Free Covert Craving by Jennifer James Page B

he missed because he’d
polluted his nose. He vowed in that moment to never smoke again. As long as she
was in his life, he needed his nose.
    “Spetrino.”
    His partner tucked his phone into his pocket.
“Yeah?”
    “Give me a piece of that gum.”
    Rebane’s left eye twitched. Chloe slid into the empty
space between him and the wall on his right side. She concealed her hand behind
his and tucked a small cylinder into his right pants pocket.
    Spetrino tossed him the foil and plastic bubble
pack and he popped out a piece of the gum. “Tell me what you want.”
    He wanted to tuck Chloe into his side and keep her
close, but had to keep his hands free.
    Chloe stared at the spook, and he stared back.
    Finally, Rebane spoke. “Has she told you about the
Professor? I’m going to assume she has. Right. He’s on his way. And you have
two choices. Come with me, or die.”
    “What? What the fuck? Who are you? Get your ass out
of my apartment. You can’t come into my house and threaten me.” Chloe sounded
furious. But even with the peppermint of the gum clogging his nose, Greiff
smelled the outbreak of sweat in her armpits and at her hairline.
    “It’s not a threat. I will kill you to prevent the
man you refer to as the Professor from taking you into custody.” He clasped his
hands in front of his groin, left hand over his right wrist. “You have five
minutes before I have to make the decision for you. We prefer for you to come
peacefully, but if you fight…well, accidents happen.”
    Chloe stepped back and retreated a few steps down
the hall. “I’m not going to be someone’s lab rat.”
    “Ms. Saunders, before you decide to leave by the
fire escape, you should know a few things. The building is surrounded by my team.
They have the technology to see you if you decide to exercise your ability.”
Rebane blinked, and tucked his hands in his pockets. “And they will shoot you.”
    “I knew there was a reason I didn’t like spooks.” Spetrino
moved to his right, out of the direct line of sight afforded by the living room
window and closer to Greiff. “Hey man, I didn’t know anything about this. I
just didn’t want this guy coming after you without someone who had your back
with him.”
    Greiff maintained his position in the hallway entrance.
If he retreated, the walls would be too close to afford freedom of movement. If
he entered the living room too far, he’d be easy pickings for a sniper. He took
the gum out of his mouth and held it between his thumb and forefinger. The next
few moments hinged on what he smelled, and he needed to be certain he’d gotten
the right information. “Thanks, lover boy. I appreciate the sentiment, but it
was a dumb move. And I’m not leaving with some government lackey without more
information.”
    Fury flashed over Rebane’s face before he schooled
his features into a cool façade again. “You come in peacefully, and we’ll tell
you everything you need to know. Detective, you know how these things work.
Make the smart decision.”
    Grieff snorted and rolled his eyes. Yeah, he knew
how this kind of shit worked. And it wouldn’t be to his advantage or Chloe’s. A
single, deep breath flooded his senses with information. He couldn’t sort all
of it out, but it told him Spetrino’s cologne mixed with a tang…of something.
Nervous as hell, but he was too. No, that spunk or whatever it was told his gut
his partner lied.
    He flicked a glance at Rebane and back to
Spetrino. Rebane didn’t have a scent, so there was nothing to judge him by,
other than the cool demeanor.
    “Spetrino, how’d you know where I was?” The cool,
slim canister fit up nice and tight in his palm and he dropped the gum. He
leaned one shoulder against the corner of the wall. “I didn’t tell you anything
about my location earlier today.”
    “What do ya mean? You were involved in a shooting
at the corner store. There aren’t many apartment buildings around here. Wasn’t
hard to figure out where