Shadow of Betrayal - Brett Battles

“Yeah? What?” Nate asked.

“I was thinking maybe you’d like to move into the guest room of my place.”

Nate stared at the road ahead, his expression impossible to read.

“I’m not going to be around that much,” Quinn said.

“Where are you going?”

Now it was Quinn’s turn to stare out the window. “San Francisco.”

A smile cracked on Nate’s face.

“I guess I’m kind of asking you to watch my place for me,” Quinn said.

“What about my training?”

“Your training won’t stop.”

Nate looked skeptical. “Don’t jerk me around. I’m just going to be a glorified house sitter, aren’t I?”

Quinn didn’t answer for several seconds. When he finally did, he said, “No, Nate. You’re going to be a cleaner.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Help with this novel has come from various sources, some old, some new, and some I’m sure to forget to mention. Thanks to Jon Rivera, Helene Cariou, Lorena Philp, Jim Hardwick, and Tammy Sparks. All have provided assistance and support in abundance. And to Kelly for the same and more.

A huge thanks also to the sanity squad: Robert Gregory Browne, Bill Cameron, and Tasha Alexander. Not only did they help me focus, but they also gave valuable feedback and suggestions throughout the writing of this book.

And to team Quinn at Bantam Dell in the U.S.: Sharon Propson, Sharon Swados, and Nita Taublib. And at Preface in the U.K.: Rosie de Courcy, Trevor Dolby, Ben Wright, Paula Hogben, Nicola Taplin, and all the rest. And, of course, my agent, Anne Hawkins. But most of all, thanks to my wonderful editor at Bantam Dell, who makes everything I do better, Danielle Perez.

Finally, I couldn’t have done this without the love of my three children—Ronan, Fiona, and Keira—who make life meaningful.

As far as any mistakes you might find in the story, I’m told that I’m supposed to take the blame. Guilty as charged.

Shadow of Betrayal is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2009 by Brett Battles

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

DELACORTE PRESS is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Battles, Brett.

Shadow of betrayal / Brett Battles.

p. cm.

eISBN: 978-0-440-33867-3

1. Quinn, Jonathan (Fictitious character)—Fiction. I.Title.

PS3602.A923S53 2009

813’.6—dc22                            2009004143

www.bantamdell.com

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