Raw Edges Read online

  Table of Contents

  RAWEDGES

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  RAW

  EDGES

  A Renegade Justice Thriller

  CJ Lyons

  Also By CJ Lyons:

  Lucy Guardino Thrillers:

  SNAKE SKIN

  BLOOD STAINED

  KILL ZONE

  AFTER SHOCK

  HARD FALL

  BAD BREAK

  LAST LIGHT

  Hart and Drake Medical Suspense:

  NERVES OF STEEL

  SLEIGHT OF HAND

  FACE TO FACE

  EYE OF THE STORM

  Shadow Ops Covert Thrillers:

  CHASING SHADOWS

  LOST IN SHADOWS

  EDGE OF SHADOWS

  Fatal Insomnia Medical Thrillers:

  FAREWELL TO DREAMS

  A RAGING DAWN

  THE SLEEPLESS STARS

  Angels of Mercy Medical Suspense:

  LIFELINES

  WARNING SIGNS

  URGENT CARE

  CRITICAL CONDITION

  Caitlyn Tierney FBI Thrillers:

  BLIND FAITH

  BLACK SHEEP

  HOLLOW BONES

  PRAISE FOR NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER CJ LYONS:

  “Everything a great thriller should be—action packed, authentic, and intense.” ~#1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child

  “A compelling new voice in thriller writing…I love how the characters come alive on every page.” ~New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver

  “Top Pick! A fascinating and intense thriller.” ~ 4 1/2 stars, RT Book Reviews

  “An intense, emotional thriller…(that) climbs to the edge of intensity.” ~National Examiner

  “A perfect blend of romance and suspense. My kind of read.” ~#1 New York Times Bestselling author Sandra Brown

  “Highly engaging characters, heart-stopping scenes…one great rollercoaster ride that will not be stopping anytime soon.” ~Bookreporter.com

  “Adrenalin pumping.” ~The Mystery Gazette

  “Riveting.” ~Publishers Weekly Beyond Her Book

  Lyons “is a master within the genre.” ~Pittsburgh Magazine

  “Will leave you breathless and begging for more.” ~Romance Novel TV

  “A great fast-paced read….Not to be missed.” ~4 ½ Stars, Book Addict

  “Breathtakingly fast-paced.” ~Publishers Weekly

  “Simply superb…riveting drama…a perfect ten.” ~Romance Reviews Today

  “Characters with beating hearts and three dimensions.” ~Newsday

  “A pulse-pounding adrenalin rush!” ~Lisa Gardner

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright 2016, CJ Lyons, LLC, Edgy Reads

  Cover art: Toni McGee Causey, stock photo: Dreamstime

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  CJ Lyons and Thrillers with Heart registered Trademarks of

  CJ Lyons, LLC

  Library of Congress Case # 1-3879054761

  RAW

  EDGES

  A Renegade Justice Thriller

  CJ Lyons

  Note to Readers:

  Thanks for joining in on Morgan’s adventures in the Renegade Justice thrillers! This book, RAW EDGES, is a sequel to her first adventure in FIGHT DIRTY, but can be read on its own.

  Morgan will be back in 2017 with a new story, ANGELS WEEP, which begins immediately after the ending of RAW EDGES.

  (Want to be the first to know when new stories are coming, join us on my Thrillers with Heart mailing list at www.CJLyons.net)

  A note to those who are also fans of the Lucy Guardino Thrillers: the Renegade Justice stories take place in the year between Lucy’s adventures in KILL ZONE and AFTER SHOCK.

  The complete chronology for those who enjoy reading in order is:

  SNAKE SKIN: Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers #1

  BLOOD STAINED: Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers #2 (Morgan and Jenna are introduced as well as Clinton Caine)

  KILL ZONE: Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers #3 (features Morgan and Jenna; Andre is introduced)

  FIGHT DIRTY: Renegade Justice Thrillers, featuring Morgan Ames #1

  RAW EDGES: Renegade Justice Thrillers, featuring Morgan Ames #2

  ANGELS WEEP: Renegade Justice Thrillers, featuring Morgan Ames #3 (coming 2017)

  AFTER SHOCK: Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers #4

  HARD FALL: Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers #5

  BAD BREAK: Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers #6

  LAST LIGHT: Beacon Falls Mysteries, featuring Lucy Guardino #1

  DEVIL SMOKE: Beacon Falls Mysteries, featuring Lucy Guardino #2

  OPEN GRAVE: Beacon Falls Mysteries, featuring Lucy Guardino #3 (releases February, 2017)

  If you enjoy Morgan’s adventures and want more, please leave a review!

  Thanks for reading,

  CJ

  PS: Want exclusive content, news of special deals, and chances to win? Sign up for my Thrillers with Heart newsletter HERE

  Chapter 1

  DR. NICK CALLAHAN missed his wife. Yet, as lonely as his empty house was with Lucy and their daughter, Megan, gone to visit his parents in Virginia, Nick was glad Lucy wasn’t there. Now, for the fourth morning in a row, he ate his breakfast, showered, dressed, set the newly installed alarm, and drove to his office, a not-so-discreet unmarked police car trailing close behind.

