A hunger drives attorney Casey Jordan to be the best -- and she has both the brains to pull it off and the looks to close the deal. Her strategy has been to pursue headline-making cases, and so far it's worked. But the bigger the client, the bigger the risks, and Casey is about to find out how steep the downside can be...
World-famous criminal law professor Eric Lipton has been accused in the murder of his once beautiful, now mutilated, young student. To the shock of everyone, he's caught on his way to the airport with the dead woman's bloody underwear in his possession. Then Lipton chooses one of his most promising and ambitious former law students, Casey Jordan, to represent him. Her erstwhile mentor is convinced Casey can work her magic in the courtroom -- can introduce a surprise element that will inject enough doubt into the minds of the jurors to get an acquittal. For Casey, this stellar case is a dream come true. Not only does she still admire Professor Lipton's extraordinary knowledge of the law, but she feels honored that he would ask her to defend his innocence.
Yet this is a case unlike any Casey has ever faced. Somewhere between her legal maneuvers and the letter of the law, a terrible reversal will take place. For the first time in her career, Casey will find herself torn between her sworn duty as a legal advocate and her desire to see true justice served. Then, just when she is tempted to use her privileged information to discover the truth, more bodies turn up -- and Casey Jordan realizes hers could be next.
Filled with heart-stopping scenes along with plot twists no reader will predict, The Letter of the Law exposes the nefarious cracks in our criminal justice system
While he knew the Internet opened a doorway to the world, Walt Tanner had no idea that it would also allow evil to slip in through the back... The raw night was typical of the Texas panhandle in late fall. Swirling leaves and grit chafed the curbside. Tanner, a tall, almost handsome salesman in a powder blue suit, sniffed at the smell of the coming weather and wiped a protective tear from his eye. His hotel, a Ramada Inn, was rundown and seedy, but there was a comforting familiarity in the lobby's musty smell. He'd been making calls on a plastics manufacturer in Stratford for the past seven years, and after a marketing dinner at Calvin's Steak House, this was where he always spent the night.
But tonight wasn't going to be the same as every other. The false promises of the plastics man still ringing in his ears didn't make his stomach churn the way they normally did. Tonight he had a date with destiny. For weeks, he had courted over the Internet, hurrying back to his hotel rooms throughout the Southwest to get on-line and link up. After a time, he was able to convince her to send him a picture, and what a picture it was. There were flaws, yes. At the age of fifty-three, Tanner no longer expected perfection. But she was fine, much younger than he was, and she had a nasty way of talking about sex that thrilled him beyond description.
And now, finally, tonight was the night. It had all been so simple, so beautifully simple. It started with posting a picture of himself along with a description that included his height, weight, education, and occupation on a singles bulletin board on the Web. His few friends had scorned his notion of finding love on the Internet. But he hadn't found it any other way, and now this...
His only reservation was with her mysterious idiosyncrasies. She wanted to meet him late at night in a rural location. She didn't want dinner or a movie, or even casual conversation. She wanted sex, raw and hard, or so she said. It stirred him. He had to admit that. But at the same time, something didn't seem quite right about it. It rang false, her insisting that he get a ground-floor room at the end of the building near the exit. He wouldn't have minded as much if his room at the Ramada didn't face a set of Dumpsters that needed emptying. It was as if she were embarrassed about something. But his latent libido had cast caution aside. What did it matter, really? In the worst case, she would turn out to be a man with hopes of committing an illegal act of fellatio, and he would send her, or him, on his pitiful way. But if the whole thing were for real? It would be the beginning of something special.
Tanner unlocked his room and settled in to wait. There was a six-pack of Coors mixed with some melted ice waiting in the sink. With a cold, wet can in hand, he propped himself up against the bedstead with some pillows, picked up the remote, and began channel surfing. Normally he would get on-line, but he felt funny about that with her coming, like he was cheating on her or something.
In the end, it wouldn't have mattered. Tanner awoke to the snow of an empty channel and three empty Silver Bullets on the night table. He loosened his tie and slouched down into the bed. Before drifting off to an even deeper sleep, he thought fleetingly of the unlocked sliding glass door.
When Troy White proved his remarkable "football genius" to the Atlanta Falcons, they brought him on board as a team consultant. Now, thanks to Troy's ability to predict winning plays, the Falcons are pulling in victories. Troy loves his starring role behind the scenes and the thrill of having NFL star linebacker Seth Halloway (who's dating Troy's mom) to coach his own Duluth Tigers team on their way to a state championship.
