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Brooks-Lotello Collection
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Copyright © 2020 by Ronald S. Barak
All rights reserved. No part of this collection may be produced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning, or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and in certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Los Angeles, California
www.ganderhouse.com
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-7345397-0-7
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Barak, Ronald S., author.
Title: Brooks / Lotello thriller collection / Ronald S. Barak.
Description: Contents: The Amendment Killer, The Puppet Master, Payback. Los Angeles, CA: Gander House Publishers, 2020.
Identifiers: ISBN: 978-1-7345397-0-7 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH Authors--Fiction. | Murder--Fiction. | Fraud--Fiction. | Corporations--Corrupt practices--Fiction. | Serial murders--United States--Fiction. | Judges--Fiction. | United States--Supreme Court--Fiction. | Constitutional amendments--United States--Fiction. | Kidnapping--Fiction. | Thrillers (Fiction) | Political fiction. | Legal stories. | BISAC FICTION / Thrillers / Political | FICTION / Thrillers / Legal
Classification: LCC PS3602.A745 B76 2020 | DDC 813.6--dc23
Table of Contents
THE AMENDMENT KILLER: BOOK 1
PART ONE: The Run-Up
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
PART TWO: The United States Supreme Court Day One Argument and More
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
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
PART THREE: The Next Day
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
PART FOUR: The United States Supreme Court Day Two Argument and More
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
PART FIVE: More Stuff and The Decision
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
PART SIX: The Announcement
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
EPILOGUE
THE PUPPET MASTER: BOOK 2
PROLOGUE
PART ONE: The Criminals: February 5–8
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
PART TWO: The Arrest: February 9–11
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
PART THREE: The Circus: February 11–16
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
PART FOUR: The Criminals (Continued): July 13–30
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
PART FIVE: The Trial: August 3–7
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
PART SIX: Deliberation: August 7–10
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
EPILOGUE: August 10–September 28
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143
PAYBACK: BOOK 3
PROLOGUE
PART ONE
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
PART TWO
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
PART THREE
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
PART FOUR
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter Seventy-One
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MORE … BROOKS AND LOTELLO, AND LEAH KLEIN
The Amendment Killer is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Except as otherwise noted in the Author’s Note, any resemblance to actual events or people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Ronald S. Barak
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be produced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning, or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and in certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Printed and published in the United States of America by:
Los Angeles, California
www.ganderhouse.com
ISBN
Hardcover: 978-0-9827590-5-9
Paperback: 978-0-9827590-9-7
eBook: 978-0-9827590-7-3
First Edition
Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication Data
(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)
Names: Barak, Ronald S.
Title: The amendment killer / Ronald S. Barak.
Description: First edition. | Los Angeles, California : Gander House Publishers, [2017] | Series: A Brooks/Lotello thriller
Identifiers: ISBN 978-0-9827590-5-9 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-0-9827590-9-7 (paperback) | ISBN 978-0-9827590-7-3 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Constitutional amendments--United States--Fiction. | Judges--United States-Fiction. | Detectives--United States--Fiction. | Abuse of administrative power--United States--Fiction. | United States. Supreme Court--Fiction. | Kidnapping--Fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3602.A73 A45 2017 (print) | LCC PS3602.A73 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6--dc23
To my Goosers, who helps me to manage in all ways, and then some.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed . . .
With certain unalienable Rights . . .
That . . . Governments . . . derive[e] their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of [its] ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to instruct new Government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its Powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
—Thomas Jefferson in The U.S. Declaration of Independence, Paragraph 2, 1776
Justice Douglas, you must remember one thing. At the constitutional level where we work, ninety percent of any decision is emotional. The rational part of us supplies the reasons for supporting our predilections.
—U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes quoted by U. S. Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas in his 1980 autobiography The Court Years, 1939-1975
Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.
—Charles Lamb in his 1823 essay “The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple”
PART ONE
The Run-up
CHAPTER 1
Tuesday, May 6, 6:30 am
WE HAVE YOUR GRANDDAUGHTER. Here’s what you need to do.
Thomas T. Thomas III reviewed the language. Again. He closed the phone without hitting send. Yet.
He stared through high-powered binoculars from atop the wooded knoll. As always, the girl hit one perfect shot after another.
Cassie Webber. Age 11. He’d been tailing her for three months. It seemed longer.
She was chaperoned everywhere she went. Two-a-day practices before and after s
chool. Her dad drove her in the morning. He watched her empty bucket after bucket and then dropped her off at school. Her mom picked her up after school, ferried her back to the practice range, and brought her home after daughter and coach finished. Mom and daughter sometimes ran errands on the way, but always together. Even on the occasional weekend outing to the mall or the movies, the girl was constantly in the company of family or friends. Having someone hovering over me all day would have driven me batshit.
His childhood had been different. When Thomas was her age, he walked to school on his own. And he lived a lot farther away than the girl. His daddy had never let his driver chauffeur him around. Wasn’t about to spoil him. Spare the rod, spoil the child. Didn’t spoil me that way either.
He kept telling himself patience was the key. But his confidence was waning. And then, suddenly, he’d caught a break. The girl’s routine had changed.
She started walking the few blocks between school and practice on her own. Dad dropped her off at morning practice and Mom met her at afternoon practice instead of school. Only a ten minute walk each way, but that was all the opening he needed.
Everything was finally in place. He would be able to make amends. He would not let them down.
This time.
She completed her morning regimen, unaware of Thomas’s eyes trained on her from his tree-lined vantage point. No doubt about it, he thought to himself. She was incredibly good. Driven. Determined.
And pretty.
Very pretty.
He relieved himself, thinking about her. A long time . . . coming. Haha! As the girl disappeared into the locker room, he trekked back down the hill, and climbed into the passenger side of the van. He returned the binoculars to their case. He removed the cell from his pocket, and checked the pending text one more time.
Moments later, the girl emerged from the locker room, golf bag exchanged for the backpack over her shoulders. She ambled down the winding pathway, waved to the uniformed watchman standing next to the guardhouse, and crossed through the buzzing security gate. She headed off to school.
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