No Man's Land - Hardcover

Ford, G.M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060554827 ISBN 13: 9780060554828

Publisher: William Morrow, 2005

Synopsis

The accolades keep rolling in for G.M. Ford, whose gritty, explosive, lightning-fast brand of thriller has placed him in the upper ranks of contemporary crime fiction authors. Now, in his most relentlessly exciting novel to date, Ford's dark and complex protagonist, Frank Corso, finds himself drawn into a bizarre carnival of blood and death in the last place any sane person would willingly go ...

No Man's Land

Arizona's Meza Azul penitentiary is the pride of the state's newly privatized penal system -- a modern technological wonder, unassailable and inescapable, built to hold the worst of the worst. Yet, inconceivably, one prisoner has managed to breach the foolproof security, set loose the other inmates, and take control of the facility -- holding more than one hundred guards and workers hostage. And one hostage will die every six hours until Timothy Driver gets what he wants: Frank Corso.

A rogue journalist and confirmed lone wolf, Corso wrote a bestselling book about the former U.S. Navy submarine commander who was convicted of slaughtering his wife and her lover in a jealous fury. Now, unwilling to be responsible for the death of innocents, Corso allows himself to be delivered into the bowels of Meza Azul -- and into the hands of a crazed hero turned criminal.

But Captain Driver wants more than the ear of a once-sympathetic writer who will tell his final story tough and truthfully. Accompanied by a cold-blooded hayseed murder machine named "Cutter" Kehoe, and with Corso in tow, Driver pulls off a brilliant and undetected escape, right under the noses of armed government troops as they storm the captured prison. Suddenly a helpless spectator along for the ride on a maniacal cross-country killing spree -- with a tragic and beautiful TV journalist doggedly pursuing the story, heading inexorably into harm's way -- Corso finds himself in no man's land.

If he's lucky, Frank Corso may get one slim chance to escape the clutches of a psychopathic duo determined to go out in a blaze of blood and terror. But if he's not, his own story -- and too many others -- will end abruptly and brutally.

About this title

About the Author

G.M. Ford is the author of six widely praised Frank Corso novels, Fury, Black River, A Blind Eye, Red Tide, No Man's Land, and Blown Away, as well as six highly acclaimed mysteries featuring Seattle private investigator Leo Waterman. A former creative writing teacher in western Washington, Ford lives in Oregon and is currently working on his next novel.

Reviews

When Timothy Driver, who's serving life without parole in Meza Azul, America's most escape-proof prison, seizes control of the place and demands that Seattle true-crime writer Frank Corso come to Arizona to negotiate for the lives of 163 hostages, most sensible people would see it as an offer they can refuse—but not Corso, who's written a book about Driver. Ford seems so intent on separating his suspense novels about Corso (this is the fifth, after 2004's Red Tide) from his lighter series about Seattle PI Leo Waterman that he darkens the environment and ups the danger ante to a grippingly readable but somewhat less-than-reasonable level. True, Corso does make a point of reassuring a doubtful Coast Guard officer sent to tell him about the demand, "Driver doesn't want to kill me. He wants to make sure his story gets told," but the officer (and the reader) don't believe that for a minute—especially when we know that Driver's accomplice in the takeover is a brutal biker, Cutter Kehoe. Driver and Kehoe are frighteningly fascinating in their actions and thoughts, and there's also a touchingly believable reality-show TV star, Melanie Harris, who sees the story as a way to boost her sagging ratings.
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No Man's Land

By G.M. Ford

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Copyright ©2005 G.M. Ford
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0060554827

Chapter One

"As of this moment, we are holding one hundred sixtythreehostages. Starting at eighteen hundred tonight, I'm going toshoot one of them every six hours until Frank Corso is deliveredto me." The handheld camera shimmied, but the voice never lostits tone of command and the hooded black eyes never wavered.

The picture rolled once, then the screen went blank. GovernorJames Blaine looked back over his shoulder at Warden EliasRomero. An unasked question hung in the air like artillery smoke.

"His name is Timothy Driver," Romero said. "He's a transferfrom the State of Washington. Doing life without ... for doubleaggravated murder."

