COLE (Dragon Security Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

feel sorry for her. But she was making it damn hard.
    “You’ve worked here a while?”
    She nodded. “Four years.”
    “You ever try getting a job somewhere else?”
    She picked a grilled onion off her sandwich and popped it into her mouth. “I moved to Austin briefly with a girlfriend, worked at a Denny’s there. But the tips sucked, and I made less money there than I could make here. So I came back.”
    “You ever try another line of work?”
    “Like what? Rocket scientist?” She laughed at her own joke. “I’m a high school dropout. There aren’t many jobs out there for girls like me.”
    Her eyes darkened, and she picked at the crust of her sandwich before picking up a fry and popping it into her mouth.
    “He was going to help me get my GED.”
    “Peter?”
    “He said he’d quiz me and help me learn the material.”
    Again, textbook Peter. Didn’t mean anything.
    “What was he like?” she asked suddenly. “When he was a kid and stuff.”
    It was my turn to play with my sandwich, pretend that I was thinking my answer through. She caught me off guard with that question. I’d tried not to think about Peter that much these last seven months. It hurt too much. Peter and I weren’t as close as he was to Megan, but we were closer than most brothers were, I think. Even though he hadn’t chosen the military, he encouraged me to follow my dreams. Told me that I should do what would make me happy. I wasn’t sure the military would make me happy, but I knew the routine of college wouldn’t. I barely got through high school, what with all that reading and testing and the distractions of my friends, school just wasn’t my thing. Peter was the only one who understood that. Dad swore he wasn’t disappointed, but I could see it in his eyes. He’d wanted Peter and me to work at the company with him, to take it over when he was ready to retire. But I just couldn’t do it. The business world was more Peter’s thing.
    And now Peter was gone.
    “He was a good brother. Supportive. He was always there whenever Megan or I needed him.”
    “He talked about you. Even showed me a picture once.”
    “Yeah?”
    “You were in uniform standing between your parents. You were smiling.”
    “That was while I was on leave after basic training.” I leaned back in my stool and studied her face a second. “I can’t believe he still had that picture.”
    “He was proud of you. He said that you were off saving the world while he was stuck in an office, crunching numbers. I think he felt a little inadequate compared to you.”
    I shook my head. “Peter was always the better one. Better at everything. And kinder.”
    “He was kind.”
    “Too good to be true sometimes.”
    “He was.”
    She sounded like she knew him so well, like she had a right to know him. I didn’t like it.
    I pushed my plate away and stood.
    “Are you sticking around here for a while?”
    “Yeah, I suppose.”
    I tossed a couple of twenty-dollar bills on the counter. “Don’t go anywhere else. I’ll be back.”
    I needed space. I needed to think.
    Peter was my brother. I thought I knew everything there was to know about his life. But listening to her talk about him, I suddenly felt like I knew nothing. Should I be questioning everything I knew? Should I wonder why Peter was coming out here, why he was talking to this stranger? What was I missing?
    “There’s something more to this, Megan…”
    “I know.”
    “Why was Peter coming out here?”
    I could hear the wheels spinning in Megan’s head, even over the miles between us. I leaned against my car, the phone pressed to the side of my head, and listened to her working something, worrying it over and over. She’d already been thinking about it, but she had yet to find an answer.
    “I don’t know.” She sighed. “I called Dad and asked him, but he has no idea either.”
    “Did you tell him about—?”
    “No, not yet. I wanted to wait until we could tell them together.”
    I glanced