Free Flash of Death by Cindy Dees Page A

for the two of them.
    “Will you please explain to me why don’t you want a team of highly trained field operatives to keep you alive, Chloe?”
    “I can’t.”
    “Can’t or won’t?”
    “Same difference.”
    He sighed. “Look. I’m one of the good guys. I’m trying to help you, but you’re making it damned hard to do.”
    “I don’t need your help.”
    “I beg to differ. Twice now, someone has tried to harm or kill you, and your colleague, to whom you must have been one of the last people he spoke with, is dead. Wake up and smell the coffee. You’re in real danger.”
    She stared at him a long time, her eyes as big and blue as the sky on a clear day. Emotions washed through her azure gaze, one after another. Distrust. Doubt. Frustration. And finally, fear. Relief flowed through him. At last, she was getting past her denial enough to believe him.
    But then she said, “I’ve been in rough situations before. I’ll be okay.”
    “Not this time. Whoever’s coming after you is violent and proficient.”
    “They can’t be that proficient. I’m still alive.”
    “Because I’ve been around to save you,” he snapped. And he’d succeeded in protecting her both times by the skin of his teeth. “Pretty soon, your would-be killer is going to start figuring me into the equation, and I won’t be enough to keep you safe any more.” His arm tightened protectively around her.
    Her flash of defiance faded. “What am I supposed to do?”
    “Let me help you. Let Jeff and a full-blown security team help you.”
    She was silent a long time. Finally, reluctantly, she said, “All right. But no team. Just you.”
    “I can’t be everywhere at once. You’ll be safer with a full security detail.”
    “I might be safer, but it would ruin my investigation. It’s you or nobody.”
    He sensed that was her final offer. But he didn’t like it. “What or who, exactly, are you investigating?”
    Chagrin washed across her face. “I assume you followed me to work today and figured out which company I’m working for.”
    “I did,” he answered evenly. “And where are you in your investigation with Paradeo?”
    She hesitated, and then capitulated and spoke in a rush. “Barry gave me a flash drive with a bunch of financial information on it. That’s why he wanted to meet me last night.”
    “Were they worth killing over?”
    She stared at him, appalled. “You think that’s why Barry was killed?”
    He shrugged. “Hard to tell.” He didn’t want to suggest that mere contact with her could have been enough to cause a motivated killer to go after Barry. She would never get over the guilt of it.
    “So how do we do this?” she asked.
    An image of her naked and tied up beneath him flashed through his head. Startled, he shook it off and forced his mind to work. “I’m going to be glued to your side from now on. I’ll figure out who’s after you and, when the bastard shows himself, I’ll catch him and turn him over to the authorities. Then you can resume your regularly scheduled life. In the meantime, you should take some time off work.”
    “I can’t. The FBI has hired me to investigate Paradeo, and I have to see it through.”
    “Not if it’s going to kill you.”
    She sighed. “A certain amount of risk is part of the job.”
    “Not this much risk,” he retorted. “You’ve got Barry’s files here at your place, don’t you?”
    “Well, yes.”
    “Then you can work on them at home.”
    “But it will raise suspicion if I suddenly disappear from Paradeo. And, I don’t know if Barry got the entire goods on the company. If he didn’t, I may still need access to the company’s financial records. And that means keeping my job and the appearance of normalcy for a little longer.”
    He didn’t like it one bit, but he could see her point. “I’m still staying glued to your side,” he declared.
    “You can’t exactly sit beside my desk all day long without raising serious red flags with my superiors,”