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      A Vireo Book | Rare Bird Books

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      Copyright © 2015 by Burt Weissbourd.

      All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever, including but not limited to print, audio, and electronic. For more information, address:

      A Vireo Book | Rare Bird Books Subsidiary Rights Department,

      453 South Spring Street, Suite 531, Los Angeles, CA 90013.

      Set in Goudy Old Style

      Distributed in the US by Publishers Group West

      ePub ISBN: 978-1940207841

      Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

      Weissbourd, Burt.

       Teaser : a Corey Logan thriller / by Burt Weissbourd.

       p. cm.

       ISBN 978-1-940207-36-0

      1. Homeless children—Fiction. 2. Runaway children—Fiction. 3. Private schools—Fiction. 4. Seattle (Wash.)—Fiction. 5. Suspense fiction. I. Title.

      PS3623.E4593 T43 2014

      813.6—dc23

      For Dorothy Escribano

      Contents

       CHAPTER ONE

       CHAPTER TWO

       CHAPTER THREE

       CHAPTER FOUR

       CHAPTER FIVE

       CHAPTER SIX

       CHAPTER SEVEN

       CHAPTER EIGHT

       CHAPTER NINE

       CHAPTER TEN

       CHAPTER ELEVEN

       CHAPTER TWELVE

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN

       CHAPTER FOURTEEN

       CHAPTER FIFTEEN

       CHAPTER SIXTEEN

       CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

       CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

       CHAPTER NINETEEN

       CHAPTER TWENTY

       CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

       ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      All of the characters and events in this story are imagined, as are many of the Seattle and Seattle-area locations. Seattle is, of course, real, though the author has created an imaginary landscape in and around Capitol Hill.

      Special Acknowledgement

      In creating the character of Teaser, I drew from Dr. James Gilligan’s excellent book, Violence. His understanding of violence, violent criminals (“the living dead”), and of the realities of prison life—that is to say of “the violence that prisoners routinely inflict on one another”—led me to understand Teaser.

      PROLOGUE

      November 2011

      Star hated waiting. Airport security lines made her arms itch and her stomach cramp. In the past year, Star had to visit her doctor twice. The first time, she had fled the waiting room after twenty-six minutes with hives on her forearms the size of wine grapes. Thirty-four minutes into her second visit the hives reached her chest, and Star upended a tropical fish tank sitting on a Plexiglas plank attached to the waiting room wall. “See how long your fucking fish can wait,” she snapped at the stunned receptionist.

      So the fact that she was waiting outside the gates of the Western Corrections Center—had been waiting for almost an hour—was like a very big deal, she was thinking. She’d done some downers, and she’d bought Milky Ways to eat in the car. And Tomb Raider, to keep her mind busy—smooth it out when it wouldn’t slow down. She had her iPod, too, screaming out Liquid Red, a Seattle band she liked. And stuff to read. Star was rockin’ on Tomb Raider when Teaser came out, slow, even lazy, moving like a jungle cat. He turned toward her, still pretty as a man could be. So fine, so fine it was unnatural. His long black hair was gone, but his eyes were the same. When you looked at him it just caught you up, like looking at fire. She felt something good inside when he found her eyes.

      He was in the car then. She could feel his fingers touching her now, and she felt better. He was gentle, playing with her the way she liked. He knew just how to do it, Star was thinking. And then she was gone, riding the wave. “Thank you,” she finally whispered.

      She looked at him, watched his thin lips twist into a faint smile.

      They were driving down Broadway when he finally asked, “You make the connection?”

      “That red-haired guy you sent, Luther, he was a dick.” She tensed up, turned enough to face him.

      “You make the connection?” he asked again, so soft she could barely hear him.

      “Yeah. Sure. There’s two of ’em: big boss Maisie and Aaron, her itchy Chinaboy.” She watched him smile—nice—with Teaser, she wasn’t always having to explain what she meant. “They’re like little puppies.” Star took a bite of a Milky Way as he turned down Pine. “Tease, they like how I move…silky smooth.”

      “Perfect.” He continued west toward the water. “I’ve got something going.”

      She knew he would, he always did. “Tell me.” She watched him looking out the side window, like he was somewhere else. Teaser was the only one she could wait for—he slowed her down. Something about the way he was with her. He was the only one who could do that.

      He pulled over and stopped, quiet, still looking out. Star saw a building, a lighted window. “We’re going to take this girl to the moon,” he whispered.