Praise for Brenda Novak’s White Heat

“With distinctive characters and a nail-biting plot, Novak’s

White Heat is easily a Best of 2010 contender.”

—Suspense magazine

“Novak expertly blends romantic thrills, suspenseful chills and

realistically complicated characters in a white-knuckle read that

is certain to keep readers riveted until the last page.”

—Booklist

“White Heat is a strong, suspenseful read…

an intense, gritty story.”

—All About Romance

“First in Novak’s new romantic suspense ‘thrillogy’ featuring

agents of the private security contracting firm Department 6,

this gripping, twisted tale draws readers into a brutal,

starkly drawn world of white heat and dark deeds.”

—Library Journal

“A fast-paced thriller guaranteed to keep you

entranced to the climactic end.”

—Fresh Fiction

“Brenda Novak has written the best high-action thriller

of 2010…. Once again, Novak has proven

she is the queen of romantic suspense.”

—Midwest Book Review

“Novak writes an excellent romantic suspense

that will keep you on the edge of your seat…

a chilling take that readers won’t want to put down.”

—Romance Reviews Today

“If it’s by Brenda Novak, it’s h-o-t, and White Heat

is definitely that…. This is a very well crafted kickoff

to the author’s Department 6 series.”

—Reader to Reader

Also by BRENDA NOVAK

KILLER HEAT

BODY HEAT

WHITE HEAT

THE PERFECT MURDER

THE PERFECT LIAR

THE PERFECT COUPLE

WATCH ME

STOP ME

TRUST ME

DEAD RIGHT

DEAD GIVEAWAY

DEAD SILENCE

COLD FEET

TAKING THE HEAT

EVERY WAKING MOMENT

Look for Brenda Novak’s next novel

BRENDA NOVAK INSIDE

To Investigative Officer David Doglietto.

Thanks for taking a large chunk of your day off to

give me a tour of Soledad Prison (which was fascinating),

for answering all my questions and emails, for reading this

book when it was in manuscript form and correcting my

mistakes, and for teaching me so much about what it’s

really like “inside.” Your knowledge and follow-through was

so helpful—and your generosity is inspiring. Thanks, Dog

Dear Reader,

I rarely watch TV. I don’t have anything against it. For me, it’s all about opportunity cost. If I’m watching television, I can’t be doing other things that are more important to me. So I miss out on even the most popular shows. For instance, I’ve never seen Seinfeld, Friends, Sex and the City, Survivor or Lost. I missed Prison Break, too, until I went to Utah to visit my daughter and she insisted on showing it to me on DVD. “You’ll love it,” she said, and she was right. I found the characterization, plotting, acting and dialogue fantastic. I was so captivated, in fact, that I rented every season and watched the whole thing. But, when it was all over, I decided there was one thing about Prison Break I would’ve done differently, and that was the romance between the two lead characters. The writers took a very minimalist approach and yet, for me, it was the most interesting part of the whole show.

So…I decided to write my own romance set inside the high-risk, high-conflict world of a maximum security prison, and I chose one of the most notorious prisons in America—Pelican Bay in Northern California (California’s Siberia). With such a backdrop, I needed some very special characters, and I think I managed that with Peyton and Virgil. Virgil is probably one of the most tortured heroes I’ve created and yet I fell instantly in love with him. I hope you will, too.

I always enjoy hearing from readers. Feel free to write to me at P.O. Box 3781, Citrus Heights, CA 95611 or via email at www.brendanovak.com. If you have a computer, be sure to sign up for my mailing list so I can alert you when I have a new book coming out and you can take advantage of all the monthly giveaways and other freebies. Every May I hold an annual online auction for diabetes research at my website, so log on and register for that, too. So far, together with all the generous people who have supported me, we’ve raised over $1 million—and we’re not done yet!

I’d like to extend a special thank-you to Michelle Thomas. Not only has she supported my writing, she’s been a huge support to my efforts to raise money for diabetes research. Her name appears as a character in this novel because she was generous enough to purchase the privilege in my last auction.

I hope you enjoy the story!

Brenda Novak

1

Isolation is the sum total of wretchedness to a man.

—Thomas Carlyle

Peyton Adams eyed the three men who’d driven to the public library with her from the prison, as well as the two they’d secretly come to meet. She knew what she had to say wouldn’t be popular, especially with the warden, who was growing desperate enough to try anything, but she felt duty-bound to express her opinion. “I say no. It’s too risky. Maybe if we put him in the Security Housing Unit we could protect him, but not in general population. No way.”

Simeon Bennett, the person whose life she was attempting to save, sat across the conference table and hardly seemed grateful for her intervention. “You disagree?” she said when he narrowed his ice-blue eyes.

“I’m confident I can complete the assignment or I wouldn’t be sitting here,” he said.

An employee of Department 6, a company she’d never heard of but which was apparently a private security contractor out of L.A., he looked as tough as any inmate she’d seen in the sixteen years she’d been working corrections. Somewhere in the neighborhood of six feet four inches tall and two hundred and twenty-five pounds, he could’ve been hewn out of stone. With biceps and pecs that bulged beneath his carefully ironed dress shirt, and his blond hair shaved in a precise military haircut, he had an intimidating appearance. But it would take a lot more than muscle and a malevolent stare to survive inside Pelican Bay if he happened to spook the wrong inmate.

“I don’t think you understand what it’s like.” She motioned at the door, which they’d just closed, to signify the prison, even though it was eight miles northeast of the library and shrouded in fog on such a cold January day.

It was plain that he wanted to argue with what she’d said but, for whatever reason, he leashed the impulse. Maybe he was saving up for the final salvo. Rick Wallace, an associate director at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the man who’d brought him, took up the argument instead.