A Shot at Love. Peggy Jaeger

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СКАЧАТЬ You said it wouldn’t take long to find the men responsible.”

      Good Lord. Was that her voice whining like a three-year-old?

      “If you’ll remember, I said it shouldn’t take long to find them.”

      Gemma sliced her hand in the air. “Whatever the wording you used, your implication was it would be soon. What’s changed?”

      His expression gave away nothing. He must be awfully good at his job, she thought. The average person would look at his face and see a blank wall. But Gemma wasn’t an average person. She was a trained and keen observer of subtle body language, telltale motions, and minute physical changes the average person never noticed. So, even though his face remained a mask of calm emptiness, the slight constriction of his pupils, flare of his nostrils, and tension in his fisted hands told her quite the opposite.

      Ky shot a quick look at his partner. “Why don’t we all sit down?”

      He pulled a chair at the table for her, waited until she grudgingly sat in it, and then took his own seat across from his partner.

      “Well?” Gemma folded hands across her chest.

      “I got notice just a few minutes ago that the man who attacked you, Charlie Faldo, was located this morning.”

      “Where?” Jon asked.

      Ky glanced at him and then back to her. “The Hudson River.”

      She gasped, the noise bursting from inside her.

      “He was fished out about five-thirty when a jogger on her morning run noticed something floating in the water along the waterway.”

      “How?” The word came out before she could stop it.

      Ky’s gaze hardened as he focused on her. “His throat was cut. Clear through to his spine. Then he was dumped.”

      “Ritandi’s a big fan of slice and dice,” Jon said, as if he were discussing the weather.

      Ky nodded and finished his water. “We need to keep you hidden,” he told Gemma. “Faldo was executed because he failed to kill you. Ritandi won’t stop looking for you.”

      “But I don’t know anything about any of this! I never even knew his name until you told me.” Gemma bolted up from the table and backed into the counter. “Jesus!”

      Ky was up and on her in an instant. “Easy,” he said, reaching out to grab her arm.

      The strength she felt seep from his touch, for some unknown reason, instantly calmed her.

      And irritated the hell out of her.

      With a quick jerk, she pulled out of his grasp and folded her arms in front of her chest again, flattening herself against the counter ledge. Ky’s hands drifted slowly down to his sides as he took a step back. His gaze, though, never wavered from hers.

      “We can keep you safe here. We just need to ride this out a little longer than anticipated.”

      “What about the men who killed your agents?” Gemma asked.

      “The bureau has every available agent searching for them.”

      “Searching? That tells me you have no idea where they are, do you?”

      He didn’t answer her, but merely nodded.

      “This just sucks,” she said, repeating her thoughts of earlier.

      Whatever appetite she’d woken with was gone now, killed by the knowledge that her life had been turned upside down and wasn’t about to be righted any time soon.

      She wanted to fly out the front door, grab a cab and run back to her condo. She’d shut and lock the doors and spend her solitary days working, pushing the horror of the past twenty-four hours from her mind.

      She wanted to immerse herself in work until her eyes bled and her head begged for relief.

      She wanted to punch something—anything—hard enough to free her mind of the fear and anger soaking through it.

      She wanted to do all that and more, but what she wound up doing was storming from the kitchen, back up to her tiny, safe bedroom, and plopping down, face-up, on the bed that wasn’t her own.

      * * *

      “She’s been up there all day,” Jon said hours later.

      Ky looked up to the clock on the wall above the couch.

      They were in the den, the room they’d fashioned as a command center, each at a desk, their laptops opened in front of them, files scattered atop the desks. For most of the day they’d been reviewing documents, arrest forms, witness statements, phone records, anything and everything that might give them a lead on how Ritandi had known where to find Calafano. So far nothing had popped for either of them, and Ky was getting more frustrated by the moment.

      Live video feed of the outside of the house streamed on six different screens, each focused on a separate area of the perimeter, the back yard included.

      “Didn’t come down for lunch,” Jon added, looking up at the ceiling. “And she didn’t have any breakfast before you told her about Faldo. She’s got to be hungry, don’t you think, and lonely, up there all by herself.”

      Ky glanced over at him. “You sound like my mother, worried if someone skips a meal they’re going to die from starvation.”

      Jon grinned.

      “She’s upset about the situation,” Ky said, simply, leaning back in his chair. “Being stuck here, unable to do what she wants to do. Go where she wants to go. And I don’t imagine she wants to be around either of us since we’re part of the reason she’s here.”

      “Don’t you think one of us should check on her, though? Make sure she’s okay? See if she needs anything?”

      Ky regarded his partner through slitted eyes. “When did you become such a mother hen?”

      “I’m not.” Jon’s grin turned wry. “I’m just saying one of us should make sure she’s okay.”

      Ky shook his head. “Okay, YiaYia.” He rose from the chair and stretched his arms over his head. “My eyes are starting to cross from looking at all this anyway. I’ll go check on her.”

      “Ask if she wants something to eat,” Jon instructed.

      Ky turned from the doorway. “I’m getting the distinct impression you’re not as worried about her stomach being filled as you are about your own.”

      His partner’s face split into what Ky’s oldest brother, Chrystos, mockingly called a shit-eating grin.

      “Well, it is almost time for dinner. And we do have our deal, remember? You cook. I clean. It works.”

      Ky threw him a speaking glance and then started up the stairs.

      The door to Gemma’s room was СКАЧАТЬ