Free A Deadly Web by Kay Hooper

that tended to run science documentaries. The one airing at that time appeared to be something about how life in the universe had begun.
    She went into her lamplit bedroom, hesitated for a moment, then gathered up her pajamas and went into the bathroom, pushing the door to behind her. Living alone, it really wasn’t her habit to close doors between rooms, but her edginess also made her feel oddly exposed.
    It made sense, she thought. When you knew someone was watching you, you felt watched all the time, even safely alone behind walls and draperies and locked doors.
    Security is an illusion.
    Her own inner voice, reminding herself of something she had no need to be reminded of. She
wasn’t
safe here, and it was both useless and stupid to pretend otherwise.
    She stripped, put her clothing into the hamper, and then took a long, hot shower. The water felt good, breathing inthe steam felt good, and Tasha felt considerably better and more relaxed when she finally stepped out of the shower. She wrapped her hair in one towel and dried off with another, rubbed a lavender-scented body lotion into muscles that had worked hard that day, and then pulled on her pajamas.
    It wasn’t until she was loosening the towel covering her hair that she turned toward the mirror. It was steamed over, not surprisingly. But Tasha realized she could see bits of herself.
    A pale green eye that was oddly wide. Strands of dark auburn hair. Her fingers near her temple as the towel fell to the floor behind her.
    She could see bits of herself, she realized, because letters were written on the steamy mirror. Words that made her go cold to the bone.
    YOU CAN’T HIDE, TASHA.

 FIVE 
     
    “I thought you would have made contact today,” Murphy said.
    “No good opportunity.” Brodie shook his head. “I’m glad she’s cautious, but it isn’t making it easy to approach her. She’s never really alone.”
    “Not necessarily a bad thing.”
    “True. And I’ll probably have to make contact with her in some public place just so she’ll feel relatively safe. Besides, since Duran has already made one move, he’s more likely than not to move against her again sooner rather than later.”
    “I’d still like to know how she showed up on his radar.” Duran was one of the few enemies, a leader on the “other” side, that they could put a face to, yet their bestinvestigators had been able to find out nothing more about him than a name that led nowhere. He was a cipher.
    A deadly cipher.
    “Yeah, you and me both. Look, go ahead and take off, get some rest.”
    They had been splitting the watcher duties.
    Murphy said, “Okay, but I’m coming back to relieve you around four. You’ll need to rest yourself if you mean to approach her tomorrow.”
    “No argument.” Brodie settled down where they had decided was the best position to watch Tasha Solomon’s condo during the night, the corner of a rooftop on a three-story building that housed on its ground floor her favorite coffee shop. From their position they could see both entrances to her building and had a good view of her corner apartment.
    Both the blinds and the curtains were drawn.
    “Think she’s in for the night?”
    “Yeah, pretty sure. Honestly, I don’t think she’d risk going out at night right now. She’s even more jumpy than before. The only time today she seemed able to put any worries or uneasiness out of her mind was when she was working at the shelter.”
    Brodie eyed Murphy. “You think or you know?”
    “Think. Her walls are up and we haven’t tried getting through.”
    “It might make my job easier if you do.”
    “Or the opposite. An alien voice in her mind spooked her. Duran’s goons spooked her. If we push, she couldget spooked enough to haul ass away from here. And I have a hunch she wouldn’t be easy to track. At least not for us. The last thing we need is her in the wind.”
    “True enough. Get some rest, Murphy.”
    “See you around four.” She lifted a hand in a