Dead Aim (52 page)
Authors: Thomas Perry
He swung himself over, dropped to the ground, then walked back up to Radford. Just as he was coming out of the dimly lighted, quiet street toward Ventura Boulevard, he heard the distant pops of four shots in rapid succession, then seven more. They seemed to echo from the direction of the river. As he walked along, he considered the eleven shots. Eleven was a bad number for Steve Rao. The magazines for pistols like Steve Rao’s held no more than ten in a single stack.
To my father
,
RICHARD PERRY
Thanks to my agent Robert Lescher
and my editor Kate Medina.
ALSO BY THOMAS PERRY
The Butcher’s Boy
Metzger’s Dog
Big Fish
Island
Sleeping Dogs
Vanishing Act
Dance for the Dead
Shadow Woman
The Face-Changers
Blood Money
Death Benefits
Pursuit
Nightlife
Thomas Perry is the author of many critically acclaimed novels, including the Edgar Award–winning
The Butcher’s Boy
and its sequel,
Sleeping Dog;
the five-volume Jane Whitefield series (
Vanishing Act
was chosen as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association); the
New York Times
Notable Book
Metzger’s Dog;
and the national bestsellers
Death Benefits
and
Pursuit
. His latest novel is
Nightlife
. Perry lives in Southern California with his wife and two daughters.
