Bare Nerve Read Online Free PDF Page B

up, I’ll go with you,” Charity said. “Anna, you get all the info from Jack and put it in one big file. Then we’ll meet you at the airport.”
    Jack left the room while the women wrapped up whatever details they needed to. He didn’t really like the idea of bringing three new people onto his team, but he did like the thought of spending more time with Anna Sterling.
    She was a firecracker and a half, and that attitude of hers was enough to make him want to do something to shock her and force her out of the polite manners she retreated behind.
     
    Anna wasn’t one of those women who showed her temper through words. She didn’t like to allow anyone to see that side of her. So she needed to get out of the conference room and away from Jack Savage before she broke her own personal rule.
    She tried to be objective, but she really hated people who lived in the gray area of right and wrong. And working with Jack and his team wasn’t going to be easy for her. Jack’s mobile rang, and he stepped out of the conference room to answer it.
    “Sam?”
    “Yes, Anna.”
    “I don’t think we need Savage and his team on this. Justine, Charity, and I really work better on our own.”
    “Normally that’s true. But as soon as we uncovered the connection between Kirch and Andreev, the game changed.”
    “I am aware of that. But I still think we can handle this on our own. We can use Savage and his men if we need them.”
    “Normally I’d agree with you. But Algeria is not your normal mission spec. I think having Jack and his team on the mission will you give you the advantage you need.”
    “I’m not trying to be difficult, Sam.”
    “I know that. Are you sure you’ll be okay in Algiers?” Sam asked.
    “Fine. I don’t let anything from my personal sphere spill over into my work sphere.”
    “You are very good at compartmentalizing,” Sam said.
    “That doesn’t sound like a compliment.”
    “I was simply stating a fact. You’re a bit prickly today.”
    “I am. I don’t know why.”
    “Is it the mission?”
    “No. I’m glad we have some action. I think I need to get out of this office, and I know Charity and Justine do.”
    “Good. Keep me posted,” Sam said.
    “I will.”
    Sam signed off, and Anna tried to change her mental attitude. She had some personal baggage with mercenaries from her childhood. And she didn’t trust men who sold their allegiance. She didn’t know what kind of man Jack was….
    “Except that he’s a savage,” she said out loud to herself.
    “I am a Savage,” Jack said.
    She glanced over her shoulder. He was standing behind her looking every inch the tough-ass. She really had a chance to look at him and realized the scars and short military haircut on him weren’t just part of his past, they were who he was.
    “Better to be a savage than someone who spends her time hiding behind her computer.”
    “I don’t hide behind it. I’m rated a marksmen in handguns. I have a black belt in three different martial-arts disciplines, and I am more than capable of taking on you or any other opponent.”
    “Then you must know the world isn’t black and white. And that men like me fill a need.”
    “I do know that. But that doesn’t mean…I want to say this the right way. Jack, you could be so much more. When we were planning our strategy for entering Algeria and for capturing Andreev, I heard a real intelligence in your voice.”
    “Why, thank you, ma’am,” he said in a self-deprecating tone.
    “I didn’t mean it like that.”
    “Then how did you mean it?” he asked, moving closer to her.
    “I meant you don’t have to sell your gun to the highest bidder to earn a living.”
    He stopped next to the chair she was sitting in and leaned his hip against the arm of the chair. He was all muscle—man the way he was supposed to be when he was honed to the top of his physical best. Jack Savage was the ultimate weapon. He was smart and savvy, and Anna had no doubt he knew how to use