Hostile Takeover (24 page)

Epilogue

A
s we ride the
Bullshit Express
back to New York, everyone retires on the couches and chairs to have a drink, smoke some green, and get some rest. Alice and I take that opportunity to walk up to the engine and watch the lights of Philly slowly start glittering across the dark water of the night.

“I think this is the part where we say we did it,” I say.

“And the part where we congratulate each other on a job well done,” Alice replies.

“Good, I'm glad we got that out of the way.”

We laugh and I kiss Alice for the first time as a free man.

“I have something to show you,” she says, smiling.

“I love it when you talk dirty,” I say.

“It's not
that
. Look.”

She pulls her left hand out of her pocket and shows me the Harry Winston ring on her finger. I can't believe it.

“You went back for it?”

“Yeah,” she says coyly.

“Why? You had disowned me.”

“John, I thought you were dead. I know it sounds sick, but I needed something to remember you by.”

“That's not sick, it's sweet,” I say as I slip the ring from her finger and throw it off the side of the train.

“John! Why the hell did you do that?!”

“Alice, I bought that ring with Bob's blood money, under false pretenses, back when everything about us was a lie. We need a fresh start and I need to buy you a ring that means something.”

She smiles and kisses me.

“That's beautiful. And to tell you the truth, I didn't like it that much anyway.”

“Here we go . . .”

“No, seriously. It's . . . was . . . an amazing ring, but the diamond was just way too big and flashy for my taste. I'm more of an understated girl.”

“Really, I didn't know that about you.”

“Honey, there are a lot of things you don't know about me.”

“Then it's a good thing we have whiskey and a ways to go.”

We kiss and I smile at her. Then it hits me . . .

“Wait,” I say, “do I even
want
to know more about you?”

“What, are you afraid I'll tell you something disturbing?”

“Should I be?”

Alice smiles and whispers in my ear.

“Yes.”

Acknowledgments

Book two . . . the Minotaur. I charged into the labyrinth and slew this infernal beast driven by the love, support, and healing alchemy of Amanda Kuhn and my warrior clan—Skoogy; Kenners Bear; Jo Mama; Mary B; Ky; Ozzy; Brad Pearson (chief medical officer); Samacolada and the Kailua boys; the metal and muscle of the ruthless Simon & Schuster army—Sarah Knight (her name befits her gallantry and superior battle skills), Marysue Rucci, Jonathan Karp, Elina Vaysbeyn, Kate Gales, Kaitlin Olson, and Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich; the trusted guidance of my war council—­Hannah Brown Gordon, Brad Mendelsohn, Kirsten Neuhaus, Elena Stokes, and Tanya Farrell; the courage and loyalty of my allied forces abroad—Alexander Elgurén, Ed Wood, Ida Cornelia Rahbek Manholt, Rachel Clements, Stephanie Melrose, Sarah Shea, Gemma Conley-Smith, Pantagruel (Norway), Sphere/Little, Brown (UK), DuMont (Germany), Sonatine & Univers Poche (France), Fanucci (Italy), Euromedia (Czech Republic), Ikar (Slovakia), AST (Russia), Europa (Hungary), and Alnari (Serbia); and the spiritual protection of my underworld sentinels—Kenneth, Tina, Kara, Margaret, and Gilbert Kuhn, Warren and Bernie Witham, Nana DuWors, Big Bri Mahoney, and Nixon. With this victory, the gods are pleased and the Fates spin a thread of ass-kicking destiny.

Photograph by Ted Frericks

Shane Kuhn is a writer, director, and producer working in the entertainment business and advertising. He is one of the original cofounders of the Slamdance Film Festival and he's currently developing a novella and television series about a highly sophisticated international heist ring for the European market. He lives and works in Colorado, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. He is the author of
The Intern's Handbook
, bought for film by Sony Pictures, and
Hostile Takeover
, the second book in the John Lago thriller series.

Also by Shane Kuhn

The Intern's Handbook

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First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition July 2015

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kuhn, Shane.
Hostile takeover : a John Lago thriller / Shane Kuhn.—First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
pages ; cm
I. Title.
PS3611.U394H67 2015
813'.6—dc23
2014046339

ISBN 978-1-4767-9618-5
ISBN 978-1-4767-9620-8 (ebook)