Free Dead Heat by Kathleen Brooks Page A

Café. Cole walked around where she stood staring stupidly at the small, intimate table. He pulled out a chair and gestured for her to sit.
    “How’s the cutest couple in Keeneston doing?” Miss Daisy asked on a wink as she placed two menus in front of them.
    “So, where did you hear that we are dating?” Cole reached across the table and started tracing his fingers over the top of her hand in a motion that sent a wave of heat shooting straight from her fingers down to her, oh my!
    “You know there’s nuttin' going on in this town I don’t know about young man. Besides Kandi stopped by for the back-to-school lunch for the PTA. Told the whole room about how you are slumming it with your help. I figured she wasn’t talking about Betty Jo, so I figured Cole used it as an excuse to stick around for a while.” Miss Daisy shrugged her thin shoulders as she pulled out her pad and ever present pen to take their drink orders before shuttling off to the kitchen.
    Paige didn’t bother to look down at the menu. She had it memorized. Tonight she was going to go with the grilled pimento cheese sandwich with fresh tomato and bacon. She sat quietly, looking at the people in the restaurant as Cole decided on what he wanted to eat.
    “So, how did you decide to join the FBI?” She asked when he closed his menu.
    “You want the long or short version?”
    “I think we have time for the long version.” She looked around at the packed room and knew Miss Daisy was going to be a while.
    “Well, I always wanted to be in the FBI. I was six years old when an FBI agent came to my school and told us about the agency. I played football, wide receiver, during high school and was in the National Honors Society. The combination got me noticed by some smaller schools like Sewanee, Maryville, and Rhodes in Tennessee and Georgetown and Centre in Kentucky. I narrowed it down to which ones offered me a full scholarship for academics and finally decided on Centre College down in Danville.
    I took lots of government and law classes, and they confirmed my desire to go into the FBI. My professor contacted the agency and got me an internship for the summer before my senior year. I was assigned to the Assistant Deputy Director in D.C. I was nothing more than a glorified gopher, but he let me sit in on many meetings and would even stay late to discuss the day’s events with me.
    After graduating from Centre, I earned my Masters in Criminal Justice from Eastern Kentucky University and was admitted to the FBI Academy. I found out later that the Assistant Deputy Director called the Director in charge of the Academy and got me in.”
    “That was nice of him.” Paige sat back and allowed Miss Daisy to set their drinks down and take their order before hustling off for the kitchen.
    “It was nice of him. It is what got me in. Turns out I didn’t have enough standout qualities on my resume and was going on the waitlist. It’s very difficult to get into the Academy and he made it possible for me.”
    “Is that who you report to now?” Cole smiled and she knew she was right.
    “Yes. When the new Director was named, he was promoted to special ops. He doesn’t have to report to anyone unless he deems it necessary. He is going to bring the Director in on it soon.”
    “So, now that you have me on this date, are you going to tell me the current news?” She couldn’t believe she had forgotten he had heard from his boss. She was actually having a good time talking with him.
    “They ran your sketch through the system and got a hit. We don’t have a real name on him, but we suspect he’s behind around twenty mid-level assassinations. We’re pretty sure he was hired by one or all of the New York boys to clean up the mess, as in you.” Cole stared at her with his cross cop face.
    “I still can’t believe the owners of the largest law firm in New York City, Federal and District Judges, and Senators could be involved in something as horrible as kidnapping,