Free Breath of Malice by Karen Fenech Page A

Sam and the others out of the house, hours had gone by. Paige knew that Sam had more hours ahead of him, but for her and the others, the night was done.
    Kirk County PD was now on scene. Uniformed cops had sealed off a perimeter around the house. Neighbors and the curious were pressed up against the barricades being used to cordon off the area.
    Paige allowed herself to feel a bit of pleasure at a job well done and in cutting off this stream of drugs. She was feeling better about her ability to pull her weight and contribute to a squad than she had in a long time.
    Harry rubbed his hands together. “I’m so pumped. The one thing I want more than anything after a raid is a hard, fast fu—” Harry stopped himself. “Ah.” He glanced at Paige, then cleared his throat. “I’m starving. Anyone want to grab wings and beer?”
    Paige realized he hadn’t finished his sentence because of her. “I just want to get some sleep. I’ll leave you all to your wings and beer.” She gave Harry a grin. “And whatever.”
    Riding high on the night’s success, she stepped out from between the men to return to the vehicle, then spotted news vans and camera crews at the edge of the crowd. Her pulse began to thud. Cold sweat bathed her skin. She stopped walking.
    The others walked by her. All but Sam.
    Sam stepped into her path. His gaze narrowed on her face. “You all right?”
    Paige swallowed quickly. “Fine. I’m fine.”
    Sam looked like he was going to argue the point, but Paige didn’t give him the chance. The last thing she wanted was to have her face broadcasted by the media. She didn’t know whether these stations were local or if the story they ran would get picked up by the national networks, in which case Thames might see her on the news.
    “I’m fine,” Paige said for a third time as she backed away from Sam. “I dropped something inside the house. Can you let the others know to go on without me? I’ll make my own way back.”
    “Paige—”
    Ignoring Sam, she scrambled back to the house. Rather than going inside, she went to the rear, where the house backed onto a railway yard. The area behind the house had a short chain-link fence.
    Paige nodded to the fresh-faced cops guarding the back, then went over the fence and made her way into the railway yard.
    She didn’t take a full breath until the noise and bright lights from the police and the media had faded in the distance.
    She exited onto a street in a quiet residential neighborhood, then called a taxi to take her back to the Bureau office to retrieve her rental.

    “Boss, you sticking around?”
    Sam didn’t respond to Mike. Instead, he walked away and returned to the house. Sam flagged down one of the women on the crime scene team inside the house. “Did you see where Agent Carson went?”
    The agent shook her head. “No, sir. Did she come back in here? I haven’t seen her since she left with you.”
    Sam took a look in another room. No Paige. In the back room, he caught sight of her through the window. She was making her way across the railway yard. What the hell?
    Had she seen something and gone to investigate? Sam’s gut tightened. There was more than enough light to see that her weapon wasn’t drawn. She wasn’t moving with any kind of stealth. No, then. Not that. Where was she going?
    Sam went out the back door but lost her. He vaulted over the fence into the railway yard and spotted her at the end of it. She was getting into a cab.
    She’d looked sick before she took off for the house. No . . . not sick . . . spooked. The thought didn’t sit well with Sam. She’d appeared fine before they’d left the house. Though she’d only been with the Bureau a short time and though most of that time had been spent out of the field, she’d conducted herself during the raid like a veteran. What the hell had spooked her? Sam rubbed a hand down his face. She was wound tight, and not just tonight. Something was going on with her.
    It wasn’t like