The Choice. Kerry Barnes
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Kerry Barnes, born in 1964, grew up on a council estate in South-East London. Pushed by her parents to become a doctor, she entered the world of science and became a microbiologist. After studying law and pharmaceuticals, her career turned to medicine.
Having dyslexia didn’t deter her from her passion for writing. She began writing when her daughter was born thirty years ago. Once her children had grown up she moved to the Kent coast and now writes full time.
‘A shocking, gripping read’
Dreda Say Mitchell
‘Sweeps along at a breakneck pace’
Anna Smith
‘Another cracker from Kerry Barnes. The Hunted is a rollercoaster ride!’
Jaime Raven
‘An absolute must-read from this talented author.’
Jacqui Rose
Deceit
The Hunted
The Rules
The Choice
KERRY BARNES
HQ
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2019
Copyright © Kerry Barnes 2019
Kerry Barnes asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © July 2019 ISBN: 9780008314798
Version: 2019-06-20
Table of Contents
About the Author
Praise for Kerry Barnes
Also by Kerry Barnes
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
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Acknowledgements
About the Publisher
For Terrie Taylor
You were an inspiration and I only hope you knew that.
God bless.
As soon as the huge metal door that sealed off the hidden room was slammed shut, Torvic felt the muscles in his shoulders tighten and his jaw clench. He still couldn’t feel his hands because the ropes were so tight that his circulation was cut off. As his bowels churned, he felt sick. He needed to shit but he had to stop himself. He was the Governor and could take on most things, but shitting himself and losing his dignity wasn’t one of them.
He looked at his granddaughter Tiffany and wondered if he should just have let her lead a normal life instead of pulling her into his world. He stared at her head. It was tilted back, with sweat covering her brow, along with a blue tint that lined her lips. His eyes watered as he recalled that horrific moment when Zara made him choose either Tiffany’s life or his son Alastair’s. He wondered if he ever managed to escape this hellhole, he would be able to forget the torment of making the choice. The smell of his son’s burning flesh still lingered inside the hangar and Tiffany’s semiconscious moans still rang in his ears. To him, his granddaughter was still a kid, but Zara Ezra hadn’t seen it that way.
He gritted his teeth when he thought of the hard-faced bitch. She had to be the sickest-minded woman he’d ever met. He should have admired her, and yet his anger towards her overruled his rational mind. She’d said she would stoop to depths lower than the Governor – he himself – would ever dream of, and, by Christ, she had meant it. He really thought he’d had her fooled. He’d been the man they were hunting down – the Governor – and there he’d been, right under their noses all the time, pretending to be a dear old friend of her father’s. He should have given her more credit. Yet, never in his wildest dreams would he have believed her to be as smart as her father. Izzy Ezra had been a genius. Not many could match his