Tracks (A Jack Nightingale Short Story)

By Stephen Leather

Supernatural detective Jack Nightingale is called in to investigate when an old man appears to have been hit by a train on an abandoned railway line. But there hasn't been a train there in more than fifty years. So what killed the old man? As Nightingale investigates, he realises that there are dark forces at work and his own life is on the line.

Tracks is about 11,000 words, about thirty-five pages, perfect if you have half an hour to spare.

Stephen Leather is one of the UK's most successful thriller writers, an ebook and Sunday Times bestseller and author of the critically acclaimed Dan “Spider’ Shepherd series and the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novels. Before becoming a novelist he was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mirror, the Glasgow Herald, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. He is one of the country’s most successful ebook authors. He has sold more than a million eBooks and was voted by The Bookseller magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the UK publishing world. His bestsellers have been translated into fifteen languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series and two of his books, The Stretch and The Bombmaker, were filmed for TV.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephen Leather
• Release date: Dec 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311713551

Stephen Leather

Stephen Leather is one of the UK’s most successful thriller writers, an eBook and Sunday Times bestseller and author of the critically acclaimed Dan “Spider’ Shepherd series and the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novels. Before becoming a novelist he was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mirror, the Glasgow Herald, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. He is one of the country’s most successful eBook authors and his eBooks have topped the Amazon Kindle charts in the UK and the US. He has sold more than a million eBooks and was voted by The Bookseller magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the UK publishing world. His bestsellers have been translated into fifteen languages. He has also written for television shows such as London’s Burning, The Knock and the BBC’s Murder in Mind series and two of his books, The Stretch and The Bombmaker, were filmed for TV. You can find out more from his website www.stephenleather.com

Book preview

TRACKS

By Stephen Leather

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Published by:

Stephen Leather at Smashwords

Copyright (c) 2014 by Stephen Leather

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Smashwords Edition Licence Notes

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 to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Jack Nightingale appears in the full-length novels Nightfall, Midnight, Nightmare, Nightshade and Lastnight. He has his own website at www.jacknightingale.com He also appears in three other short stories – Cursed, Still Bleeding, and My Name Is Lydia. The Jack Nightingale timeline is complex – Tracks is set after Lastnight.

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The two people in the rear of the black SUV had been married a total of four times between them, but never to each other, which was why they’d driven out to The Tracks in separate vehicles. Chris had parked the Crown Victoria sedan a hundred yards back down the track and walked to the SUV where Ronnie sat waiting in the driver’s seat. Ronnie had turned off the headlights, got out, opened the rear door and they’d both climbed in. They shared twenty urgent minutes behind the heavily tinted privacy glass, no sound leaking from the vehicle into the moonless night.

When they were done, they returned to the front of the SUV, lit cigarettes and smoked in silence for a while, from time to time turning to look at each other by the dull red glow of the dashboard lights. It was Chris who spoke first.

Where’s this gonna take us? Two years now, and we’re still sneaking round like a couple of thieves.

Ronnie shrugged. We’ve both got kids. Do you want to destroy two families?

I hate living a lie.

That lie keeps you in your job. Do you think they’d let you stay on if this got out?

Chris grimaced. Of course not.

And I doubt I’d be allowed to keep my job either. This is a small town. It’s not like I could move across a city and find another job.

So what do we do?

Ronnie sighed. I don’t know. Seems we can’t go forward and we can’t leave it alone.

You’d think... Holy shit, what the Hell is that?

The two of them gaped through the windscreen in the direction of The Tracks as a thunderous roar overwhelmed their ears and