Between Darkness and Daylight Read Online Free PDF Page A

and cobblestone streets of lower Manhattan.
    She’d been so positive and energetic leaving for lunch, too.
    After the calamity with Josh and his cart, she’d gotten back to Mr.
    Nelson and smoothed his ruffled feathers before heading out of the office to her much-deserved ice cream treat. On the go, she’d taken her phone and headset to stay in touch with the office. She'd reached out to and counseled a couple of clients, then called the office and consulted with the financial analyst, assuring him she’d be back for her meeting no later than two-thirty that afternoon.
    Her mind had been going a mile a minute, touching on different deals she needed to make and people she needed to see. She’d been mildly aware of her surroundings and that she had strayed many blocks away from her office. She usually only had time to run downstairs to the cafeteria to grab a bite, if she wasn't out with a client on a business lunch.
    Nova had only vaguely noticed the band of boys several yards away, leaning against the wall of a nearby building. She hadn't given them much thought, other than "typical urban teens," before that one kid broke from the pack and made his way over to her.
    She’d experienced a flash of recognition when his fingers brushed her shoulder, the psychedelic images from the brief contact assaulting her vision so powerfully that she’d had to close her eyes against the overwhelming onslaught of memories and sensations.
    A lifetime of her father's insistent military physical training and self-defense classes had kicked into gear and she’d pinned the boy to the pavement without conscious intent; it was only after the struggle was over that she considered the danger she’d put herself in. Jeesh, she could have Between Darkness and Daylight
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    gotten killed. She realized that now, when the small bruise beneath her eye spasmed as if to remind her of her stupidity.
    Thing was, she didn't think the kid meant to hurt her. She’d felt his panic when she resisted, knew he’d expected her to be an easier target. He wouldn't have picked her otherwise.
    That didn't excuse his uncouth behavior, and she couldn't wait to have a word with his parents, just to give them a piece of her mind. Nova doubted that it would do much good, doubted that his spending the last hour at the police station had taught him a lesson.
    The time she’d spent here, however, had taught her more than she ever wanted to know about this cog in the criminal justice wheel. Big-city chaos reigned, with phones ringing off the hook, officers bustling in and out with perpetrators, and typewriters whirring a mile a minute. She would have been more unnerved if she weren't used to all the excitement. On a good day, her job rivaled this precinct decibel for decibel, especially when sales activity increased and the pace got very hectic.
    Nova wondered how her perp was faring. It was difficult to think of him that way when she knew that, despite his height topping her five-eight by at least an inch, that he probably wasn't much more than thirteen. There was something so lanky and awkward about his movements, as if he wasn't comfortable in his own skin or was still adjusting to the growth spurts typical of early adolescence. He looked like he would break things with his childlike ungainliness.
    And one of those things was almost you!
    His youth certainly didn't negate the seriousness of his transgression, and she had a serious bone to pick with him about her PDA and headset.
    The cell and headset alone ran a little more than half a grand, and either he or his parents were going to reimburse her for them. Not that monetary compensation could, in any way, shape or form, salve the wound to her person, which was minimal when compared to that of her ego.
    She gingerly rubbed the cheekbone under her left eye, still smarting more from the fact that she’d let her guard down, something she didn't do often, than from actual pain.
    "Here ya go, ma'am."
    Nova looked up at