Killshadow Road. Пола Грейвс

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СКАЧАТЬ flask. His dark eyes slanted to meet hers. “How long have you been running, Rigsby?”

      “Two days.”

      Slowly, he withdrew the thermos and sleeve of crackers from the basket and set them on the night table beside the water. He picked up the bottle of pain-reliever tablets and set the basket on the floor before he sat down beside her.

      “You’ve been running for two days.”

      She tried to push up to a sitting position, biting her lip at the hard arc of pain that rushed down her side in response.

      Darcy leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her upright until they sat in an approximation of an intimate embrace.

      Except, it didn’t feel like an approximation. It felt right. So right.

      Darcy’s arms fell away too soon, and he sat back, his eyes fathomless. “What sent you on the run?”

      “It’s a really long story.”

      His eyes narrowed slightly. “One you don’t intend to share with me?”

      “I didn’t say that.”

      “Here.” He leaned forward, his chest brushing against her shoulder as he picked up the thermos. As he removed the top, the fragrant steam of hot broth drifted past her nose, igniting a storm of hunger in the pit of her empty stomach. “Eat. Then sleep. We can talk when you’re stronger.”

      Watching him pour broth into the cap of the thermos, she sighed. “I will tell you everything I know, Darcy.”

      His gaze angled to meet hers. “Yes. You will.”

      The firmness of his tone should have irritated her. Instead, it sent a flutter of relief rolling through her, as if she’d finally reached the solid shore after an endless battle with a raging sea.

      He gave her the thermos lid that doubled as a mug. “Drink.”

      She drank a few swallows of the hot broth, trying not to shiver as warmth spread through her insides and started to warm her chilled bones. Darcy picked up the bottle of ibuprofen, shook out a couple of tablets and handed them to her. “Want the water or can you swallow them down with the broth?”

      She took the tablets and washed them down with a couple of gulps of broth. “Thank you.”

      “You are safe here, Rigsby. You know that, don’t you?” There was a soft tone to Darcy’s voice that she’d rarely heard in all the time she’d known him. She looked up to find him watching her from beneath a furrowed brow.

      “As safe as I am anywhere,” she agreed.

      His hand moved toward her, just a few inches, before falling back in his lap. She felt an answering tug low in her belly, a sensation so familiar it made her want to cry.

      How long had she been fighting against the pull of him? As long as she’d known him?

      The siege in Kaziristan had happened almost eight years ago. She’d been a rookie FBI agent, fresh out of law school and the Academy. Her first overseas assignment had landed her in the middle of a brewing civil uprising, working as an assistant in the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Tablis—the legat, in bureau parlance. The legat’s primary missions in Tablis had been to train the local police forces in counterterrorism strategies and to aid in the investigation of crimes against US citizens, especially embassy personnel.

      She’d gotten a quick and brutal lesson in both during her time in Kaziristan. So had Nick Darcy.

      “Do you still see people from Tablis?” she asked as she reached for the sleeve of crackers he’d set on the nightstand.

      He got there first, pulling open the airtight packaging and holding it out for her to retrieve a couple of crackers. “Sometimes. I ran into Maddox Heller a few years ago in the Caribbean.”

      “Wow, that’s a blast from the past.” She nibbled the edge of one of the crackers. “Y’all so shafted him after the siege.”

      Darcy’s expression tightened. “I had nothing to do with it.”

      “Right. It was all Barton Reid, I guess?” She grimaced. Marine Security Guard Maddox Heller had saved dozens of lives during the siege in Tablis, but the State Department had made him a scapegoat for the security mistakes made at the embassy.

      “It wasn’t all Reid’s doing. But he was the instigator, yes.”

      “I knew he was a snake. Didn’t shed a tear when I heard he got life for his crimes.” She sipped some more broth. “How was Heller when you saw him?”

      “He was living life as a beach bum.”

      She winced. “That bad?”

      “Beach bum is perhaps an exaggeration.” Darcy’s lips curved, almost forming a smile. “He’d inherited a good deal of money and invested well. But he dressed atrociously, worked questionable jobs and frequented shady establishments, so—”

      “The horror.”

      His lips tilted farther upward. “He’s married now. Moved back to the States to be with the woman. Has a young daughter.” There was more to Maddox Heller’s story he wasn’t sharing, she saw, but she didn’t push. Another lesson she’d learned from her year in Kaziristan—some secrets needed to remain unspoken. Lives could depend on it.

      “Good for him.” She made herself swallow the remaining broth in the thermos cup before she set it on the nightstand next to the flask. “How’s Quinn?”

      “Largely unchanged.” A hint of irritation edged his voice.

      “He’s the one who put you on administrative leave?”

      His gaze snapped to meet hers. “How do you know about that?”

      “We’re the FBI. We hear things.”

      The annoyed expression that came over his face was so familiar she could barely suppress a smile. “There’s an internal investigation into an information leak.”

      “Right. A leak about what?”

      He arched an eyebrow. “I’m not the leak.”

      She reached across the space between them and put her hand on his arm. His gaze darkened, but he didn’t look away. “I know you’re not.”

      He pressed his hand over hers briefly, then moved her hand away and stood. “I’ll leave everything here in case you get thirsty later. Call out if you need me. I’ll be listening.”

      “Thank you.” A sense of calm reassurance swamped her suddenly, making tears of relief prick her eyes. She hadn’t been sure, even to the last second before Darcy opened the door, that she’d made the right decision coming here. But now she knew her instincts had been correct.

      Nick Darcy might not like her very much these days. He probably didn’t trust her, at least on a personal basis, at all.

      But he was still the only person she trusted СКАЧАТЬ