Free Edge of the Heat 5 by Lisa Ladew Page A

between rows, looking for a woman. Usually the woman weren’t quite as ... slimy, was the only word her mind could come up with.
    She didn’t see any women, so she finally decided on a younger looking guy, in a blue suit with a striped tie. He looked different, fresher than his counterparts. She hoped he wasn’t a complete newbie or a complete jerk.
    She strode to him, ignoring the other men and put out her hand. “Brook Barnes. I need a newer Toyota Camry with no problems, any color, and I need to be out of here in 45 minutes. Can you do it?”
    The young man blinked. His hand went up on auto-pilot but his mind seemed to still be trying to process what she said. Great . She looked around. She’d have to choose one of these other guys.
    “Yeah, yeah, I can do it,” he said quickly, seeing he was about to lose her. “I’ve got a gold Camry that’ll be perfect for you. And I’ll get you out in 44, Miss uh, Barnes.”
    He squeezed her hand and held it too long. That was fine. It would help her if he decided he liked her.
    “Perfect, let’s see it.”
    He led her in through the maze of cars, took her on a short test drive, and in 58 minutes she was back on the street, driving her newer Camry that purred under her fingertips. Not bad. She hadn’t really expected to be able to complete the sale in 45, but she needed to give him something to shoot for.
    After a heavy lunch, her next stop was a high end clothing shop inside a casino. Here she picked up 5 large silk scarfs, all in different colors, plus 5 drastically different pairs of sunglasses, and 5 different sun hats. She considered cutting her hair, and decided it wasn’t necessary, for now. She bought some hair ties, and 5 different shades of lipstick, plus a throw-away cell phone, then ran back to her car.
    In the car, she tied her hair back, put on a silver pair of sunglasses with reflective lenses, and a large floppy sun hat. She used a hair tie expertly to connect the edges of a bright pink silk scarf and put it on like a flowing shirt over her dark tank top. Reaching in her bag she found a lipstick and applied it with a heavy hand. She looked in the mirror and imagined who this woman was that she was looking at. Hint of a southern accent, lots of money, loud personality . She tucked a silk scarf around her bag, changing its color, and changed the cross-body strap to a hand-carry strap.
    Ready, she looked up gun stores on her phone and headed out. She pulled into the parking lot of the Smoke N Gun and strutted in, heading straight to the counter. She knew what she needed.
    A white-haired gentleman with a Sig Sauer pistol strapped to his belt came to her. “Help you?” he inquired, sounding bored.
    “Got any boot knives, sugar?” she asked, in a high voice that sounded strange to her ears. Men loved it though. Women hated it so when she dealt with women she used her normal voice.
    He raised an eyebrow, his boredom gone. “Yes ma’am, let me show you.”
    He led her down the cabinet to the knives and pulled out three wicked looking knives, placing them on the counter in front of her.
    “Know what you’re looking for?” he asked.
    She picked up a long, black knife with a razor sharp blade. “I’ll know it when I see it. Got anything like this but with grips?”
    He thought for a moment then turned around, leaving her at the counter. When he came back out he carried a lightweight knife with holes in the handle and a super-sharp point. She hefted it in her hand and stuck her fingers in the holes. This was good. She’d abandoned all her weapons at her old apartment except the Ruger. She couldn’t wait to feel well-armed again.
    “I’ll take 2 of these, honey.”
    The man nodded approvingly and wrapped up her packages. She paid and got out of there, already looking up the next gun store on her phone.
    She hit two more stores, never buying anything that she needed to provide an ID for, and hopefully providing a different persona to the security cameras