Then Troy's perfect world comes crashing down. Reporter Brent Peele is out to smear as much mud on the Falcons as he can, and that means going after Troy. The vicious media storm that descends on the football genius threatens not only his job with the Falcons and the Tigers' run at a championship but his mother's career—and Seth's—as well.
Together with his best friends, loyal Nathan and feisty Tate, Troy sets out to unmask the dishonest Peele—and save Seth's reputation—no matter what the risk.
With his signature blend of thrilling action and insider knowledge, Tim Green shows Troy, hero of the New York Times bestselling Football Genius, in a new and riveting adventure.
Josh feels like he's starting to make it big! Jaden, the school reporter, says he's going to take the baseball team to number one. Then his dad pulls him off the field and signs him up with Coach Rocky Valentine's youth championship team, the Titans. He says Josh has what it takes to be a baseball great — and the Titans will help him get there.
Now Josh is gulping down Rocky's "Super Stax" milkshakes to build muscle and trying to fit in with his new teammates — older, tougher kids who can suddenly become violent. All Josh really wants to do is play ball, but as he gets in deeper with the Titans, there are questions he's just got to ask. As Josh and his new friend Jaden investigate their suspicions, they find themselves in a dangerous struggle with a desperate man who doesn't want them to expose the nasty secrets they uncover.
Pulsing with action, baseball great offers a baseball story attuned to today's headlines, a totally involving, character-driven, sports-centered thriller.
Chapter One
Josh wondered why every time something really good happened, something else had to spoil it. It had been like this since he could remember, like biting into a ruby red apple only to find a brown worm crawling through the crisp, white fruit. For the first time since he'd moved to his new neighborhood, he had been recognized, and his unusual talent had been appreciated. So why was it that that same fame had kicked up the muddy rumor that got a high school kid looking to bash his teeth in?
For the moment, though, riding the school bus, he was safe. The school newspaper in Josh's backpack filled his whole body with an electric current of joy and pride, so much so that his cheeks burned. He sat alone in the very front seat and kept his eyes ahead, ignoring the stares and whispers as the other kids got off at the earlier stops. When Jaden Neidermeyer, the new girl from Texas who'd written the article, got off at her stop, Josh stared hard at his sneakers. He just couldn't look.
After she left, he glanced around and carefully parted the lips of his backpack's zipper. Without removing the newspaper, he stole another glance at the headline, baseball great, and the picture of him with a bat and the caption underneath: "Grant Middle's best hope for its first-ever citywide championship, Josh LeBlanc."
The bus ground to a halt at his stop and Josh got off.
As the bus rumbled away, Josh saw Bart Wilson standing on the next corner. The tenth grader pitched his cigarette into the gutter and started toward him with long strides. Josh gasped, turned, and ran without looking back. A car blared its horn. Brakes squealed. Josh leaped back, his heart galloping fast, like the tenth grader now heading his way, even faster. Josh circled the car — the driver yelling at him through the window — and dashed across the street and down the far sidewalk.
He rounded the corner at Murphy's bar and sprinted up the block, ducking behind a wrecked station wagon at Calhoon's Body Shop, peeking through the broken web of glass back toward the corner. Breathing hard, he slipped the straps of the backpack he carried around his shoulders and fastened it tight. Two men in hooded sweatshirts and jeans jackets burst out of Murphy's and got into a pickup truck; otherwise, Josh saw no one. Still, he scooted up the side street, checking behind him and dodging from one parked car to another for cover.
When he saw his home, a narrow, red two-story place with a steep roof and a sagging front porch, he breathed deep, and his heart began to slow. The previous owner had three pit bulls, and so a chain-link fence surrounded the house and its tiny front and back lawns, separating them from the close-packed neighbors on either side. The driveway ran tight to the house, and like the single, detached garage, it was just outside the fence. Josh lifted the latch, but as he pulled open the front gate, a hand appeared from nowhere, slamming it shut. The latch clanked home, and the hand spun Josh around.
"What you running from?" asked Bart Wilson, the tenth-grade smoker.
What is this book about?
PHP is one of the most popular server-side scripting languages available. It's powerful and easy to learn. Combined with MySQL -- a fast, cross-platform, and free open source database -- it makes a very effective tool for developing database-driven websites.
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What does this book cover?
Here are just a few of the things you'll find covered in this book:
Who is this book for?
This book is for the web professional looking to develop database-driven PHP web applications using Macromedia Dreamweaver MX. Some knowledge of HTML and web design is assumed, but you don't need to know any PHP or MySQL.
