Free The Con (Men Who Thrill Book 4) by Kaye Blue Page B

smile.
    “Don’t be friendly. Work.”
    She turned back and donned a pair of latex gloves and then reached for the first of what looked to be a hundred wastebaskets in a sea of cubicles that seemed almost infinite.
    “You take the left. I’ll take the right.”
    She said nothing more.
    ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
    I watched Ruby through the night, looking for some break in her facade, and also keeping an eye on the way things ran here. It was tight. I’d immediately spotted the cameras that were placed in three-foot increments down the hallways and wondered if they were manned at this hour. And, I thought as I gazed up at the speakers that were built into the ceiling, I would bet cash money that the intercom system also contained recording devices.
    The floors were broken down into sectors, each requiring an access badge, something I didn’t doubt was logged. More importantly for my purposes, I didn’t have one, so I wouldn’t have a chance to examine the card closely and see if it could be duplicated. And janitors worked in two-man teams, so it would be a long while yet before I’d have any independent movement.
    Yet I wondered about the key around Ruby’s neck. So far, every place we had cleaned had required an access card, nothing so simple as a lock and key. Maybe it wasn’t related to her work, but in either case, I needed to figure that out.
    Scoping out Titan and trying to get the lay of the land made the hours move fast. This would be tough, just as I’d suspected, but I would do whatever it took to get the information I needed.
    I glanced at my companion, mind drifting from the plan and to the intrigue stoked by her reaction.
    People were always nice to me, though I’d never understood why. I was handsome enough, friendly enough, but the way people seemed to welcome me with open arms still surprised me. That strangers didn’t know me, or what I’d done and would do in the future, probably explained a lot of it, but had I been a normal person and met me, or someone like me, I would have run away screaming.
    Ruby Struthers hadn’t quite gone that far, but she was reserved to the point of rude and as close to outright rejecting me as I’d ever gotten. And if I were being honest, it annoyed the crap out of me. I was going to finish this job, and she was not going to stand in my way. But it would have been so much easier if she’d been nice.
    Seemed that wasn’t to be, something that made me too curious for my own good. But I couldn’t afford to make waves, at least not yet, so I’d play it cool. Still, I would figure out what if anything I needed from Ruby Struthers, and I would get it.
    Of that I had no doubt.

Chapter Three
    Of course, after a week at Titan, I was no closer than I’d been in the seven days before. I had Titan’s security setup down, but I still didn’t have an access badge, which meant I was chained to Ruby.
    And that was more difficult than anything.
    In the week of our acquaintance I’d learned that she brought a ham and cheese sandwich on wheat for our two a.m. lunch, she kept her headphones in almost religiously, and she was completely, utterly, unyieldingly committed to ignoring me.
    I’d made a couple of friendly overtures, nothing too aggressive, just standard getting-to-know-you crap, and she hadn’t reciprocated a bit.
    She was about as distrustful as I was, which was impressive, but as impressed as I was, her distrustfulness did not get me any closer to my goal.
    And, perversely, I took it as a challenge. I hadn’t experienced being iced out like this in…ever, really. And it got under my skin.
    Like I said, people liked me, trusted me, something that was my bread and butter. But she was a brick wall, so I would have to become a wrecking ball.
    “Wait here. Don’t touch anything. I’ll be back in five minutes,” she said.
    It was the same as every other day, Ruby delivering her lines without even looking at me. I was about to shake things up.
    “I think I’ll come with