Gridlock: A Ryan Lock Novel Read Online Free PDF

for a moment as, under his feet, another boulder slammed into one of the timber supports holding up the house.
    ‘Ma’am? Can you hear me?’ he said softly. ‘Are you in immediate danger?’
    There was a short silence. Then the woman spoke again. ‘Not right this second but, yes, I’m in a lot of danger. You help people in my situation, right?’
    Oh, Jeez, thought Lock, here we go. Between them, he and his business partner, Tyrone Johnson, attracted around a dozen crank calls a week. Tough guys who lived in their parents’ basements, reading comic books, and wanted the opportunity to go toe to toe with them; tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorists who wanted to let Lock in on how the government was attempting to control the population’s thoughts. And, a third category, which Ty, much to Lock’s annoyance, seemed bent on encouraging: a group of women they referred to as Damsels in Distress, who often invented all kinds of threats (abusive boyfriends, prowlers, deranged stalkers) in order to try to arrange a rendezvous.
    He had a feeling this was a category-three phone call. ‘Ma’am, if your life is under threat you need to call nine-one-one and speak to the police department in your area. I’m sure they’ll be able to help you.’
    This time the woman sounded almost irritated. ‘Who do you think gave me your number in the first place?’
    Lock was taken aback. ‘Excuse me?’
    ‘My name is Raven Lane. I’m being stalked. I have the LAPD’s Threat Management Unit helping me out but something just happened. I need some additional security. They told me to call you.’
    Through his work so far in Los Angeles, Lock knew all about the Los Angeles Police Department’s Threat Management Unit, or TMU. It dated back to 1989 when California had passed the first anti-stalker legislation. Being slap-bang in the centre of the entertainment industry, the police officers who worked for it were kept busy. When it came to non-celebrities they were only usually involved when stalking or harassment became aggravated. Lock knew that for the most part the victims were fairly anonymous. Sometimes all it took was a sad individual chancing upon a Facebook page for a whole world of misery to open up for the unsuspecting victim. He also knew that stalking cases were messy and difficult. ‘But why, if the TMU are helping you, do you need me?’
    ‘The TMU’ve been great but a panic alarm and a drive-by from a patrol car twice a night isn’t going to cut it any more. I need someone who’s going to stop this stalker before he hurts me.’
    Lock sighed. In the normal run of things, and with the exception of big-mouthed Aussie thespians, he wasn’t in the vigilante business. Sure, push him hard enough and he’d push back harder, but he didn’t go hunting down stalkers and dishing out street justice. In the real world, behaviour like that tended to land you in prison and, from recent experience when he had been under cover in one, he knew he didn’t like prisons very much.
    At the other end of the line, the woman must have read his silence. ‘Listen, I’m not asking you to kill the guy. Hell, I’m not even sure who he is.’
    Lock still said nothing, counting on her to fill the silence.
    ‘I can pay you, if that’s what you’re worried about.’
    ‘It’s not as simple as that,’ Lock said, looking up to see Carrie walking bleary-eyed down the stairs, Angel skittering in a figure-of-eight pattern around her heels.
    ‘Then let me help you out here,’ the woman said. ‘This morning I found a body in the trunk of my car. I’m pretty sure it was a woman’s.’
    ‘You think?’ Lock asked, suddenly interested.
    ‘It was difficult to tell,’ the woman said. ‘She didn’t have a head.’

6
     
    As Lock swung his rented Range Rover from the Pacific Coast Highway through the short stub of the McClure tunnel and out on to the 10 freeway, Carrie glanced up from the browser feature on her BlackBerry. ‘She’s a porn