Read The Last Day for Free Online Page A

opened the door to what could have been a museum exhibit dedicated to the beautiful boy. Barney had handled the objects on display, and his collection was open only at the whim of the curators, only visited when they felt a need to touch base. At that moment Ward knew something was off, something he was supposed to do that he couldn't put his finger on.
    His eyes went immediately to the wall that held four wooden shelves, where colorful NASCAR die- cast models were lined up, angled with their grilles facing out like vehicles parkedand awaiting tiny drivers to jump in and roar away. There was an open slot in the center, like a missing tooth.
    Ward hurried to the kitchen, located his briefcase, placed it on the counter beside the sink, and popped it open to discover that the prototype race car was not in its padded envelope. He felt sick to his stomach.
    Jerking up the phone, he was already dialing Natasha's private number when he realized that she would not have opened his briefcase, much less taken the car from it. The receptionist answered on the third ring.
    “Piedmont Pediatric Surgical. How may I help you?”
    “Mary Katherine, it's Ward. Is Natasha in?”
    “She went into surgery an hour ago. Can I have her call you when she gets back? Do you want her voice mail?”
    “No, I'll talk to her later.” He pressed the off button and, feeling hollow inside, replaced the phone in its charging base.
    Ward's mind raced over the last time he'd seen the car and he remembered taking it out on the plane, but he'd definitely put it back after the girl looked it over. “God damn her!” he shouted.
    After grabbing his car keys and briefcase, Ward took off for his office with his mind racing. He had told the girl to call his secretary, Leslie, for that free car he'd offered to give her for her NASCAR- fan mother. If she followed through, he would talk to her, or at the least have an address so he could find her. He felt a wave of fear and uncertainty. Accusing her of stealing would be awkward, but he had to get the prototype back. As he got out of his car in the parking lot in front of his building he wondered how many of the electronic devices in her bag were pilfered from other unsuspecting people she'd run across.
    Just wait until little Miss Bad Hair finds out that lifting that little toy was grand larceny.

TEN
    Watcher was in the kitchen of his rented house drinking coffee when the GPS showed McCarty's BMW two miles away, getting farther. A minute later, Watcher left the house andmoved rapidly through the woods, down the hill behind the McCartys’ house and up the slope, carrying his rucksack. He passed beside the swimming pool and, first using a device to fool the house alarm system, he opened the far left garage with a multifrequency transmitter. He closed the door behind him. The McCartys had good reason to believe their alarm system was impenetrable, and it would have been for any but the best professional burglars. Watcher wasn't interested in taking anything but their lives.
    Using the spare key he'd predictably found hidden under the doormat months before and copied, he entered the McCartys’ kitchen and strode down the utility hallway. Passing the laundry room, he went straight into the large storage room.
    Metal shelves loaded with cardboard and plastic boxes wrapped the room. Watcher went to the box marked “Christmas Decorations” that he had selected and took it down. It was unlikely to be opened. He took the digital recorder from the box and downloaded the audio and video into his laptop computer. He had audio-only bugs that transmitted to a recorder in the home he rented nearby, but he didn't depend onthose. He needed to visit the house anyway. He walked through the rooms, read the mail, and used his senses to gather intelligence that even the expensive cameras and sound microphones couldn't pick up. And most important, he had to come inside to fuck with things.
    In the doctor's bedroom he paused only long