to the sound of the nearby waterfall. Then she dove into the freshwater lake, shuddered slightly at the chill that seized her, then let it fall off. Surfacing, she looked back to the shore. Don Blake was watching her with admiration, she hoped. She’d had a crush on the man for the longest time, and she’d enticed him out by telling him she knew the caves here and had explored them on her own before. He waved to her. “Come on in! The water is great!” she told him. “Freezing!” he countered. “Wimp!” He laughed. Don was anything but a wimp. He’d served two tours in the Middle East and was still in the reserve. Tall, not dark but red-headed, and very handsome. Working with him at Barrington Advertising, she’d fallen a bit in love the minute they had met—something, she hoped, she’d kept to herself. She had tried very hard to always be casual, fun, and flirty, not like a puppy with a wildly wagging tail. But when they had talked about the caves, he’d shown a real interest in her. “Wimp?” he returned and, as she knew he would, shed his hiking boots and socks, dropped his backpack and dove into the water. Carey swam toward the waterfalls and the entry to the caves she knew she would find behind them. She hadn’t slipped in here in months, but nature had created the phenomena of the falls and the caves over hundreds of thousands of years. They couldn’t have changed much in a few months. She crawled up the rocks that rose behind the falls and waited for Don. He arrived shortly, dripping as he joined her on the rocks. They’d both worn tank tops that would dry quickly, but the hiking pants would take longer. In the crisp air Carey had loved so much, it was cold. “Follow me!” she said. There was a winding path that led into a slew of caves, some deeper than others. And, of course, as they progressed, it grew darker within. She stopped,