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    Die Wide Awake
    Die Wide Awake
    Die Wide Awake
    Ebook89 pages1 hour

    Die Wide Awake

    By Michael Prescott

    ()

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    About this ebook

    From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Michael Prescott comes a new kind of terror—an electrifying chase through the concrete labyrinth of a steam-tunnel system, where something lurks in the shadows.

    Something big. Something hungry. 

    It's blood sport for the crazies who organize these nocturnal hunts, and a game of death for their latest victim. But unlike all the others, he's a man well acquainted with death. A man who has murdered for money. A man who intends to kill the thing that's stalking him—and kill it hard.

    Die Wide Awake is a 20,000 word novella from the author of Cold Around the Heart and Skin in the Game. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMichael Prescott
    Release dateNov 18, 2017
    ISBN9781386044420
    Die Wide Awake
    Author

    Michael Prescott

    Michael Prescott was born and raised in New Jersey and attended Wesleyan University, majoring in film studies. After college, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a screenwriter. In 1986 he sold his first novel, and has gone on to pen six thrillers under the name Brian Harper and ten books as Michael Prescott. He has sold more than one million print copies and is finding a large new audience through e-books. Fan-favorite character Abby Sinclair, the “stalker’s stalker” first introduced in The Shadow Hunter, has since appeared in three more books.

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      Book preview

      Die Wide Awake - Michael Prescott

      DIE WIDE AWAKE

       §

      Michael Prescott

      1

      Hey, you. Sir Galahad.

      Slowly I climb up out of bad dreams and open my eyes. I'm in an alley in the dark, with soft rodent rustlings all around and two men standing over me.

      They're lean and wiry, with matching suits and matching faces, narrow and angular, their black hair slicked back. They have to be brothers. The suits are expensive, Armani or something like it, with open-collared shirts. I've never approved of wearing a suit without a tie, and I don't approve of these two.

      Also, they're young, less than half my age, a fact that annoys me on general principles.

      The one closest to me, taller and evidently the older of the two, smiles down on me. Smiles too hard, like a salesman intent on closing a deal.

      So, my man, he says as if continuing a friendly talk, how'd you like to make some money?

      Some questions should automatically put anyone on high alert. This is one of them.

      I hike myself up to a sitting position against the brick wall and wrap the oilskin duster a little tighter around my body.

      Doing what? I ask.

      The words come out throaty and raw. It's been a long time since I've spoken. In the alley my only companions are rats and black beetles, and none of them are too interested in conversation.

      See that young lady there? He points to a slice of urban street framed between the alley walls. A black BMW convertible sits at the curb, the top down, a girl of about twenty in the backseat. She has red hair. Bright red, flaming. Even in the rancid monochrome glow of mercury vapor streetlights, I can tell.

      She stares in my direction, and I stare back.

      What about her?

      We want you to fuck her.

      I refocus my gaze on the joker in front of me. You want me to fuck her, I say, repeating the words just to taste their strangeness.

      That's right. You fuck her, we watch. There's two hundred bucks in it for you.

      I look at the younger brother, who nods reassuringly.

      Now why, I say slowly, would you want me to do that?

      It's what we're into, that's all. Her, too. She likes it. She's got a thing for the down and out.

      No offense. That's the other one, speaking for the first time.

      They're just boys. College age. Their features are foreign—Middle Eastern, I think. No accents, though. They were brought up in this country. They have money, and they're slumming. A couple of bon vivants out on the town in their thousand-dollar suits and their hundred-thousand-dollar car.

      The two of them are grinning at me. To them I'm an object of amusement. I don't mind that. It's better than being an object of pity.

      Where is this supposed to happen? I ask.

      Motel. We know a place. Used it before.

      I give the matter serious thought, looking it over from a variety of angles. The offer does not offend me or violate my moral sensibilities. I have no moral sensibilities. Still, it doesn't add up.

      Why don't you just fuck her yourselves? I ask finally.

      I told you, we're into this kind of deal.

      We like to watch, the younger one adds.

      And she likes it when we watch. We may even video it. You could end up on YouTube. You could be a star.

      It's a whole thing, his brother says.

      Sure. You know. Everybody's got their thing.

      I nod. This is true. Everybody does indeed have their thing. Even so, I am tolerably certain the brothers are lying.

      YouTube, I say, simply to buy time. My fifteen minutes of fame.

      That's right. Like Marshall McLuhan said. But you've never heard of him.

      I've heard of him. But it was Andy Warhol.

      Oh, yeah. The spatter-art guy.

      Campbell's Soup cans. Pop art. Jackson Pollock was spatter.

      No shit. Did you used to be a professor or something?

      Or something.

      How'd you hit rock bottom?

      Does it matter?

      The kid shrugs. Curiosity. I'm a people person.

      That's another lie. He doesn't give a damn about me. Which is fair enough, because I don't give a damn about him.

      The girl, though ...

      So, the older one says, you in or out, Hobo Joe?

      I look toward the car again. The girl's eyes are wide and bright, but not with excitement. With fear, possibly. Yes.

      It could be fear.

      Yo, we're on a schedule here. Offer's on the table. Take it or leave it.

      His brother giggles. I think this ragpicker's brain-dead. Dementia or some fucking thing. Nothing between the ears.

      That it, Trash Can Man? You senile?

      I ignore them. I'm still thinking about those eyes.

      I've seen eyes like those before. Frightened. Helpless.

      Another girl's eyes.

      Fuck it. The older one has lost patience. You don't want us to pimp you out, we'll find another lucky winner. Shame, though. Our girl showed a definite interest, though I can't imagine what she sees in a gnawed old bone like you.

      They're turning away when I say, I'm in.

      He makes a show of looking annoyed. Took your sweet time deciding. What if we don't want you anymore?

      I never answer hypotheticals.

      When I get to my feet, I put a little more effort into it than necessary. These two already see me as old and busted, and I see no point in having them think otherwise. I've lost a lot of weight in recent years, and the long riding coat, which has been with me throughout my vagabond odyssey, hangs too loosely on my frame.

      Shit, this zombie's got a stink on him, the younger brother says. Could be the worst one yet.

      Interesting choice of words. I wonder how many others there have been, and where they are now.

      All right. The taller one claps me on the back, an affable gesture curiously devoid of friendliness. Let's get a move on, Beau Brummel.

      I give him props for the reference. Not many members of his generation would know it.

      "And bring

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