Paperwork to Come: A Sweet Young Things Mystery: Sweet Young Things

By Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The closing hangar doors haunt Alaina. They represent failure.

But Alaina refuses to fail again. Not on this mission. Not with the fate of a child on the line.

For a decade, SYT launched missions to rescue women. But this new organization—with a slightly different mission and much higher stakes—demands its volunteers risk their own freedom to right wrongs committed by the highest levels of government.

A heart-wrenching mystery, "Paperwork to Come" demonstrates the power a handful of people hold when they must make their own justice.

"Kristine Kathryn Rusch's crime stories are exceptional, both in plot and in style."

—Mystery Scene Magazine

"Spree is an exciting crime thriller…."

—Midwest Book Review

• Language: English
• Publisher: WMG Publishing
• Release date: Jul 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201362492

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, she publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov’s Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award. Publications from The Chicago Tribune to Booklist have included her Kris Nelscott mystery novels in their top-ten-best mystery novels of the year. The Nelscott books have received nominations for almost every award in the mystery field, including the best novel Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award. She writes goofy romance novels as award-winner Kristine Grayson, romantic suspense as Kristine Dexter, and futuristic sf as Kris DeLake.  She also edits. Beginning with work at the innovative publishing company, Pulphouse, followed by her award-winning tenure at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, she took fifteen years off before returning to editing with the original anthology series Fiction River, published by WMG Publishing. She acts as series editor with her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, and edits at least two anthologies in the series per year on her own. To keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com and sign up for her newsletter. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, krisdelake.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com). She lives and occasionally sleeps in Oregon.

Book preview

Paperwork to Come

PAPERWORK TO COME

A SWEET YOUNG THINGS MYSTERY

KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH

WMG Publishing, Inc.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

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Also by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

About the Author

1

June, 2018

Swerving on the dirt road, hands on the wheel, trembling, barely keeping the truck under control. Alaina glanced at Clari, badly strapped into the passenger seat. The child seat didn’t fit her, but it was better than nothing. It faced backwards, so Clari couldn’t see what was ahead, which was probably good, given the dust and the trees and the sheer emptiness.

But if a cop looked in…

Hell, if a cop looked in, they were in trouble no matter what. No backseat, bad child seat, improper registration.

Clari reached her stubby fat baby fingers toward Alaina.

"Mamá? she asked, fingers waggling. Mamá?"

2

The phone call, two days before, on the burner cell.

Alaina had just picked up her latte, her supersize blue purse on her left shoulder, her laptop bag draped on her right. The ringing phone caught her, and she looked around the coffee shop, wondering whose phone was chiming like that until she realized that