A glimmer of recognition slid across the governor's pouchyface. "The navy guy? The captain?"

"Yes sir," said Romero. "Driver used to be a Trident submarinecaptain." Romero cleared his throat. "Came home a littleearly from a cruise. Found his wife flying united with some localguy. Lost it. Got himself a gun and offed them both, right there inhis own bed. Blinded another inmate and stabbed a guard duringhis first week in a Washington prison. The con was a big player inthe Aryan Brotherhood. The guard was an old hand ... popular with the staff. Washington figured it wasn't safe to keep Driveraround their system anymore ... so they shipped him to us."

The governor jammed his hands into his suit pants pockets."How the hell could something like this happen?" he demanded."Meza Azul is supposed to be?" He stopped himself. "As I recall,the design was supposed to prevent something like this fromever taking place."

"Yes sir ... it was." Romero pointed to the bank of surveillancemonitors nearly covering the south wall of the security office.The screens were blank and black. Romero cleared his throat."We've got the last minute and forty-five seconds of tape beforeDriver turned the security system off. It's quite?"

"Let me see it," the governor interrupted.

Romero crossed the room, jabbed at several buttons andstood aside, allowing the governor to belly up to the monitor.White static filled the large central screen.

"It's quite graphic," Romero warned.

"I'm a big boy," the governor assured him.

The picture appeared. Shot from above. Somebody in aguard's uniform putting an electronic key into what appeared tobe an elevator door. The figure pocketed the key and bounced hiseyes around all four walls before removing something from his insidejacket pocket and turning his back on the camera for a fullthirty seconds.

"It's Driver in a guard's uniform," Romero said. On-screen,Driver had straightened up and was poking his index finger at thekeyboard on the wall as Romero narrated. "He just used a securitykey in the elevator to the control module, then ..." He raisedhis hands in despair. "And then somehow or other he disabled thefingerprint recognition technology."

"Say again."

Romero reached around the governor and pushed the STOPbutton.

"On any given day, only five men have access to the central elevator.The pod operator, who you're about to see in a minute,and the four senior duty officers." He dropped his hands to hissides. "Driver found some way around it." He moved quickly tothe console. The figure started to move again "Look. He's punchingin the security code."

On-screen, the door slid open. Driver stepped inside and momentarilydisappeared.

Blaine's face was red now. "How in God's name did a prisonerget hold of any of that?" the governor sputtered. "A uniform"?he waved a large liver-spotted hand?"the security code. Howcould ..."

Romero merely shook his head, refusing to speculate. Hestuck to the facts.

The picture cut to the interior of the elevator, where the manin blue stood calmly in the center of the car, hands folded in frontof him, bored expression on his face.

"Driver had an appointment for a medical checkup. We'reguessing he somehow overpowered the team we sent for him."Romero shrugged and swallowed hard. "Somehow or other, hemust have ..." Romero searched for a word. "... he must haveinduced the guard sergeant to part with the security code."

"And the fingerprint identification?"

"No idea."

The two men passed nervous glances as the picture cut to theinterior of the control module, where an African-American manin a starched white shirt swiveled his chair, turning to face the elevatordoor just in time for the man in blue to step inside andpoint to the bank of security monitors. "Check sixty-three," hesaid in a command voice.

Without a word, the man in white turned his back on the closingelevator door and began running his fingers over his keyboard.Whatever was supposed to appear on monitor sixty-three would remain forever a mystery as Driver looped what appearedto be a length of thin wire around the other man's neck, made asudden twist at the nape and began to pull with sufficient force tolift the man in white from the chair. His fingers clawed at histhroat and his eyes tried to burst from their sockets, as rivulets ofblood began to pour down over the white Randall Corporationshirt and he began to convulse, his legs beating time on the hardstone floor, his open mouth spewing ...

James Blaine turned his face away. While the governor wasbusy retaining his lunch, Romero reached around him and pushedthe STOP button. Silence filled the room like dirty water ...

Continues...

Excerpted from No Man's Landby G.M. Ford Copyright ©2005 by G.M. Ford. Excerpted by permission.
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Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060554827
• ISBN 13: 9780060554828
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320