Free Edge of Control: An Edge Security Novel (Edge Security Series Book 1) by Trish Loye Page B

him.
    Dani grabbed her tote and sprinted for the stairwell.
    Now, it was time to see where the rabbit ran.

    Dani nibbled on her pencil as she stared at the files she’d dug up on Dmitri’s computer.
    She yawned and sipped at her glass of wine. It was closing in on two o’clock in the morning, and she should get some sleep or she’d be a mess at work tomorrow. She’d just been too wired when she first got home. Jumping at every sound, thinking Jake had followed her. Eventually she’d changed into a tank top and boxers and poured herself a glass of wine. Jake couldn’t know it was her.
    Could he?
    She shook her head. When he’d first stepped out of the shadows, her heart had leapt so hard she hadn’t been able to recognize his voice. But she’d known who it was after he’d spoken the second time, when he’d shoved her arm up her back. She rolled her shoulder where it still twinged. He’d been fast and strong. She’d never fought someone like him. She shivered at the thought of all that strength.
    She gulped her wine. Enough of that. If he’d suspected who she was, then he’d have already shown up here. No. She’d gotten away with it.
    Barely.
    Now she just had to figure out what Dmitri and Vladimir were hiding and how it connected to Tassia.
    She stared at the Excel database of import and export transactions. The import side had about twenty items come in every six to eight weeks, but there was no reference to what they were or how much each cost.
    Each piece of art should be a different price, but it looked like the same amount of money was paid no matter the amount of items shipped and received.
    The export side of things was even stranger. The company took advantage of the same shipping crate and sent back only one or two items each time. These few items usually paid almost as much as the entire batch of imported ones.
    Dani leaned back in her desk chair. Dmitri wasn’t an art dealer. The Rusakov family mainly trafficked drugs. There was no way they’d gone legit. She ran her fingers through her hair.
    Her skin prickled as a cool draft brushed over her bare shoulders. She whirled in her desk chair. Jake stood by the balcony door in black combat gear and boots. A belt with various pouches on it emphasized his narrow waist. He no longer wore the ski mask.
    She screamed and chucked her empty wine glass at him. He dodged it and stepped closer. Her heart thudded hard in her chest. She threw her wireless mouse, a romance novel, and her mug of pencils, her hand scrabbling along her desk for something else.
    “Would you relax?” he said in between dodging projectiles. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
    She picked up her cellphone, changed her mind, and put it back down. “Like I’m supposed to believe you?” She grabbed a glass paperweight and heaved it. “You broke into my apartment!”
    He caught the paperweight easily and set it on a side table. “Like you broke into the Volga Group tonight?”
    Dani stilled, her mind racing. “What do you want?”
    He studied her for a minute, and she remembered she stood there in her skimpy black tank and boxers. She crossed her arms. “I said , what do you want?”
    He sighed. “I’m not sure, really. I should have reported you immediately, but…” He rubbed a hand through his dark hair, his gray eyes on hers. “I’m giving you a chance. I want the truth. Why did you break in? What were you doing?”
    Dani stepped back. Could she trust him? Would he help her? She wasn’t used to being able to depend on people; most had turned on her at some point.
    But Chuck hadn’t.
    And neither had Tassia.
    Tassia needed her, and everything Dani could do to help her, even if it included trusting Jake. Dani stared into his pale eyes so full of questions. He stood with his arms loose by his sides as he waited for her decision. It was as if she could feel him silently imploring her to trust him. She opened her mouth to explain when his gaze flicked to her laptop screen and