Devil in Texas (Lady Law & The Gunslinger Series, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

version of The Drunken Sailor by the time Sadie finished strapping her holster to her thigh. She could feel the pulse of the music through her stockings.
    But the pounding of boots and tankards, below, was accompanied by a fresh gust of goosebumps, this time down her spine.
    Now what?
    With the .32 gripped expertly in her fist, she looked beneath her bed. She wrenched open the doors of her stately, Louis XIV wardrobe. She poked the bombazine draperies that rippled from the sea breeze, blowing through her window. She imagined she should be hunting for a rat or a scorpion, since she'd exhausted all the places where a grown human could hide in her 9-foot by 12-foot box.
    Then she spied a flash of light, hurtling out of an oleander bush near the building's foundation.
    It all happened so fast.
    One moment, she was peering out her window; the next moment, a smoking cylinder crashed open at her feet. Flames belched from the shattered crockery. The curtains ignited. The carpet caught fire. She stumbled backwards, choking on fumes.
    Greek Fire! Water would be useless.
    Her mind whirred into action. Wrenching a flimsy night wrapper from her wardrobe, she stomped on boots. She planned to sound a general alarm. But when she reached her door, it wouldn't budge.
    Frantic, she rattled. She banged. She screamed. Her efforts were futile. Someone had taken the key, locking the door from the outside. Apparently, her window hadn't been an arbitrary target. Somebody wanted her dead!
    Panic gnawed at her reason. Urine. Urine would buy her time.
    She lunged for the sloshing bed pan and tossed its contents on the carpet, saturating the fibers between her and the racing wall of chemically-induced fire. She figured she had little more than two minutes to rip out the false back of her wardrobe and grab the box with her lock pick before her protective little barrier of urine was overcome.
    Pinkertons prepare for assassination attempts. The words from her Field Agent Manual pounded in her head.
    Ignoring the sparks that showered her arms, she wrenched aside the few gowns that hung in her wardrobe and ripped out the loosely nailed backboard. Frenzied groping located the hole she'd smashed into the plaster and the cracker tin she'd stuffed inside the wall. She burned her palms and fingers wrestling that metallic box from the hole, but she hardly noticed. She was too busy shoving her badge, cash, ammo, and train ticket into her trouser pockets.
    Next, she grabbed a slouch hat, scarf, and duster from the hole. She knew when she did get to the other side of the door—and hopefully, the seawall—she mustn't be recognized. Otherwise, her brush with death could get a whole lot closer.
    Gritting her teeth, she ignored the flames that roared ever closer. Perspiration made lock-picking tedious. Again and again, her slippery fingers lost their grip on the widdy. She wasted precious seconds, coughing from the smoke that burned her sinuses and stung her eyes.
    Finally, the mechanism yielded. Nearly sobbing with relief, she wrenched open the door. A scene of mass hysteria greeted her. Shrieking whores, half-dressed Johns, and cursing waiters jostled each other, pushing and gouging in their efforts to escape the floor. Both stairwells were ablaze. Apparently, the murderer hadn't wanted any witnesses to survive.
    Mace shoved his way to her side. "What the hell did you do? Light a cigarette?"
    "You know damned well I don't smoke! Someone tossed Greek Fire through my window!"
    The color drained from Mace's face. "You blew your cover," he growled, grabbing her arm and swinging her toward a darkened bedroom. "Follow evasion protocol, and get your tail out of here!"
    She wrenched her elbow from the senior agent's grasp and dragged the scarf over her nose. A little sympathy from her colleague would have been appreciated, but then, Mace had never wanted her on "his" case. The only undercover work he did willingly with a Pinkie involved a bed.
    As Sadie ducked into a