“Uh oh.”
THE END
AUTHOR NOTE
For those interested in reading the backstories of the various characters in Haunted House, here is the chronological order of the works they appear in.
ORIGIN (Dr. Frank Belgium)
THE LIST (Tom Mankowski and Roy Lewis)
SERIAL KILLERS UNCUT (Moni Draper)
AFRAID (Josh, Fran, Duncan, Woof, and Mathias VanCamp)
TRAPPED (Sara Randhurst)
ENDURANCE (Mal and Deb Dieter)
Dr. Frank Belgium will return in SECOND COMING
Tom Mankowski, Roy Lewis, and Joan DeVillers will return in THE NINE
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Mal and Deb Dieter first appeared in the Jack Kilborn novel Endurance, which took place at the Rushmore Inn in West Virginia. Mal is a sports reporter. He’s missing his hand. Deb is an athlete who competes regularly in the Paralympics and triathlons. She has prosthetic legs.
Roy Lewis and Tom Mankowski first appeared in the J.A. Konrath novel The List, which ended in Springfield, Illinois. They have made cameos in several novels in the Jack Daniels series (Cherry Bomb, Shaken, Stirred). They are both Homicide Detectives that work in Chicago.
Dr. Frank Belgium first appeared in the J.A. Konrath novel Origin, working for Project Samhain in New Mexico. He’s a molecular biologist and has a speech dysfluency, where he sometimes repeats the same word three times.
Sara Randhurst first appeared in the Jack Kilborn novel Trapped, which took place on Rock Island in Lake Michigan. She’s a former guidance counselor.
Fran, Josh, and Duncan VanCamp first appeared in the Jack Kilborn novel Afraid, which took place in Safe Haven Wisconsin. They live in Hawaii with their pets, a basset hound named Woof and a capuchin monkey named Mathison. Josh and Fran live off a stipend. Duncan is fifteen years old, learning how to drive.
Moni Draper is a dancer and call girl who appeared in Serial Killers Uncut written by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch. She survived encounters with two serial killers, the Gingerbread Man (Whiskey Sour) and Luther Kite (Stirred).
About J.A. Konrath:
Joe Konrath has sold over two million books. He’s learned all he knows about writing from fellow scribes F. Paul Wilson, Blake Crouch, Scott Nicholson, and Iain Rob Wright. Joe has yet to read any of Jeff Strand’s self-described “thrillomedies”, but he’s pretty sure that some of them may be good, probably. You can read more about Joe’s work at www.jakonrath.com.
EBOOKS BY J.A. KONRATH
Jack Daniels Thrillers
Whiskey Sour
Bloody Mary
Rusty Nail
Dirty Martini
Fuzzy Navel
Cherry Bomb
Shaken
Stirred
Shot of Tequila
Banana Hammock
Jack Daniels Stories (collected stories)
Serial Killers Uncut (with Blake Crouch)
Suckers (with Jeff Strand)
Planter’s Punch (with Tom Schreck)
Floaters (with Henry Perez)
Truck Stop (short)
Flee (with Ann Voss Peterson)
Spree (with Ann Voss Peterson)
Three (with Ann Voss Peterson)
Babe on Board (short with Ann Voss Peterson)
With a Twist (short)
Street Music (short)
Other Books
Symbios (short,writing as Joe Kimball)
Timecaster (writing as Joe Kimball)
Timecaster Supersymettry (writing as Joe Kimball)
Wild Night is Calling (short with Ann Voss Peterson)
Shapeshifters Anonymous (short)
The Screaming (short)
Afraid (writing as Jack Kilborn)
Endurance (writing as Jack Kilborn)
Trapped (writing as Jack Kilborn)
Draculas (with Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson)
Origin
The List
Disturb
65 Proof (short story omnibus)
Crime Stories (collected stories)
Horror Stories (collected stories)
Dumb Jokes & Vulgar Poems
A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing
Be the Monkey (with Barry Eisler)
WOLF HUNT
By Jeff Strand
Wolf Hunt copyright 2010 by Jeff Strand
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the author.
For more information about the author, visit www.JeffStrand.com
CHAPTER ONE
Meet George and Lou
“Okay, it says here that you stole...” George Orton glanced down at his notebook, then flipped through a few pages. “Where did I write that down? Bear with me for a second...yeah, here it is. Sixty-three thousand dollars.” He whistled. “Wow. That’s a lot of skimming off the top.”
The old man’s eyes glistened. “I have a family. I have five grandkids. Please don’t hurt me.”
“Hurt you? For sixty-three thousand you should be begging me not to kill you, right?”
“Please don’t kill me,” said the old man, Douglas, in a whisper. “I’ll double whatever he’s paying you.”
“Hmmmm. Let me check my notes.” George glanced down at his notebook again. “Ah, here we go. ‘If he tries to bribe you, break an extra finger.’ Look at that, you just created more work for me.”
“Please--”
“Not to mention that you probably intended to pay that bribe out of the money you stole, so in a few hours I’d have men at my house wanting to break my thumbs. Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of getting double pay for this job, but you’re asking me to put future earning potential at risk. That’s an unfair thing to ask of somebody you’ve just met.”
Douglas’ voice cracked. “There has to be a way we can work this out.”
“There’s really nothing to work out. Were we sent here to break your thumbs? Yes. Will your thumbs be broken when we leave? Yes indeed. Does it have to be the worst experience of your life? Not necessarily.”
“I’m sure that--”
“Discussion over. I want you to understand, Doug, that I’m no sadist. I’m here to do a job like any other working man. If it were up to me, there would be no snapping of bones in the next few minutes. But it’s not up to me. So now that we’ve established what is most definitely going to happen, let’s see if we can work together to make it go as smoothly as possible.”
Douglas looked over at George’s partner, Lou Flynn, as if for help. Lou shrugged and leaned back in the recliner, the briefcase of recovered cash resting in his lap. The old man had been skimming for the past few months but hadn’t spent a cent, which made things a lot easier for everybody.
Really, the old man should’ve felt lucky that it was George’s turn to handle the uncomfortable part of the business. Lou was pretty good with knives, but he cringed at the act of breaking bones, which meant that he didn’t always get it done on the first try. Yeah, Lou was doing an excellent job of presenting a casual front, pretending to be sitting there all cold and emotionless, but George knew that he was feeling sick to his stomach.