Dark Cover (The DARK Files #2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

personal involvement. Detachment was the key to her survival undercover.
    They mounted the stairs to the marble-floored foyer, a three-story sweep with a balcony, beamed ceiling and mullioned clerestory windows. She expected Queen Elizabeth Number One to sweep down the long staircase and order her to go dress properly.
    Tough, Queenie. She wasn’t taking off five hundred dollars in designer silk and denim.She grinned at her flight of fancy. This was just playing dress-up. She didn’t care much about fashion.
    “Living room’s there on the left, dining room right.” Snow gestured ahead. “Kitchen and sunroom in the back. Markos is probably in the library, here to our right over the garage. He can show you the in-house security system. I need to report in.”
    “Who’s control officer, Gabriel Harris?” He’d driven the escort car.
    Snow shook his head. “Simon Byrne pulled CO. Hero Harris’s tail’s in a twist, but he’s in the unit.”
    Gabe Harris had seniority on Byrne, but his tendency for grandstanding, the reason for his sobriquet, made him a risky CO. Byrne was brash and unconventional, but a good officer. For some unknown reason the two men seemed to be in constant competition.
    “You all set?”
    Her pulse kicked up a notch. All set? You’re leaving me alone with him? She’d known all along she’d be alone with Danielle’s fiancé, but that was before he resurrected her embarrassing past.
    The DARK command post was set up in the empty house next door. The owners, away on a two-month trip abroad, had approved it. Snow could go unseen through the fence to the CP.
    “I’m good to go,” she said. “Wearing my GPS tracking button and communicator.” She reached up to adjust the receiver in her left ear. She’d brushed her hair and left it down to conceal the miniature device.
    “No mic?” Snow lowered his voice. “Aiming to keep things private between you and the Greek tycoon?” Pokerfaced, he hiked a thumb toward the library door.
    She lifted her chin. “The mic’s in my pocket, turkey. It’ll stay off while I use the ladies’ room.” She’d take time to unpack too.
    She turned and walked up the stairs with Snow’s chuckle resounding in her ears.
     

Chapter 3
    VANESSA RAPPED LIGHTLY on the open library door. “May I come in? Snow said you’d show me the security system.”
    Nick rose from his chair at the gleaming wooden desk and closed the lid of his laptop. “Come in, Vanessa. The security command station’s over there.” He indicated the console on a library shelf.
    “Don’t stand on my account.” She strolled over to examine the console, but her gaze kept veering to the man.
    His guarded expression and stance — on the balls of his feet — said soldier. The sport coat was gone. Its removal didn’t diminish the power in his shoulders or the breadth of his chest. He didn’t return to the leather desk chair, but hooked a hip on an edge of the desk. The position stretched the worsted fabric of his pants across muscular thighs.
    The flip of her pulse irritated her. Learning a predator’s killing skills in Special Forces probably paid off in the business world.
    She examined the console’s small screen and keypad.She knew this wireless security system — keypad operation, audible or on-screen feedback, window sensors, motion sensors and a battery backup. “Ibex makes a good home system.”
    “Alexei wanted thorough protection for his precious antiques.” His words held an edge of bitterness.
    Setting aside the descent into criminal activities, did Nick disapprove of his brother’s lifestyle?“This setup would do under normal circumstances. But I’m sure you’ve already been told that.”
    “And about the outside cameras DARK has installed to compensate for its inadequacies.” He didn’t return the smile. “Did you get settled all right?”
    The expensive, layered businessman’s cut didn’t suppress his glossy hair’s rebellion at being tamed. Crisp curls here