06 Double Danger Read Online Free PDF

thought was that she needed to help them.
    But before she could put voice to the words, her vision went blurry, her mind fuzzy, and her last coherent thought was that, as impossible as it might seem, Simon Kincaid had just saved her life.

CHAPTER 2
    Sunderland College, New York
    W hat do you mean she’s not there?” Simon asked, gripping his cellphone as he tried to hold his temper in check. The last time he’d seen J.J., she’d been huddled in the back of an ambulance, ready for transfer to another city hospital. They’d been separated after making it down the stairs, each of them being checked out and then Simon answering questions from the first responders.
    Still, he should have followed up. Checked on her in person.
    He’d told himself that she wouldn’t have wanted to see him. But the truth was that he was a coward. He’d only just begun to put Ryan’s death and the events surrounding it behind him. And J.J. only brought it all to the surface again, the memories still painful and raw. It was more than he was ready to handle.
    “I’m sorry, sir,” the nurse said, her voice pulling him back to the present. “Ms. Montgomery was released shortly after she arrived.”
    “Fine.” His voice was clipped as he disconnected, his anger directed more at himself than anyone else. He’d assumed the docs would have at least kept her overnight. Which meant he’d still had time. But now… hell, now she was gone. Which was a good thing, surely. J.J. was fine. And preliminary findings had ruled the crash a horrible accident. End of story.
    “Checking on the woman from the hospital?” Harrison Blake asked as he stopped next to Simon in front of the professor’s elevators in the Aaron Thomas Academic Center.
    The building, which housed the college’s renowned think tank, also sat atop the underground complex that served as headquarters for the American Tactical Intelligence Command. A-Tac. The elite CIA unit was made up of not only experts at covert activities but also some of the top academicians in the country. Simon considered himself lucky to be a part of it all.
    “Yeah.” He nodded as Harrison used his key to activate access to the elevator. “I just wanted to make sure she was okay,” Simon continued. “Which obviously she is, because she’s been released.”
    He hadn’t told anyone about his history with Jillian Montgomery, her new name making it more difficult to connect the dots even if someone was inclined to do so. He’d shared some of his past with Hannah Marshall, A-Tac’s intel specialist. But everyone in A-Tac had secrets, so none of them was in the habit of probing too deeply. At least not without invitation or provocation. And Simon wasn’t inclined to provide either.
    “Well, she’s damn lucky you were on site,” Harrison said, with a shrug.
    They stepped into the elevator, and Harrison liftedthe Otis Elevator plaque to insert a second key. For the most part, students were turned away by the sign at the elevator. And without a key, even if they tried to take the elevator, they’d only have access to a suite of offices on the top floor that conceivably served as a professors’ lounge. Of course, with the proper keys, the elevator took occupants down to the sub-basement levels and A-Tac’s operational center.
    “Yeah, well, it’s over now.” Simon frowned, pushing thoughts of J.J. out of his mind. “Any idea why Avery called a meeting?”
    “No. Just that it’s important. I figured it was probably something to do with the stuff you guys brought back from Afghanistan. Maybe the brain trust at Langley found something when they translated the notebook you recovered.”
    “Have you had any luck with the hard drive?” Simon asked. Harrison was the unit’s computer forensics specialist. One of the best Simon had ever worked with.
    “Not yet.” Harrison shook his head. “Damn thing was obliterated. I’m not sure I’ll be able to pull anything intelligible off it. But I haven’t