Breath of Malice Read Online Free PDF

you once you’ve had a chance to read them.”
    As if on cue, Mrs. Hendershot marched into the room, bearing several file folders, a laptop, and a memory card.
    “We work as a squad, but we also work in pairs,” Sam said. “You’ll be working with me. Anything you need to ask me now?”
    Was it Sam’s usual practice to partner with new agents, or did he have doubts about her? Paige fought back that concern. If he thought that now, he wouldn’t for much longer. She wasn’t the same agent she’d been in New York, and Sam would soon see that. “No questions.”
    “I’ll leave you to it,” he said.
    As Sam returned to his office, Mrs. Hendershot deposited the folders, card, and laptop on the desk, then resumed her rigid posture and folded her arms across her chest. “This weekend, the office is participating in an annual fund-raising event for the Kirk County General Hospital. The event is a family day held at Kirk County Park, and we sponsor a barbecue. Each of our agents is scheduled to perform a function. Given that you’ll be partnered with Special Agent in Charge McKade, I’ve scheduled you during his time slot this Saturday, working the grills from noon to three. I need to confirm that you will be available at that time.”
    “Noon to three will be fine.”
    “I will see that you receive directions to Kirk County Park.”
    Mrs. Hendershot stepped away, her heels moving soundlessly over the tile. Paige reached for the laptop. While she waited for it to boot, she opened the first folder.

    Back in his office, Sam watched Paige through the large window that overlooked the squad room. She was going over the information Marian had given her. When he’d accepted her transfer, he’d considered if he’d let his long-standing need for an additional agent lead to an error in judgment in bringing her here. The last thing he wanted was an attention seeker who would jeopardize the lives of his people and his own life.
    But he hadn’t seen an attention seeker today. Paige Carson wasn’t what he’d expected at all. Young, he’d known that from her file. She was twenty-nine. Pretty. Yeah, she was that, too. Her photograph hadn’t captured just how pretty, with her big doe eyes and wide, sensual mouth. But the woman in the file was nothing like the one he’d just met. The woman he’d just met came across as reserved and . . . wary.
    No doubt that fuckup in New York had affected her. Her formal reprimand was noted in her file and would have made squad leaders reluctant to take her on. Her supervisor in New York may have passed her on to Denver. In her record, it read that she’d asked for the transfer. True? Or had she been shoved out of the New York office? Had New York strongly suggested that she’d be happier elsewhere? Once she hit Denver, she would have likely found the shit had just followed her there. The Bureau had a long memory, and that incident in the Adirondacks was going to stay with her for some time to come.
    It would have been easier for her if she’d taken a position where she wouldn’t need to work with a squad. She had degrees in criminal science and in language studies. She spoke several languages, including Russian, Spanish, Pashto, and Urdu, and could have worked as a translator. With those skills and working that job, one of the large central offices, like LA or DC, may have overlooked her record and taken her on. Sam hadn’t bought her comment about no longer wanting to live in a city. And failing a translator job with the Bureau, she could have ventured into the private sector. Her choices didn’t make sense, including the one to come here. More bad judgment? Could be. If so, this career decision wouldn’t affect anyone but herself. It wasn’t his business unless it had to be. Still, the lack of logic bothered Sam and made him want to ask her about it.

    Paige spent the rest of the week working her way through the information Mrs. Hendershot had given her, and then with Sam, who