Get the most out of your Pocket PC and all its features and capabilities with this easy-to-follow resource. You’ll learn to personalize your portable device to suit both your style and a wide range of needs from business to pleasure. Use your Pocket PC to manage a wealth of information—from scheduling appointments and maintaining contact lists to tracking investments. Connect to the Internet, share data with other handheld devices, play music, download games, send messages, and stay on top of your e-mail wherever you go. This handy guide will show you how to be more productive and fully utilize all the functionality your Pocket PC has to offer.
Inside, learn to:
Ty Lewis can't believe it when Coach V recruits him for the football team. This is Ty's big chance to prove how fast he is on the field, get a fresh start in a new school, and be like his older brother, Thane "Tiger" Lewis, who's about to graduate from college—and is being courted by the NFL.
But Ty's guardian, Uncle Gus, won't let him play. Uncle Gus needs Ty to scrub floors and toilets for his cleaning business while he cooks up gambling schemes with the local mob boss, a man called "Lucy."
When Lucy hears just how famous Ty's older brother is, he becomes suddenly friendly. Are the questions Lucy is asking Ty really about fantasy football...or is the Mafia using Ty to get valuable insider info from his superstar brother? Desperately worried, Ty must come up with a plan to save Thane's football career—and, ultimately, his life.
Author of the New York Times bestselling Football Genius, former NFL player Tim Green will have you on the edge of your seat rooting for Ty—and enjoying an up-close look at what it's like to be inside the NFL.
Listen to the WMA excerpt of this title!
Turning twelve didn't matter to Ty. Birthdays, like Christmas and every other holiday, had lost their thrill. Most of the day had already passed without anything special happening and Ty didn't expect that to change. He knew the surprise his aunt and uncle had promised him wouldn't amount to much more than a pair of underwear or a new ax for splitting wood, maybe a blanket. Surprises had a place in his other life, the one before his parents died.
But when Ty grabbed the handrail and stepped up into the school bus, he was surprised when someone yanked him back to earth and spun him around.
"Why weren't you in gym class?"
Coach V had a voice like a growling Doberman, and he scowled down at Ty without easing the stranglehold on his upper arm. Ty's face overheated. He swallowed and looked around. The bus at the front of the line hissed and roared, grinding gears and filling the air with a cloud of diesel fumes.
"I was in Mrs. Brennan's office," Ty said, looking down at the broken line of the curb. Mrs. Brennan was the school psychologist.
The coach ran a hand over the bristles of his dark hair, and his face softened a bit.
"You're not in trouble?" he asked softly.
Ty looked at his blue no-name sneakers and shook his head. "For the accident."
"Does she help?" the coach asked, still soft.
Ty knew that when adults asked questions, they already had the answer they wanted in mind. The right answer wasn't that the death of his mom and dad had left a hole in his heart too big to be helped. The right answer was yes, and that's what he said.
Coach V nodded and turned his big, sharp nose in the direction of the bus, eyes hiding behind the kind of mirror sunglasses that cops usually wore, the kind that reminded Ty of a housefly.
"We got spring football today," the coach said, turning the insect eyes back at Ty so that he could see two dark-haired boys with glasses staring back in their mirrors. "You interested?"
"Spring football?" Ty asked, blinking and pushing his own glasses back up to the top of his nose.
"It's a club, just for one week," Coach V said. "It lets me get the team together to see where we're at. They didn't have spring football in your old school?"
"I went to Tully. There's no football until you get to high school."
"Small town, huh?"
Ty jumped when his bus driver blared her horn and bellowed out at him, "Let's go!"
"There's a sports bus at five," the coach said.
"You think I could play?" Ty asked.
The coach looked up at the bus driver with a twisted smile and pumped his thumb toward the exit.
"Go ahead, I got him," he said to the driver.
The door slammed shut, and the bus growled away, unleashing the long line of waiting buses to do the same. Ty couldn't hear the coach's words over their roar until they reached the top steps of the school.
"I'm sorry," Ty said. "I didn't hear you."
"Of course I want you to play," the coach said. "You're the fastest kid in sixth grade and I need some deep speed for my passing game."
"I'm not too skinny?" Ty said, glancing down at his thin legs.
"Deion Sanders was skinny, but if you're the fastest man on the planet it doesn't matter."
"Who's Deion Sanders?"
Coach V stopped and looked at him, then shook his head and said, "You're too young."
Ty swung the old pillowcase his aunt made him use for a book bag over his shoulder and hustled to keep up. "My older brother plays football."
"Great," the coach said. He swung open the locker room door and banged his palm on one of the old metal lockers. "Get your gym...
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When Tory White's mom gets a job with the Atlanta Falcons, Tory demonstrates his uncanny ability to call football plays before they happen. With Troy's genius, the Falcons could be unstoppable - if only the coaches would take him seriously!
