Secret Agent Under Fire. Geri Krotow

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СКАЧАТЬ a blast of arctic wind over glacial ice.

      Sighing, she pulled out her ID. “Here. Check it yourself.”

      He reached for the card and their fingers touched. The immediate sexual awareness caught her off guard. Sure, Fire Chief Keith Paruso was an attractive male and obviously in outstanding shape, but she worked with fit—even hot—men on a daily basis. Not one had ever made her feel so instantly turned on, been so quick to remind her that she was a woman underneath all the body armor and cargo pants.

      “It says you’re a free agent, Abigail.”

      “I am. I told you, I’m a contractor. And it’s Abi.” No one called her Abigail. Except Dad, when she was a kid, and she’d left home almost fifteen years ago. And even he called her Abi these days.

      “I didn’t realize SVPD employed contractors, especially ones as prepared as you are, Abigail.”

      He was clearly who he said he was and, as she looked past him, she saw the fire trucks, the firefighters hosing down the house.

      “I don’t know many fire chiefs who’d leave a fire to run after a suspect. Where I’m from, you leave that to law enforcement. Unless you have a problem with SVPD? Don’t you trust them?”

      His eyes narrowed and she thought he was going to either throw her ID on the ground, spit at her or turn and leave. He looked pretty pissed off.

      Instead he laughed. A lot. Not a snort or chuckle, but a warm, rich sound that seemed to roll over and around her, squeezing her tight, cutting off her breath. If he hadn’t already turned her on, this would have done it.

      “I’ve got a job to do, Chief Paruso.” She held her hand out to retrieve her ID. He ignored it.

      “The ‘job’ you have is a case I’ve been working intensely on, along with SVPD, for over three months, and it’s affected my job for over a year. A case that could have resulted in us catching the bad guy. Since your weapon was drawn and you were at least a quarter of a mile ahead of me, I’m thinking that you had a decent chance to catch the loser. Instead, we’re here exchanging pleasantries while the dirt bag’s free to light up his next target. So forgive me, Abigail, if I’m not too impressed with how you do your job.”

      * * *

      How the hell had SVPD Chief Colt Todd found this one? And why hadn’t he been informed that someone else was working this case? Keith made a mental note to see how much Rio knew about Ms. Abigail Redland. Thank God he knew Rio well enough to ask him, since Rio and Keith’s sister Kayla were a couple. He was supposed to meet them for dinner tonight. Soon enough.

      “I’m not being paid to impress you, Chief Paruso.” Her eyes glinted with the morning sun and her chest moved with the deep breaths she drew—was she trying to calm down? Was he making her angry, too? Not that he was looking at her chest. Although...

      “You have leaves on your, um, Kevlar.”

      She looked down and brushed off the dried oak leaves that were ground into her vest. Her hands were small but capable, and he imagined they’d be the perfect size to fit around his—no. He was not going there, not while this investigation was open, not with some pseudo-law-enforcement agent who probably didn’t know the difference between arson and a bonfire.

      “Interesting that you have such keen observation skills, Chief Paruso. I’m curious as to why your talents haven’t caught this criminal yet.”

      Anger dowsed the searing line of awareness between them, his focus no longer on his crotch but her snide comment. “How I run my investigation is none of your goddamned business, whether you’re working for SVPD or the CIA. In case you missed it, I’m the chief of the fire department. In reality, it’s law enforcement’s job to get the criminal, as you pointed out.” Who the hell did she think she was?

      “Trust me, I know what your job is, Chief.” She said it as though she really did understand firefighting, and it made him even hotter under the collar. Unless she’d had firefighting training herself, she had no business saying she knew his job. None.

      “What’s the problem, folks?”

      Keith all but jumped at the familiar voice behind him. He’d been so wrapped up in his emotions he hadn’t heard the approaching steps.

      Way to go, Keith.

      “Hey, Colt.” He held out his hand to the Superintendent of the Silver Valley Police Department, Chief Colt Todd.

      Colt gripped his hand firmly and gave it a quick shake before he grinned and nodded at Abigail. “Glad to see you two have met. Abi’s new to SVPD, working with us to fill in the gaps around the arson case.”

      “So she said.” Keith wasn’t budging.

      “Yes, we’ve met. Speaking of the case, Chief Todd, I need to get back to headquarters and compare notes with Rio and the team. If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen.” Abigail walked off as if she owned the entire field they stood in. As if she was in charge of the case.

      “Those weren’t nice words I heard you two exchanging, Keith.”

      “Damn it, Colt, we need to be working together on every single aspect of this case or we’re never going to get the dirt bag. Not to mention bring down the cult, if they’re truly connected. Why didn’t you tell me you had a contract employee working this? And how is it that a civilian is carrying a weapon and wearing Kevlar as if she’s more than a contractor?”

      Colt’s eyes narrowed but he maintained a neutral expression. “We have several civilian staff members, Keith. Take Claudia Michele, for example. She runs our social media efforts but she’s also been intrinsic to solving a few cases.” Colt spoke about the woman Keith suspected was involved with, if not in charge of, the kind of undercover ops he suspected went on in Silver Valley. He knew that Silver Valley’s status as a quiet small town was at times lost because of the major highways that ran through the outlying area. A state turnpike and three interstate routes, heavily traveled, made Silver Valley attractive to criminals of all types. Criminals that committed crimes that required LEA ops to counter their stinging effects on the population. Ops he wasn’t privy to, not officially, but it was difficult to work as closely as he did with SVPD and not notice that some of his LEA colleagues appeared to be involved with more than local operations. And since his sister had become romantically involved with Rio, he’d had his suspicions validated by Kayla’s obvious avoidance of him when Rio was working “on a confidential case.”

      “So who is Abigail Redland, Colt? Is she FBI? ATF?”

      Colt shook his head. “It’s not important. And I’m not blowing you off, but just as I can’t always discuss all aspects of any one case—it’s the same with SVPD employees. I know you understand, Keith.”

      Keith watched the older man’s face closely. Colt ran a tight ship over at Silver Valley PD and never let the backlash of public opinion or fellow law-enforcement officers keep him from doing his job. Clearly he wasn’t going to budge on the Abigail Redland issue.

      Keith relented and let his shoulders drop.

      “Sorry, Colt. It’s been a long night, a fruitless morning, and we still don’t have the arsonist. I’m not convinced it’s just one person any longer, either.”

      Colt’s eyes lit up. “Yeah?”

      Keith СКАЧАТЬ