  Nothing like a psychopathic serial killer escaped from prison to help put your priorities in order, he thought as he waved to the guard at the VA’s security desk and used his ID badge to gain access through the two sets of locked doors between the main entrance and his office in the counseling center. Usually he’d be working out of his private office on a Friday, but the police—and Lucy—had convinced him to reschedule his patients to the VA, given its greater security.

  It was a bit embarrassing, explaining to his clients why they had to drive to the VA for their sessions, but the majority of his patients were military and law enforcement, and to a one, they had understood. Still, he felt silly. No way in hell would Clinton Caine target Nick. Given the manhunt focused here in the Pittsburgh area and the surrounding western Pennsylvania countryside, Caine would have a lot more to keep him occupied than any thoughts of vengeance on family members of the FBI agent who’d caught him.

  Nick smiled as he turned the doorknob to his office. It was a private smile usually reserved for his wife, but of course Lucy wasn’t here to see it. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of
pride. She’d caught Caine not once, but twice. The man would have to be a fool to even think of coming after Lucy or targeting her family.

  “I need your help,” a woman’s voice greeted him from inside his dark office.

  Startled from his private reverie, Nick jumped—and immediately covered it by stumbling to turn the light on, revealing his unexpected guest. Not a woman, a girl.

  He knew better than to ask how Morgan Ames had gained access to his supposedly secure office. Morgan had an uncanny ability to be able to go wherever she damned well pleased. Part social engineer extraordinaire, part master hacker, and part cat burglar, the skills served her well when she’d been working with her father, Clinton Caine.

  “Is it your father?” Nick asked, dropping his voice until he had the door closed behind him, even though no one else was here yet, not this early on a Friday morning.

  Morgan shook her head. She looked miserable.

  On the surface, she was dressed like a young executive, someone from a glossy magazine cover. Made up to look like she was in her twenties, even though he knew she was only fifteen—or at least that was the age she’d finally claimed. Who knew what the truth really was when it came to Morgan?

  Despite appearing impeccably ready for the world, he saw through her mask effortlessly—another warning sign that things were very, very wrong. Dark circles hid beneath her makeup, and when she stood to begin pacing, her gait was agitated instead of the well-balanced, always ready-to-strike poise she usually exhibited. Gone was her preternatural aura of calm command—an aura that always reminded him of Lucy, truth be known.

  “What is it, Morgan?” he asked, using his most reassuring tone.

  “I can’t sleep,” she finally admitted. “Haven’t for days.” Restless energy sparked from her as she stalked the room, weaving around his desk, the couch, coffee table, and two chairs. “At first I wasn’t trying to sleep, was busy setting up security measures, watching for Clint, but then, when I tried…” Her voice trailed off with an uncertainty that was alien to the Morgan he knew.

  “Can you tell me why? What’s keeping you awake?” Morgan could sleep anywhere, anytime; since she didn’t feel anxiety about the events of the day, there was never anything to keep her awake, worrying like normal people. One of the many reasons why she considered her sociopathy as not a diagnosis of maladjustment but rather a sign of superiority.

  “No. Can’t you see? That’s the problem, I can’t explain it.” The words gnashed free from her clenched jaws.

  Nick had never seen Morgan like this—usually he had to push to force her to feel any emotions, much less acknowledge them. “You’ve mentioned the mania you sometimes experienced when you participated in your father’s activities.”

  Every fiber of his being cringed at the thought of what Clinton Caine’s activities had included: stalking and abducting women, using his own children as bait; taking his victims to remote locations where he’d imprison, torture, and rape them until they bore children of their own—his children. Caine had been desperate for a family, one that would obey him and feed his desire for pain.

  Nick had no idea where Caine’s pathology stemmed from—from his own family, most likely—but the father had definitely warped and ruined his favorite daughter, turning Morgan into an inhuman killing machine. It was a testimony to Morgan that she’d been able to break away from that indoctrination by blood.

  She prowled the room with jittery steps, a supernova ready to explode. “I wish I could make you feel it, understand.” The words came at a stuttering pace. “It’s nothing like what I felt with Clint. That was…gleeful. A rush of power. Nothing, no one, could stop us. We were our own gods.” She spun to face him, the dark circles beneath her eyes making her appear haunted. “This, this is nothing like that. Back then with him, I’d stay up for days on the sheer thrill of adrenaline, but this…I’ve never felt like this, never.”

  “Okay, okay.” He kept his voice soothing. “I’ve an idea. It might sound kind of weird, but work with me here.”

  “What?” Her gaze was heavy with suspicion. “No pills. I don’t want any drugs messing with my head, especially not now with Clint loose. I need to stay sharp.”

