Secret Agent Under Fire. Geri Krotow

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СКАЧАТЬ my mind wandered. Just piecing together the evidence we have so far.” She lifted his hand from her using two fingers and pulled her arm away. She looked at Rio. “I’ve already told Colt my thoughts.”

      “Which are?” Keith spoke up, no hint in his tone of the emotion he’d revealed a moment earlier, or of her obvious rebuff of his he-man tactics.

      “I don’t like how this fire starter has gone from burning down, what, six or seven barns? To all of a sudden move up to larger commercial properties, like the convenience store last month, and before today he aimed at historical landmarks. Today, the run-down farmhouse. It’s not usual, not for a straightforward profile. This isn’t someone who gets off on simply lighting fires.”

      “Tell us something we don’t already know.” Keith crossed his arms over his chest. So the man had smarts to go with the cocky player attitude. Abi could overlook a sexy man but the sexiest attribute to her was always intelligence. Followed by a sense of humor, which Keith was demonstrating through his obvious need to tease her with his blatant come-on behavior.

      Ignoring the way his biceps flexed against his chest, Abi shrugged. “Right. So it’s obvious to me that you probably have more than one arsonist. Even though the notes left at the scenes are all the same, from the same paper stock and ink. One person, one entity may be directing several different people to commit the arsons. That’s why I’m not convinced these are hard-boiled fire starters.”

      “I’ve thought the same thing.” Keith looked at Rio. “I told you this three weeks ago, and I mentioned it to Colt this morning. Today’s spotting of the suspect makes it three out of a total of eight fires after which we’ve seen the suspect take off once the engines arrive.”

      Rio’s brow creased and he leaned on his forearms. “Three times none of us caught him, damn it.”

      “He had an escape vehicle and a driver. There has to have been another vehicle they drove the ATV to. And then, maybe some kind of hidey-hole in the Appalachians. No one disappears this easily without help.” Abi stopped before she said anything about the Trail Hikers supersecret command post buried deep behind a cave, which had long ago been sealed from tourists. Keith Paruso wasn’t a Trail Hiker.

      “What else do you have, Abi?” Keith’s voice was like a caress, damn it. It made her thoughts jumble as a guilty heat ran up her chest, her throat, her face. She wasn’t sure how, but somehow he knew she’d been thinking of him and not the case. More like he assumed she was thinking of only him. She could practically see the planets revolving around his head—this man really did think it was all about him.

      “Nothing that’s worth talking about right now.” She stood. “I need to get some notes together before the big meeting. I’ll meet you both in the briefing room.”

      * * *

      “You seem to have Abi riled up but good, Keith. Care to explain?” Rio grinned and all Keith thought about was how pissed his sister Kayla would be if he gave her boyfriend a black eye.

      “No, I don’t. This morning’s the first time I’ve ever seen her. You never mentioned a contractor working at SVPD before today.”

      “No reason to bring it up. We have contractors in every now and then. It’s not usual, but it happens. This just happens to be a more visible case. And Abi is, well, more visible, too.” Keith knew with certainty that Rio’s heart was all for Kayla. He never even mentioned that he thought another woman was attractive. As Kayla’s brother, Keith was glad, but as a man, the thought of one woman having such control over his emotions made him cringe. “You seem to like what you see. In our contractor.” Rio’s grin widened.

      “You are so damn lucky my sister is in love with you.”

      “If things go right, we might be brothers, Keith.” Rio’s expression sobered.

      “You’re kidding? Does Kayla know?”

      “No, and please don’t say anything. She doesn’t want to hurry our relationship, but, frankly, I’ve been ready to marry her since we started dating again, when I was still working your case.”

      Keith nodded. During his “case,” he’d been falsely accused of endangering the lives of citizens who’d been in church when it was set on fire. During its most well-attended service of the year—the children’s Christmas pageant. The incident and its aftermath had changed his life...and his professional reputation. No matter how much his colleagues claimed it didn’t matter, he knew better. It would haunt him until they shattered open the cult.

      “Go for it, Rio. You both deserve to be happy.”

      “Thanks, man.”

      Rio’s bemused expression had Keith smiling in response. He was genuinely happy for Kayla and Rio, maybe even a little jealous. Especially with a woman like Abigail Redland in town.

      Hell. He needed to stop this line of thinking before it torched something deeper inside him. He wasn’t the type to settle down, not yet. There was the matter of his professional reputation, which he knew would be restored once he caught the arsonist. Nothing else mattered.

      * * *

      Claudia Michele sprayed her silver bob with the expensive hairspray her hairstylist had convinced her would make her thick mane “manageable but still touchable.” She didn’t know how many times she’d done her hair, put her makeup on, hoping that the men she worked with would notice her as more than a fellow Marine. There’d been a handful through the years that she’d thought would become more than casual relationships, but with the US Marine Corps as her career, the mission had always been her priority and had overshadowed every chance at long-lasting love.

      Until she’d retired from the corps and agreed to head up the Trail Hikers. Trail Hikers was her new baby, but she’d made a promise to herself that she’d put her personal life first whenever she could from now on. The chances to have her own children had passed, but she wasn’t ready to give up on love. Not completely.

      And Colt Todd seemed heaven-sent. The Silver Valley police chief had caught her eye from the first time they’d met. It had been over the True Believer Cult case, which they were still pursuing. Would the degenerate group’s evil hold on Silver Valley ever let go?

      Her phone vibrated as she picked it up to throw into her Kate Spade tote. One perk of no longer being in uniform and earning a decent paycheck was the fun fashion accessories. She particularly liked this bag because it held her .45 as easily as her Poppy Red lipstick.

      “Hi, Colt.”

      “Claudia.” God, she’d never grow tired of his deep voice, the way her stomach tingled each time she heard it. “How are you today?”

      “I’m well. On my way in to the office.”

      “Mine or yours?”

      “Mine—I have some message traffic to read. That’s email in your lingo. And we’re indoctrinating a couple of new agents specifically to aid in the cult takedown.”

      “Are you allowed to tell me that? About the new agents?”

      “You don’t officially know who they are or what they’re for, but with the need for more manpower to take down the True Believers, I think it’s safe to let you in on it.”

      “I’d СКАЧАТЬ