Kill Alex Cross

Also by James Patterson
    ALEX CROSS NOVELS
    Along Came a Spider
    Kiss the Girls
    Jack and Jill
    Cat and Mouse
    Pop Goes the Weasel
    Roses are Red
    Violets are Blue
    Four Blind Mice
    The Big Bad Wolf
    London Bridges
    Mary, Mary
    Cross
    Double Cross
    Cross Country
    Alex Cross’s Trial
    ( with Richard DiLallo )
    I, Alex Cross
    Cross Fire
    DETECTIVE MICHAEL BENNETT SERIES
    Step on a Crack ( with Michael Ledwidge )
    Run for Your Life ( with Michael Ledwidge )
    Worst Case ( with Michael Ledwidge )
    Tick Tock ( with Michael Ledwidge )
    PRIVATE SERIES
    Private ( with Maxine Paetro )
    Private London ( with Mark Pearson )
    STAND-ALONE THRILLERS
    Sail ( with Howard Roughan )
    Swimsuit ( with Maxine Paetro )
    Don’t Blink ( with Howard Roughan )
    Postcard Killers ( with Liza Marklund )
    Toys ( with Neil McMahon )
    Now You See Her ( with Michael Ledwidge )
    Kill Me If You Can ( with Marshall Karp, to be published November 2011 )
    NON-FICTION
    Torn Apart ( with Hal and Cory Friedman )
    The Murder of King Tut
    ( with Martin Dugard )
    ROMANCE
    Sundays at Tiffany’s ( with Gabrielle Charbonnet )
    The Christmas Wedding ( with Richard DiLallo, to be published November 2011 )
    THE WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB SERIES
    1st to Die
    2nd Chance ( with Andrew Gross )
    3rd Degree ( with Andrew Gross )
    4th of July ( with Maxine Paetro )
    The 5th Horseman ( with Maxine Paetro )
    The 6th Target ( with Maxine Paetro )
    7th Heaven ( with Maxine Paetro )
    8th Confession ( with Maxine Paetro )
    9th Judgement ( with Maxine Paetro )
    10th Anniversary ( with Maxine Paetro )
    FAMILY OF PAGE-TURNERS
    MAXIMUM RIDE SERIES
    The Angel Experiment
    School’s Out Forever
    Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
    The Final Warning
    Max
    Fang
    Angel
    DANIEL X SERIES
    The Dangerous Days of Daniel X ( with Michael Ledwidge )
    Daniel X: Watch the Skies ( with Ned Rust )
    Daniel X: Demons and Druids ( with Adam Sadler )
    Daniel X: Game Over ( with Ned Rust )
    WITCH & WIZARD SERIES
    Witch & Wizard ( with Gabrielle Charbonnet )
    Witch & Wizard: The Gift ( with Ned Rust )
    Witch & Wizard: The Fire ( with Jill Dembowski, to be published October 2011 )
    ILLUSTRATED NOVELS
    Daniel X: Alien Hunter Graphic Novel ( with Leopoldo Gout )
    Maximum Ride: Manga Vol. 1 ( with NaRae Lee )
    Maximum Ride: Manga Vol. 2 ( with NaRae Lee )
    Maximum Ride: Manga Vol. 3 ( with NaRae Lee )
    Maximum Ride: Manga Vol. 4 ( with NaRae Lee )
    Middle School ( with Chris Tebbetts and Laura Park )
    For more information about James Patterson’s novels, visit
    www.jamespatterson.co.uk
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For Steve Bowen, Leopoldo Gout, Stuart Manashil,
and Bill Block — the Four Musketeers

Book One

UNACCOUNTED
FOR

IT BEGAN WITH President Coyle’s Children, Ethan and Zoe, both high-profile personalities since they had arrived in Washington, and probably even before that.
    Twelve-year-old Ethan Coyle thought he had gotten used to living under the microscope and in the public eye. So Ethan hardly noticed anymore the news cameramen perpetually camped outside the Branaff School gates, and he didn’t worry the way he used to if some kid he didn’t know tried to snap his picture in the hall, or the gymnasium, or even the boys’ bathroom.
    Sometimes, Ethan even pretended he was invisible. It was kind of babyish, kind of b.s., but who cared. It helped. One of the more personable Secret Service guys had actually suggested it. He told Ethan that Chelsea Clinton used to do the same thing. Who knew if that was true?
    But when Ethan saw Ryan Townsend headed his way that morning, he only wished he could disappear.
    Ryan Townsend always had it in for him, and that wasn’t just Ethan’s paranoia talking. He had the purplish and yellowing bruises to prove it — the kind that a good hard punch or muscle squeeze can leave behind.
    “Wuzzup, Coyle the Boil? ” Townsend said, charging up on him in the hall with that look on his face. “The Boil havin’ a bad day already?”
    Ethan knew better than to answer his tormenter and torturer. He cut a hard left toward the lockers instead — but that was his first mistake. Now there was nowhere to go, and he felt a sharp, nauseating jab to the side of his leg. He’d been kicked! Townsend barely even slowed down as he passed. He called these little incidents “drive-bys.”
    The thing Ethan didn’t do was yell out, or stumble in pain. That was the deal he’d made with himself: don’t let anyone see what you’re feeling inside.
    Instead, he dropped