Experience a heart-pumping and thrilling tale of suspense!

In this tag team Thriller Short, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child feature New York City policeman Vincent D'Agosta, who becomes involved with the theft of an ancient Incan sacrificial knife. But before D'Agosta can apprehend the thieves, they meet an untimely death. The particularly gruesome nature of the murders will leave D'Agosta longing for his more conventional villains – heat-packing crackheads, Hummer-driving pimps, two-dollar murderers, subway turnstile jumpers and the assortment of other freaks and bad guys he knows so well from the streets of New York City. His instincts tell him two things for certain: the inexplicable violence of this case has nothing to do with the original heist, and there are going to be more murders.

Originally published in THRILLER (2006), edited by No. 1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson.