Edge of Betrayal Read Online Free PDF Page A

at least,” said Mira. “Just hope he minds his manners while you’re away. I’d hate to use what you’ve taught me in the ring and break your new favorite toy.”
    Bella grinned in amusement at that. “If you do decide to break him, promise you’ll let me watch. I’d pay good money to see that fight.”
    Mira rolled her eyes. “Sure. That’ll happen.”
    “Don’t underestimate yourself. You may look all sweet and gentle, but there’s a fierce streak in you half a mile wide. My guess? Adam’s going to bring that right out. I’m counting on it.”
    With that, Bella left Mira to the hum of her computers.
    Mira spent the next hour completing her research on the man in the file Bella had given her. It didn’t take long for her to lay out a picture of his life. Like so many other victims of the Threshold Project, Corey Lambert led a life that was bleak and filled with pain. All thanks to her father’s work.
    It made her wonder if there was hope for any of his subjects to find happiness.
    Including her.
    Those thoughts were too dark for her to face now, so she distracted herself with what had become an all-consuming hobby of hers: tracking Adam.
    She pulled up her surveillance video and audio recordings, sending them through several filtering programs designed to call her attention to key words and actions. Every conversation Adam had, she recorded. Every place he ever went, she tracked him. Every room in his home had hidden cameras and microphones. His car was bugged with surveillance devices as well as redundant tracking systems. She could find him through his phone, his company-issued dog tags, his keys, his car; even the soles of his shoes had been implanted with tracking devices while he’d been in the shower at the company gym.
    Wherever he went, whatever he said, whomever he met, Mira would know. And when Adam finally showed his true colors and revealed his real boss, she’d know that, too. So would Bella and everyone else.
    Maybe then, after he was thrown in some dank prison cell, she’d be able to stop thinking about him.
    By the time she’d gone through all the recordings and reports her programs had generated, it was well after dark. The office was empty. She was exhausted and probably should have gone home to sleep, but her mind was still reeling, trying to assimilate the news that Adam was now her partner.
    The lab report he’d given her sat on her desk, taunting her. The results were easy enough to alter—at least they would have been for her—but why would he go to so much trouble? What possible goal could he have for putting her at ease?
    Maybe he was trying to get her to lower her guard.
    Not in this lifetime.
    Mira brought up a screen showing Adam’s current location. Several different transmitters confirmed that hewas at home, so she activated the cameras she’d hidden there until she found him.
    He sat alone at his kitchen table, eating a microwaveable dinner. He stared straight ahead, eating methodically, almost robotically. There was no TV on in the background. No radio. He had no book or cell phone to distract him. Just dinner and the rhythmic pattern of the fork moving between the plastic tray and his mouth.
    Oddly, the sight reminded her of the one meal they’d shared a few months ago. He’d been so animated then, so warm. He’d paid attention to her every word, touching her hand now and then with a gentle caress of his fingertips.
    That night she’d anticipated each touch with nervous, girlish excitement. She’d barely tasted her meal for all the butterflies fluttering in her stomach.
    His attention on her had been rapt. Absolute. He hadn’t even glanced at anyone else, including the pretty waitress who’d served them or the busty hostess who’d seated them.
    She’d felt beautiful that night—something she had never felt quite so keenly before or since. No other man had ever put her under his spell so completely.
    Mira could have fallen for the man who’d sat across from