Mercy (Atlee Pine series, 4)

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Something stirred on the bed. A pajama-clad Lineberry struggled to sit up, and finally managed to do so. Pine and Blum drew nearer and looked down at him. Their features betrayed their alarm at the state of the man. He looked like he had aged two decades since the last time they had seen him. A tall, handsome man in his sixties, he looked shrunken, withered, fragile, and, most tellingly, done with life.

The coffin finally reached the surface and was shifted away from the hole and set on the grass. Its metal carcass was visibly damaged by water, and also by sitting in the earth all those years. She wondered how preserved the contents would be.

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

In the exciting conclusion of this story, audiences find out if Atlee finds her mother and father. Have the past risks her mother took to bring down the mafia come after them but left Atlee alone? Also, in the novel we meet a vicious man whose long-term memory of past wrongs done to him, his family and others will cause Atlee to be in his crosshairs. Carol Blum is in real danger multiple times in the story, and it was gripping to see the lengths Atlee would go to find and rescue her. Her depth of love for Carol is very evident! Baldacci's novels have been published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with over 130 million worldwide sales as of 2018. [9] Bibliography [ edit ] Sean King and Michelle Maxwell series [ edit ] Blum said, “And it doesn’t seem like the Atkinses did anything to, well, to educate her or …” Her voice trailed off and she looked uncertainly at her boss. The Club discovers a spy is selling secrets, and with the help of an unexpected ally, they may just be able to triumph. The Shaw and Katie James series consist of two books, The Whole Truth and Deliver Us From Evil. James is a journalist about to get her breakout story and Shaw is a mysterious man with a past and a plan. In Zero Day and Forgotten, John Puller is a combat veteran and a military investigator, searching for the truth in cases and in the sequel investigating the death of his own aunt. Pine’s expression hardened and she glanced out the car window. Lineberry’s image swelled up in her head like a nightmare. “You asked me that before.”

They entered the room and the maid left. The space was dark and overly warm, with all the window shades lowered. It was like a tomb with wallpaper and carpet, and living people. The effect unnerved Pine. Blum mulled over this. “Or, like you said, Mercy could have killed both of them. She left Joe’s body and maybe took Desiree’s remains and buried them somewhere far away.” Desiree Atkins has never been found. There are at least three scenarios that I can see.” Pine counted them off on her fingers. “She killed her husband and fled. Mercy killed her and fled. Or Desiree killed Mercy and fled.”Part of her didn’t want to know his answer, but in life you needed to listen to things you didn’t want to hear, maybe those most of all. Inch by solid inch, Atlee Pine watched the battered coffin being lifted to the surface from where it had rested six feet down for nearly two decades. Coffins and bodies were not supposed to be retrieved. They were supposed to stay right where they were planted, at least until a dying sun lashed out across space and bid farewell to all on earth. Blum gazed around. “I think this is a place to meet someone. ‘Hey, so and so, come get me at the Esso station.’ It was probably the only such landmark around. Desiree didn’t know when the body would be found. She wanted to get away, but not in a vehicle that could be traced.”

Pine looked at Carol Blum. In her sixties, a mother of six grown children, and a longtime employee of the Bureau, Blum had become something of a surrogate mother to the federal agent, to some degree taking the place of the one who had abandoned her. I regret a lot of things, Carol,” said Pine. But she put the car in gear and headed on to see the man who had lied to her more than any other person in her life. I NCH BY SOLID INCH, Atlee Pine watched the battered coffin being lifted to the surface from where it had rested six feet down for nearly two decades. Coffins and bodies were not supposed to be retrieved. They were supposed to stay right where they were planted, at least until a dying sun lashed out across space and bid farewell to all on earth.He focused on her with a pair of weary, bloodshot eyes, his brow crinkling in annoyance approaching anger. “Nothing…happened. I’m…doing okay.” I am your and Mercy’s father. That gives me certain responsibilities, none of which I have lived up to.” Baldacci was a consulting producer on King & Maxwell, a TNT television series based on his characters Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. Jon Tenney and Rebecca Romijn starred. Gresham, Tom (December 11, 2019). "David Baldacci once wrote stories in secret at VCU. Now he has millions of readers around the world". Virginia Commonwealth University. Though Atlee is tantalizingly close to her family at last, the final leg of her long road to Mercy will be the most treacherous yet. Mercy left at least one dead body behind before fleeing her captors years before. Atlee has no idea if her sister is still alive, and if so, how she has been surviving all this time. When the truth is finally revealed, Atlee Pine will face the greatest danger yet, and it may well cost her everything.