  “No pills,” he promised. “But we need to understand what’s going on with you. If you can’t sleep, you can’t stop Clint.”

  She nodded at that. He motioned to the love seat, and she plopped down in it, acting for once exactly like the fifteen-year-old girl she was. Occasionally, after a meeting with Morgan and returning home to his own teenaged daughter, Nick mourned what could have been. Morgan would have been a remarkable, beautiful girl—if her father hadn’t ravaged her childhood in such a brutal manner.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  He eased into the chair across from her. “Now close your eyes.”

  She did but then immediately popped them open. “You’re not going to try to hypnotize me?”

  “No, nothing like that. I’m not going to do anything but listen. You’re going to do all the work. Close your eyes.”

  Her expression was doubtful, but she did. It occurred to Nick that he was probably the only man on the face of the planet that Morgan would feel safe to drop her guard with. Well, maybe Andre Stone as well. The former Marine had won Morgan’s admiration and respect. Two out of seven billion? The odds were stacked against her in so many ways. Even without a vicious serial killer on her trail.

  “They’re closed. What do I do now?”

  “Now tell me about this feeling you have.” She opened her mouth, but he continued before she could protest. “Not how it makes you feel. Instead, I want you to imagine the feeling come to life. Imagine it as a place or a scene, something you’re doing. Don’t try to put the emotion into words. Rather, find the place that feels the same and take a look around, notice every detail.”

  “Like what Micah does with his drawing?” Micah Chase was a boy whose life Morgan had saved. As much as Nick would love to get her to open up about her feelings for Micah, feelings he knew she hadn’t even admitted to herself, giving her the skills she needed to cope with her father’s escape from prison took priority.

  “Exactly. Think of it as drawing a scene. What are you doing there? What’s the weather like? What does it smell like? Who else is there with you?”

  She hugged her arms tight around her chest, a self-comforting act he doubted she was even conscious of.

  “Have you found your place?” he asked.

  “Yes. It’s cold, so cold. And dark.” God, had she returned to one of her father’s killing places? Many of them had been underground. He leaned forward, ready to redirect her, but she said, “Except the stars. I’ve never seen stars so bright. It smells like Christmas. Pine trees and snow.”

  “Where are you, Morgan?”

  “I’m walking on water—a pond frozen over? It’s so black, it’s like I’m walking on the stars reflected in it. But I don’t feel special or powerful enough to walk on water. Each step is an agonizing choice, the ice groaning, one wrong step and it will crack. It’s too thin, too brittle. It can’t protect me. No matter which way I turn, I’ll step wrong.” Despite her obvious fear, her voice remained calm, no panic—Morgan never panicked.

  “Look up, Morgan. Do you see anything else?”

  Her chin slid upward even as her eyes remained closed. “Oh God,” she breathed out, anguish filling her voice. “They’re all here. Because of me. I brought them here.”

  “Who? Who’s with you, Morgan?”

  “All of them. Micah, Andre, Jenna, you…not Lucy.” Her forehead frowned. “Why not Lucy?”

  He didn’t want to color her visualization, but her instincts were correct: Lucy had stopped Clinton Caine twice already; she had little to fear from him. And Caine was smart enough to stay far, far away from giving Lucy a third chance to put him down like the rabid dog he was. “What are the others doing?”

  She shook her head, avoiding his question. “No. No. They shouldn’t be here. But they came. Becaus
e of me.” Her hands fisted, raised as if fighting an unseen force. “The ice, it’s too thin. It’s groaning under the weight, it’s cracking. I can’t stop it, I can’t help them.” She gasped, hands flying up to cover her face. “It broke. Swallowed me whole, pulling me down into the dark, black cold, I can’t breathe, I can’t fight, I can’t see the stars…”

  She flew off the love seat and launched herself at him, eyes bulging with terror. She gripped Nick by the shoulders although from the expression on her face as she loomed over where he was trapped in his chair, he knew she’d rather have her hands around his neck. Progress.

  “You lied,” she accused him, her voice ratcheted tight with adrenaline. “You hypnotized me.”

  “No, no, I didn’t.” His voice was calm, professional. He fearlessly met her gaze. “You did it all on your own.”

  She released him and stepped back, glancing at the love seat as if surprised to find it still there and not drowned in the lake she’d conjured. “Was I dreaming? Did I fall asleep?”

  “Not exactly. It was just an exercise in imagination. Some people aren’t good with words, do a better job with images. You created an entire scene to describe the anxiety and dread you’ve been feeling but couldn’t otherwise express or label.”

  “Dread.” She tasted the word, grimacing. “Dread. Like there’s someone or something stalking you, watching every breathing second, herding you toward some inescapable horror. And you’re powerless. Can’t stop, can’t fight.” She turned to Nick. “Is that dread?”

  “As good a description as any. A pervasive feeling that something terrible is about to happen.”

  She shuddered. “How do you Norms survive? Walking around with all these emotions dulling your reflexes. No wonder you’re sheep. Easy prey.”