Going Gone

The final storm of the season could be their last.

After barely escaping death when her plane crashed deep in the Rocky Mountains during a snowstorm, Laura Doyle is left with a lingering fear for her life. Her lover, FBI agent Cameron Winger, reassures her that he found her then and always will. But Laura is right to be afraid, because when their engagement is announced it signals to a madman that it’s time for his killing spree to begin again.

Twice thwarted by Cameron and his partners, the Stormchaser pairs random acts of God with deliberate acts of evil. His final act of vengeance will finish his twisted vendetta by taking from Cameron the thing he loves most: Laura.

As law enforcement struggles to connect the gruesome murders he’s committed to mask his return, the Stormchaser draws closer to his true target. But Cameron and Laura don’t realize they’re in the eye of the storm—and this time, being unprepared for the onslaught could spell disaster.

Praise for the novels of

SHARON

SALA

“Vivid, gripping…this thriller keeps the pages turning.”

—Library Journal on Torn Apart

“Sala’s characters are vivid and engaging.”

—Publishers Weekly on Cut Throat

“Sharon Sala is not only a top romance novelist, she is an inspiration for people everywhere who wish to live their dreams.”

—John St. Augustine, host, Power!Talk Radio WDBC-AM, Michigan

“Veteran romance writer Sala lives up to her reputation with this well-crafted thriller.”

—Publishers Weekly on Remember Me

“[A] well-written, fast-paced ride.”

—Publishers Weekly on Nine Lives

“Perfect entertainment for those looking for a suspense novel with emotional intensity.”

—Publishers Weekly on Out of the Dark

Also by Sharon Sala

Forces of Nature

GOING TWICE

GOING ONCE

The Rebel Ridge novels

’TIL DEATH

DON’T CRY FOR ME NEXT OF KIN

The Searchers series

BLOOD TRAILS

BLOOD STAINS BLOOD TIES

The Storm Front trilogy

SWEPT ASIDE

TORN APART BLOWN AWAY

THE WARRIOR

BAD PENNY THE HEALER CUT THROAT NINE LIVES THE CHOSEN MISSING WHIPPOORWILL ON THE EDGE “Capsized” DARK WATER OUT OF THE DARK SNOWFALL BUTTERFLY REMEMBER ME REUNION SWEET BABY

Originally published as Dinah McCall

THE RETURN

Going

Gone

Sharon Sala

www.mirabooks.co.uk

When you live life on the edge and in constant pursuit of one goal, you are missing what matters most. Once time is spent, it’s not the pot of gold you found at rainbow’s end that you will remember. It’s the people you met and the life you lived along the way.

Time is precious, going once through childhood; going twice as fast as your teenage years fly by. And once you walk into the world of an adult, life flies by before you know it; going once, going twice, going gone.

I dedicate this book to dreamers like me, the ones who remember the trip better than the destination.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Praise

Booklist

Title Page

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Copyright

One

The climax slammed into Laura Doyle so fast that she lost her mind. She heard Cameron groan as he let go and went with her, riding the bliss of pure lust. She threw her head back and laughed as the last shudder rolled through her. Making love to him was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to her, and she didn’t ever want it to stop.

“That, my love, was amazing,” she said as she locked her fingers around his neck.

“Am I really your love?”

“Yes, yes, a thousand times yes...forever and ever,” she said as she pulled him down for one last kiss.

* * *

It was the scream of someone shouting Laura’s name that woke her, but within seconds she’d gone from the afterglow of a sexy dream to heart-pounding fear as she scrambled to tighten her seat belt. The private jet she’d boarded in Los Angeles was in trouble. An alarm was sounding inside the cockpit, and the pilot, Ken Price, was shouting at everyone to buckle up.

God in heaven, they were going down!

Marcy, her friend and coworker, who was sitting across the aisle, was crying as she tried to text someone on her cell phone. Laura thought of her sister, Sarah, and then of Cameron, but there was no time for goodbyes. She could hear someone praying, and the nose of the plane was no longer level with the horizon.

Marcy gave her a frantic look and tossed her a folded blanket. Laura caught it in midair and put it in her lap only seconds before she assumed the crash position. Her last conscious thought was that the blanket smelled like mouthwash, and then—impact!

* * *

It was pain, rolling, stabbing, unbelievable misery like nothing Laura ever felt, that woke her next. Something wet was running down the side of her face, and she couldn’t figure out why the house was so dark. She reached for the bedside table to turn on the light, felt hair and then the side of someone’s face, and imagined an intruder had broken into her house, and screamed until the back of her throat closed up from the panic.

The moan that followed was not her own, and that was when she remembered the plane crash. The fact that she was not about to be murdered in bed was a relief, but that she might die in this wreckage after living through the crash was not. The scent of an electrical short was strong, although she couldn’t see any flames. She heard another moan, followed by a short, choking gasp.