Dangerous Ground 2: Old Poison Read Online Free PDF

morning.
    He waited till Taylor paused, and then he said, “Listen, I have to tell you something.”
    Maybe the bad news was written in his face, or maybe it was something in the tone of his voice. The line of Taylor's body stayed relaxed and easy, but Will could feel his tension like a fine wire drawn tight between them. “Yeah?”
    “On Monday”—Will took a deep breath—“you're working with Varga.”
    For a second he thought Taylor hadn't heard him or hadn't understood. He continued to stare at Will, narrow-eyed, as though a pirate ship had appeared on the horizon. Then he said flatly, “Was that your idea?”

    Dangerous Ground: Old Poison
    23

    “My idea? No, it wasn't my idea.” Will was both taken aback and indignant. “Of course it wasn't my idea.”
    Taylor didn't say a word, just stared at him with those wide green eyes. Such an odd color.
    Like old, oxidized pennies.
    “Why the hell would you think it was my idea?”
    “You said from the first that it would be a bad idea to try and balance being lovers with being partners.”
    “That's right, but we went ahead with it, didn't we.” It wasn't a question.
    “But you're not happy about it.”
    Will kept his voice down, but it wasn't easy. “What are you talking about?”
    Taylor bit out, “You're not happy with it. You wish it hadn't happened. You'd have preferred that things stay the way they were.”
    Startled, because there was truth to that, Will didn't have an immediate answer.
    Taylor's face grew tighter, all stark bones and shadowed planes in the bright Ventura sunlight.
    “Yeah, but it did happen,” Will said in a low voice. “And there's no going back from it.”
    Taylor hadn't moved. In fact, he was so still, he barely seemed to breathe. No reaction at all. And that wasn't like him.
    Suddenly awkward, Will said, “Anyway, the reteaming is just temporary.”
    “Who are you partnered with?”
    Fuck . Well, there was no getting around it. It was just that Taylor was taking it even worse than Will had imagined he would—and Will hadn't even got to the really bad part yet. Bad from Taylor's point of view, anyway.
    “I'm not—I'm working a visa fraud case. Illegal aliens using forged docs to unlawfully gain employment to naval bases in the region.”
    “Naval bases,” Taylor said slowly. And then, dangerously, “Who are you working it with?”
    Will said, careful to keep any inflection from his voice, “I'm acting in liaison with the navy. With David Bradley.”

    24
    Josh Lanyon

    For one taut second Taylor didn't move, and then he was up and out of his seat, striding for the gate that led from the patio to the sidewalk.
    “ Taylor !”
    Uncomfortably aware that they now had the attention of most of the diners on the patio, Will threw a bunch of bills down and took off after Taylor.
    Instead of heading for the car, Taylor was cannoning down the pavement, head down like a bull—yeah, like the bullhead he was. Will, unwilling to bowl right through people, lost valuable seconds trying to catch him. No way in hell was he going to run after Taylor.
    He couldn't believe this. Where the hell did Taylor think he was going? Was he planning to walk home? Catch a taxi? Who the hell knew? Did he?
    Will's gut was churning. It was partly anger, largely directed at himself for not finding a better way to break it to Taylor, but most of it was that sick feeling that came anytime he knew he'd hurt Taylor. Taylor had a rep for being a tough bastard, and he was, but…
    God only knew what he made of something like this, and Will couldn't help but remember the last time Taylor had thought Will was getting serious about David Bradley.
    He darted around two middle-aged women with piles of shopping bags between them, dodged a kid on a skateboard—illegal here, by the way—and sidestepped a couple of guys on cell phones who sounded like they were talking to each other.
    Taylor was still flying down the street, charging along in his white-faced fury.