T.O. Paine

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THE ABDUCTION

A prequel to the novel The Teaching —  eight years earlier.

A man in a stolen car is parked outside an elementary school, waiting for the bell to ring . . .

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THE ABDUCTION

She should never have gotten into his car.

Marcus Crawford doesn’t want to go back to jail. They shouldn’t have sent him there in the first place because it wasn’t his fault. It was an accident. Everyone—except the jury—agreed. The only good thing that came from his incarceration was meeting Crystal. She sent him letters. She supported him. After his release, Marcus, Crystal, and her precious nine-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, Hannah, became a family.

But, before they could marry, Marcus discovered a needle in Crystal’s gym bag. Crystal lied about where she’d been. Her makeup failed to cover the blossoming red spots on her cheeks. He attempted to support her the way she’d supported him in prison, but her addiction to drugs won.

She ended their relationship.

Now, months later, a man in a stolen car waits outside an elementary school in Elko, Nevada. He’s waiting in the hot sun for the bell to ring. He’s waiting for a little girl named Hannah to come out.

He’s waiting to abduct her.

Crystal’s substance abuse has only gotten worse since the break-up. She’s not capable of saving Hannah now. Hannah needs someone like Marcus to save her, but thanks to Crystal’s meth addiction, he’s no longer in Hannah’s life.

The school bell rings. Hannah comes out. The man opens the door to his car, and she gets inside.

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The story continues in  The Teaching.

Eight years later, in a community in the Nevada hills, a young woman named Raine has been taught there are no dead and there is no dying. She’s about to find out otherwise.

Three more stories, FREE.

Not on Amazon, not anywhere else — a collection of three thrillers given only to Fearless Readers, along with a message every other week, from me.