Once Hunted

Once Hunted
Blake Pierce

A Riley Paige Mystery #5
A prison break from a maximum security prison. Frantic calls from the FBI. Special Agent Riley Paige’s worst nightmare has come true: a serial killer she put away years ago is loose.

And his main target is her.

Riley is used to being the one hunting, but for the first time, she finds herself—and her family—to be the ones being hunted. As the killer stalks her, he also begins a new rampage of kills, and Riley must stop him before it is too late—for the other victims, and for herself.

But this is no ordinary killer. He is too smart, and their game of cat-and-mouse too twisted, and he somehow manages to elude her and always stay one step ahead. Desperate to stop him, Riley realizes there is only one way: she must delve back into the past, into this killer’s twisted mind, his old cases, and re-learn what drives him. The only way to stop him, she realizes, is to face the darkness she thought she had left behind.

A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, ONCE HUNTED is book #5 in a riveting new series—with a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.

Pierce Blake

ONCE HUNTED (A Riley Paige Mystery – Book 5)

Blake Pierce

Blake Pierce is author of the bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which include the mystery suspense thrillers ONCE GONE (book #1), ONCE TAKEN (book #2), ONCE CRAVED (#3) and ONCE LURED (#4). ONCE HUNTED (#5), and ONCE PINED (#6). Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series and AVERY BLACK mystery series.

An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.comwww.blakepierceauthor.com (http://www.blakepierceauthor.com) to learn more and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2016 by Blake Pierce. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright GongTo, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE

RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES

ONCE GONE (Book #1)

ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)

ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)

ONCE LURED (Book #4)

ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)

ONCE PINED (Book #6)

MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES

BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)

BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)

BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)

AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES

CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)

CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)

PROLOGUE

Special Agent Riley Paige’s speeding car shattered the silence of Fredericksburg’s dark streets. Her fifteen-year-old daughter was missing, but Riley was more furious than frightened. She had a good idea where April was – with her new boyfriend, seventeen-year-old high school dropout Joel Lambert. Riley had tried her best to put a stop to the relationship, but she hadn’t been successful.

Tonight that’s going to change, she thought with determination.

She parked in front of Joel’s home, a rundown little house in an unsavory neighborhood. She’d been here once before and had given Joel an ultimatum to stay away from her daughter. He’d obviously ignored it.

There wasn’t a single light on in the house. Maybe nobody was even inside. Or maybe what Riley would find in there would be more than she could handle. She didn’t care. She banged on the door.

“Joel Lambert! Open up!” she yelled.

There were a few moments of silence. Riley banged on the door again. This time she heard muttered curses inside. The porch light came on. Still chained, the door opened a few inches. In the light from the porch, Riley could make out an unfamiliar face. It was a bearded, strung-out-looking man of about nineteen or twenty.

“What do you want?” the man asked groggily.

“I’m here for my daughter,” Riley said.

The man looked puzzled.

“You’ve got the wrong place, lady,” he said.

He tried to shut the door, but Riley kicked it so hard that the safety chain broke loose and the door flew open.

“Hey!” the man yelled.

Riley stormed inside. The house looked much as it had the last time she’d been here – a horrible mess filled with suspicious odors. The young man was tall and wiry. Riley detected a family resemblance between him and Joel. But he wasn’t old enough to be Joel’s father.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Guy Lambert,” he replied.

“Joel’s brother?” Riley guessed.

“Yeah. Who the hell are you?”

Riley whipped out her badge.

“Special Agent Riley Paige, FBI,” she said.

The man’s eyes got wide with alarm.

“FBI? Hey, there’s got to be some kind of mistake here.”