A Deadly Web Read Online Free PDF

solid around men.”
    “Brodie’s going to love that.”
    Murphy smiled. “Yeah.”
    “And so will you. Because it’ll cause Brodie problems.”
    “I take my fun where I can get it, boss.” Murphy’s tone was unapologetic, and brisk when she continued. “Solomon strikes me as a very strong woman with nothing fragile about her, emotionally or physically. She believes she can take care of herself, and in just about any situation she’s probably right; she’s had self-defense courses on top of martial arts training from childhood right up through the present. Even if all the training is an enjoyable activity to her, something to help her keep in shape, merelyprecautionary or something she followed through on after childhood due to simple interest or habit, the fact is that she’s been taught to be aware of her surroundings and alert to any possible danger. She listens to her instincts, and her instincts are naturally suspicious. She’s going to mistrust a hand of friendship, at least initially.”
    “So if she can’t read Brodie, she won’t trust him.”
    “Not as far as she can throw him.”
    “What do you know about her psychic abilities?”
    “Being buttoned up myself, no more than what you told me. She’s telepathic, open rather than touch, and possibly clairvoyant. Born active, or became active as a teenager the way so many do. Learned how to hide it, and fast. Maybe even did her best to deny it. Plenty do.”
    “Maybe why it took this long for her to show up on our radar.”
    “Could be. Far as I can tell, she’s taken care not to draw attention to herself and hasn’t done anything that could even hint she might possess psychic abilities. If we hadn’t stumbled on them keeping an eye on her only because we were keeping an eye on some of
them
, we might never have known about her.”
    “Any idea why Duran is suddenly interested?”
    “No—unless it’s because she’s become aware of them. Maybe that makes her dangerous to them. Or maybe it makes her more valuable. One of those things we don’t understand yet, right?”
    “Unfortunately.”
    “Okay, well, I’ll keep on lurking and see if anything changes before Brodie shows up. Where is he, by the way?”
    “Making contact with a new ally.”
    “Hope he or she is a good one,” Murphy said matter-of-factly. “We’ve lost too many soldiers as it is. We’re in this thing up to our necks and still don’t know enough of what it’s all about.”
    “Yes. Report in if anything does change, Murphy.”
    “Copy that.”
    “Base out.”
    Murphy turned off the phone, automatically pulled the battery out, and unobtrusively tossed phone and battery into separate trash containers as she moved casually past them.
    I should have bought stock in disposable cell phones.
    There were half a dozen others, as usual, in her roomy shoulder bag.
    The Charleston street was busy but not especially crowded. Murphy blended in. It was one of her things, blending in.
    When she wanted to.
    She wandered with the crowd a bit, finally winding up near but not too near to Tasha Solomon’s condo complex. A sidewalk café provided a secluded corner and a dandy view of Solomon’s condo.
    Murphy ordered a latte, one of her few weaknesses, and a muffin she didn’t really want.
    Then she settled back to lurk.
    —
    Tasha couldn’t have said what woke her somewhere around three o’clock in the morning. One moment she was dead asleep, the next wide awake and straining to listen.
    She had spent so much time over the years practicing raising and lowering her mental walls that she was usually able to keep them up while asleep—at least she thought she could—so those senses were registering nothing.
    Neither were the normal five.
    But something was wrong, and she knew it. Instincts deeper than any senses told her so.
    She slipped out of bed, hesitated for an instant, then quickly straightened the sheets and duvet and put smooth pillows in place so that the bed looked as if