Echoes Through the Mist: A Paranormal Mystery (The Echoes Quartet Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

my name, although how you could forget me is more than I could ever possibly know.” The woman’s voice was relaxed. Her lightly accented Irish English was silvery in its smoothness and seemed to lack any concern for what was happening around her.
    “Really, this is intolerable.” Her voice sounded pouty but light and carried its cultured Irish melody easily. “You are becoming as ill mannered as Reginald. Forgetting appointments will doubtless be followed by your not listening when I speak to you.”
    “I’m sorry, I had nearly forgotten,” Julian began as his thoughts started to unwind from the concept of his own sudden, painful death and consider his inability to protect Bridget from what was about to happen.
    Bridget Bragonier swept into the room and stood before the large men blocking her path. Her eyes narrowed and hardened. In the next moment, they softened and the lines around her gray eyes became alive.
    “I am willing to wager both of you have lovely smiles.” Her voice was airy and her own smile radiant. “You will, of course excuse me,” she said and pushed her way easily between the men to stand next to Julian behind his desk.
    “Julian, my dear, you look tired. Do you feel well?” She reached up slowly and touched his cheek then stared into his eyes. He felt an electrical tingle at her touch and felt rather than heard her words clearly.
    “Do nothing. Say nothing.”
    She turned to the Russians. “You will understand gentlemen,” the woman began. “Julian and I have a prior appointment. We would happily include you, but our business is of a private nature – finances and investing you know.
    “It is all very tedious, but he assures me it is necessary.” She looked saddened by the thought but resigned.
    “We will not delay you further,” she said. The men shifted uneasily. Bridget was composed and her voice had become saccharine. “Do let yourselves out and be kind enough to close the door behind you. We do not wish to be disturbed.” She said these words and looked at length into the face of each of the men. They recognized the distinctively cultured Muscovite accented “Goodbye.” It was not a wish, but a dismissal.
    Again, they shifted. They were prepared, ready and more than capable of dispensing violence to any and all. But everything about this woman set off alarm bells. She was wrong at every conceivable level.
    Bridget’s eyes narrowed even as her smile broadened and took on a sinister edge. These men, these hard, dangerous men, looked into the face of a slender, old woman, well bred, cultured and gently raised. They looked into her eyes and began to lean away from her slightly.
    They recognized something in those eyes, something kindred, something dangerous. They saw eyes alive with unadulterated malice and a terrible iron-willed intent. At a fundamental level, they knew she was every bit as ready, willing and lethally able as they. On a visceral level, they recognized this woman was what she should not have been – eager.
    She had gotten into the office behind them and that was one very serious mistake. Compounding it with another could not be allowed to happen. The men turned slowly. The smaller man said to Julian, “We see you again and then you die, not quickly.” Neither man looked at the woman, yet she smiled pleasantly.
    The Russians reached the office door and found it locked. They exchanged glances and left, closing the door behind them.
    “Julian, you have the most peculiar taste in friends.” Bridget touched his cheek again, smiled and moved easily to his office seating area to find a comfortable place to sit.
    ***
    Julian walked to his office window, crossed his arms and openly regarded the Irish apparition seated in front of him.
    “Don’t you understand, they would have killed you too? What are you doing here! We agreed on tomorrow, but here you are. Right, I might add, where you should not be. Forget I said that. I don’t even want to get into all of that