Free Special Agent Maximilian by Mimi Barbour Page B

play this game?”
    “Game? Not sure where you’re coming from, Max, honey. I just wanted to understand why you left—”
    “Maya. Stop. You know it’s me.”
    “
Nik?
Oh my God, you
so
had me fooled.”
    Nik grabbed the handle above his head tightly. His croaked, “Not even for a second,” made her laugh. Seems she’d found a sore spot with the hard-ass. He didn’t like her speeding either.
Good!
She punched the peddle down further and took another corner too quickly. Little did he know that she raced at the track on her off weekends. In fact, there wasn’t much in the way of wheels that she couldn’t drive. One of her crazy step-daddies had seen to that.
    “How did you know I’d made you?” Ignoring her, the man stared straight ahead.
    Face pale, wearing a stoic expression, he answered, “You stared at my mouth. Then you sneered. Figured you had no reason to be angry with Max. In fact, just the opposite. If you’ve been searching for him, like the other agents suggested, you’d have been thrilled when I appeared. You weren’t.”
    “What did you expect? You know it’s against the law, impersonating an FBI agent, don’t you? No way do I want to get the book thrown at me for aiding and abetting. Far as I’m concerned, you’re Special Agent Max Foster, and no one else.”
    “Fine with me. So now, are you going to bring me up to date on what you know about my brother’s disappearance?”
    “You mean death?”
    Peeling his eyes from the road, Nik’s head whipped in her direction. And he didn’t speak, he barked.
What the hell?
“Did you find him?”
    “Not exactly.”
    For a second, Nik had thought Max had turned up dead since the night before. Why that ridiculous thought had entered his mind, he’d never know. After all, both Maya and Bitters had accepted he could be Max just a short while ago. Daunting was the only way he could describe how much he cared for the brother he’d only recently met. It was like, for the first time in his life, he was whole—nothing missing—complete. Heart pounding fast and suffocatingly hard, he tried to relax.
    “I finally found his snitch, and he swears Max was beaten so badly he couldn’t have lived through it.”
    Rigid with instant rage, Nik said, “Hell, if he saw Max being assaulted so badly, why didn’t the asshole step in?”
    “The guy’s an addict, uses every day and has no devotion to anything but the shit he shoots up with. Very little he could have done. Besides, he was terrified they’d kill him too.”
    “Does he know who did it? Or who took his body?”
    “No. He conked out. Says the adrenalin from the panic did him in and when he came to, Max was gone.”
    “Strange coincidence, wouldn’t you say—that he just happened to be hanging out in the vicinity on that exact night.”
    “No fluke. He says he’d found some evidence for Max and he needed a hit. Knew Max was good for a twenty, so he’d phoned him. Max had said he’d meet him behind the restaurant, but when the informant showed up, the goons had already started.”
    “Evidence? What kind of evidence?”
    “Wouldn’t say. Well, actually, he had a memory lapse. Guess he’d only talk to Max, and nothing I said could sway him.”
    “Could he identify anyone?”
    “Nah! Too dark. Too high. Hell… too stupid.” Maya drove through the open gates of the New Orleans cargo terminal and followed the signal from the uniform who was there to direct regular traffic away from the crime scene. The activity around one container appeared to be the place to stop. She pulled up with a screech of tires and a rattled partner.
    Goodie!
He’d grabbed the dash and held on. Amazing how much better she felt. Until she saw the body…

Chapter 21
    Taking the gloves held out by a member of the forensic team, Maya waited for Nik to don his and then walked in front of him to show him the way. Hopefully, he’d be smart enough to follow her lead in these circumstances.
    The woman stepping forward to