Read Silent Night (Sam Archer 4) for Free Online

isn’t a pussy.’
    ‘So where the hell is he?’
    ‘Forget him,’ Bleeker said. ‘Whether he ran or not, we’ve got a job to do. You need to focus. We do this and we do it right.’
    Silence followed. Bleeker drank some of his fresh coffee, then looked at his watch.
    ‘Time check.’
    The other two looked at their watches.
    ‘10:25.’
    ‘Check.’
    ‘Check.’
    Bleeker took a deep breath. ‘So let’s do this thing. Donnie, pay the tab.’
    Bleeker and the other man slid out from the booth. The kid called Donnie pulled a twenty from his wallet and trapped it under a glass, then moved out and joined the others. Together, the three men walked to the door of the diner.
    Each of them carrying a white plastic bag containing a rectangular shoebox.
     

FIVE
    ‘Don’t let Jorgensen get to you,’ Josh said, turning the steering wheel. ‘He’s an asshole.’
    He and Archer were in one of the Bureau’s blacked-out Ford Explorers. They were just moving onto the Queensborough Bridge which led across the East River and into the east side of Manhattan . It was a sunny morning, but it was still damn chilly. They had the heating going in the car, but it was taking a while to warm up.
    ‘Believe or not, he’s actually good police,’ Josh continued. ‘He’s just deficient in his personality.’
    Archer shrugged. ‘One less Christmas card I have to write this year.’ Reaching forward, he cranked the heating up a notch.
    ‘So Katic left this morning?’ Josh asked.
    ‘Yeah. She’s gone.’
    ‘You say goodbye?’
    Archer nodded. ‘I was over there when you rang.’
    Josh glanced at him. ‘How’d it go?’
    ‘It was fine.’
    ‘That’s it? It was fine?’
    Archer shrugged again. ‘She and I met on one of the most dangerous nights of our lives. Then I left. Once I came back and with all that adrenaline gone, we both realised we'd moved on.’
    ‘She’s a Fed, right?’
    ‘Yeah. She’s taking up an Agent-in-Charge position at their field office in Chicago . Her family are there too. Her kid's starting school there in the New Year.’
    Josh nodded, sensing Archer didn't want to talk any more about it and a silence fell in the car.
    Archer looked out of the window and watched the thick pillars of the Bridge pass by, the icy-cold East River running fast below. Moving to New York from the UK wasn’t a decision he’d taken lightly. He’d been more than happy in his prestigious position on the First Team of the ARU. They were one of the leading counter-terrorist task forces in London after all, and he’d worked alongside some of the best men and women out there. His great friend Chalky. Porter, Fox and Deakins, top guys who were more family than work colleagues. Nikki, a tech analyst who was both a close friend and an old flame. And Cobb, the best boss a man could ask for.
    But a big factor in coming here had been FBI Supervisory Special Agent Mina Katic. Ever since they’d met last summer she'd been constantly in his thoughts. He'd arrived in New York seven months ago and initially everything seemed to be fine, but then Archer had realised it just wasn’t working. Something was missing. Aside from just feeling 'off', they both worked insanely unpredictable hours. They’d been separated by an ocean before, but now they were in the same city they still barely saw each other. Like embers on a dying fire, their romance had slowly dimmed and faded.
    Soon enough, the spark was gone.
    Her job offer in Chicago had been a blessing in disguise. He’d sensed for a while she’d had enough of New York and wanted to move back to where she’d grown up with her daughter, Jess, who would be starting high school in the next couple of years. When she'd first mentioned that she was thinking of leaving, Archer hadn’t felt any desire to ask her to stay.
    That was when he knew it was over.
    The period leading up to her departure, much like their goodbye this morning, had been very civil with no acrimony or hostility. Neither