The Stranger and I. Carol Ericson

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СКАЧАТЬ with Adam. She shuddered.

      She hadn’t been wrong about Chad, though. In the end, she couldn’t save him, but she’d helped him. Shifting her eyes to the silent man next to her intent on the computer screen, she wondered if she was wrong about him. To save him would be a challenge beyond even her abilities.

      They’d been on the road for nearly three hours. The moist ocean breezes of San Diego had long since been replaced by arid gusts that needled their flesh. Justin told her to pull over so he could take over driving duty once more. Before changing places, they stretched their legs outside the truck.

      The shimmering heat rose like seaweed from the desert floor. Justin, hands on hips, drilled the horizon with his piercing gaze. He carried himself with the loose-limbed grace of an athlete. He’d deceived her with his strength when he’d yanked her into his house, impressing her as a huge, powerful figure. He had power all right and stood over six feet tall. But even though his body was taut, he was no bulging muscleman.

      As if sensing her scrutiny, he turned and grinned. “You ready for the last leg of the trip?” His smile banished all the pain and disillusionment from his face. What put it there?

      “Yeah, I’m ready to say ‘hiya’ to hiya.”

      He shook his head as he climbed back into the truck. “This heat’s getting to you.”

      Their last stop had been in Twentynine Palms where they fueled up and downed a couple of sports drinks along with some sandwiches. Justin promised her a shower and some rest at the HIA facility. She needed both.

      They hurtled over the blazing asphalt of Highway 62, leaving Twentynine Palms and civilization in the dust. Justin turned down a road heading south. A gated structure, the color of the encroaching sand, took shape in the glimmering heat.

      Lila quipped, “Will you have to kill me after I see the secret compound?”

      A shadow passed over his face. “Don’t joke about it.”

      They inched up to the gate, and he inserted a key card into a slot. The gate rolled back on squeaking wheels. He parked the truck and stepped out onto concrete, glittering with particles of sand. The facility looked deserted, but most of the agents parked their cars in the back.

      His jaw tightened, and a pulse throbbed in his throat. All his senses danced on the head of a pin. He sniffed the air, his nostrils flaring at the faint, acrid odor of gunpowder. Range practice?

      Lila chirped, “Is it always so quiet here?”

      He felt for the gun he’d just shoved into his gun bag along with his backup and ascended the steps to the entrance. He punched the intercom. No answer. Swiping his sweaty hand across his T-shirt, he flipped open the print reader with his other hand. He pressed his thumb against the reader and said, “Lone Wolf 58634.”

      The lock on the gunmetal-gray door clicked. He withdrew a badge and flashed it at the reader. A second click. Shoving the door open, he stepped over the threshold. The familiar whirring and buzzing noises filtered out from the data lab in the back.

      Victoria Lang sauntered into the hallway holding a pink-frosted cupcake, an overnight bag slung over one shoulder. “Oh, it’s you. Prasad said you were coming in. Guess we didn’t hear the intercom.”

      Justin expelled a breath and eyed the cupcake. Lifting one eyebrow, he asked, “One of your creations?”

      Victoria scooped at the icing with a long, manicured fingernail and licked it. “Yeah, it’s Dave’s birthday. There’s more in the back.”

      He gestured to her bag. “Are you off?”

      She lifted the shoulder with the bag. “I’m leaving tomorrow morning, taking R & R in Vegas for a few days. Is this the witness?”

      Before he could answer, she extended a sticky hand to Lila. “I’m Victoria Lang. Glad you came forward.”

      Justin made a terse introduction. “This is Lila.” Victoria didn’t need to know Lila’s last name. Nobody did.

      Lila said, “I don’t think I had a choice.”

      Victoria shook her head so that her sleek black hair rippled over her shoulders. “We all have choices. Looks like Chad made a dumb one.”

      Justin clenched his teeth. Was she blaming him for Chad’s failure? She couldn’t blame him any more than he blamed himself. “He was on the scent.”

      Waving her cupcake in the air, Victoria said, “Yeah, yeah, but you’d never put anyone else in danger, Justin, except maybe yourself.”

      He asked, “Anyone hear from Molina yet?”

      She lifted her dark sculpted brows. “Nope. You think he’d know about Chad’s death. They were partners down there, albeit reluctant ones.”

      Prasad joined them in the hallway, his face drawn and too gaunt for a man his age.

      Justin nodded to the younger man. “You okay?”

      Prasad shrugged thin shoulders that masked a tensile strength. “I can’t say I’m surprised. Chad always did take more risks than anyone else.”

      The “except you” hung in the air.

      Justin brushed it away with the sweep of his arm. “You learn from his mistakes and go on, but it can happen to any one of us, even you, Warrior Sheikh.”

      Victoria snorted. “You still using that code name, Prasad? Dream on.”

      He countered, “Yeah, okay, Amazon Goddess.”

      “Wow, would you be S.O.L. if you were out in the field and needed assistance from me? I’ll have you know, I’m now Lady Hawk.”

      Dropping a curve of long dark lashes over one eye, she winked at Lila and said, “Our boss has an exaggerated flair for the dramatic.”

      Justin grumbled, “Or the ridiculous.” He gestured toward Lila, “Prasad, this is Lila, the witness I told you about.”

      Lila’s cheeks grew pink under Prasad’s scrutiny, and Justin stepped between them. Prasad didn’t need to know any details, either. Justin asked, “Is Leo in?”

      Victoria answered, “No, he hasn’t been around much. Phones in from San Diego, gives us orders. You know Leo.”

      Justin knew his boss hankered after a promotion. More office work. More money. Less danger. Hell, the man had a family, two teenagers ready to start college soon. He deserved a breather.

      Prasad said, “I called him about Chad. The news hit him hard.”

      “Leo always has his favorites.” Victoria directed a pointed glance at Justin.

      He turned his back on her. Leo had been his mentor in the early days, but Justin didn’t need him now. Just complicated things, like Justin’s own mentoring relationship with Chad and Prasad complicated things. His own father had failed as a role model, so what business did he have trying to guide others?

      They all walked together into the data lab where three agents tapped СКАЧАТЬ