The Fifth Victim (30 page)

NEW GAME

The game is simple—he is the Hunter. They are the Prey. He gives them a chance to escape. To run. To hide. To outsmart him. But eventually, he catches them. And that’s when the game gets really terrifying…

NEW RULES

Private investigator Griffin Powell and FBI agent Nicole Baxter know a lot about serial killers—they took one down together. But this new killer is as sadistic as they’ve ever seen. He likes his little games, and he especially likes forcing Nic and Griff to play along. Every unsolvable clue, every posed victim, every taunting phone call—it’s all part of his twisted, elaborate plan. And then the Hunter calls, wanting to know if they’re
really
ready to play…

BUT WINNER STILL KILLS ALL…

There’s a new game now, and it’s much more deadly than the first. A brutual psychopath needs a worthy adversary. He won’t stop until he can hunt the most precious prey of all—Nicole. And with his partner in a killer’s sights, Griff is playing for the biggest stakes of his life.

Please read on for an exciting sneak peek of
Beverly Barton’s
THE MURDER GAME,
coming in February 2008!

Prologue

I am not going to die! Damn it, I refuse to give up, to let him win this evil competition
.

Kendall Moore pulled herself up off the ground where she had fallen, face-down as she ran from her tormentor. Breathless and exhausted, she managed to bring herself to her knees. Every muscle ached. Her head throbbed. Fresh blood trickled from the cuts on her legs and the gashes in the bottoms of her calloused feet.

The blistering August sun beat down on her like hot heavy tendrils reaching out from a relentless monster in the sky. The sun was her enemy, blistering her skin, parching her lips, dehydrating her tired, weak body.

Garnering what little strength she had left, Kendall forced herself to stand. She had to find cover, a place where she had an advantage over her pursuer. If he caught up with her while she was out in the open, he would kill her. The game would be over. He would win.

He’s not going to win!
Her mind screamed orders—run, hide, live to fight another day. But her legs managed only a few trembling steps before she faltered and fell again. She needed food and water. She hadn’t eaten in three days and hadn’t had any water since the day before yesterday. He had been pursuing her from sunup to sunset for the past few days, apparently moving in for the kill. After weeks of tormenting her.

The roar of his dirt bike alerted her to the fact that he was nearby, on the narrow, rutted path to the west of her present location. Soon, he would come deeper into the woods on foot, tracking her as he would track an animal.

At first she had been puzzled by the fact that he had kidnapped her, then set her free in the middle of nowhere. But it hadn’t taken her long—only a matter of hours—before she realized that she wasn’t free, no more than a captive animal in a game reserve was actually free.

Day after day, he stalked her, hunted her down, and taught her how to play the game by his rules. He’d had more than one opportunity to kill her, but he had allowed her to live, and he’d even given her an occasional day of rest. But she never knew what day, so she was forced to stay alert at all times, to be prepared for yet another long, tiring match in what seemed like a neverending game.

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Copyright © 2003 by Beverly Barton Beaver

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ISBN: 978-1-4201-1875-9