Edge of Sanity: An Edge Novel Read Online Free PDF

than making sure you stay safe.”
    Clay grabbed a duffel bag from where it sat by the front door.
    “You’re leaving?” she asked, outraged that something as simple as her day job would drive him away.
    His expression was hard. His amber eyes glowed with rage. His rigid posture warned her to stay the hell away. “Tell Payton I don’t want his help anymore. If he thought I’d hang out alone with a fucking doctor, clearly his judgment is flawed.”
    Leigh patted her pocket, making sure her self-defense syringe was still there. Payton had told her she might need it, and she wasn’t stupid enough to ignore him. He knew the risks at least as well as she did. “So . . . what? You’re just going to leave? Who will watch out for you?”
    “I will. I don’t need any help. I’ll figure this out on my own.”
    Before he could leave and get himself killed, she flattened herself against the door, blocking his path with her body. “You can’t do that. It’s not safe.”
    “You have no idea what you’re talking about. You don’t know me, and you sure as hell don’t know what I’m going through.”
    “I know more than you think. If you’d give me half a chance—”
    He reached past her and pulled the door open, moving her weig Cvin>

    Leigh no longer had a choice. If she let him walk out, the chances of him surviving were slim, and she would not let another man die the way her brother had. Not while there was still something she could do to stop it.
    She pulled the syringe from her pocket, flipped the protective cap off, and jabbed the needle into his shoulder.
    He spun on her, his amber eyes bright with anger. A roar poured from his mouth. He reached for her, but the tranquilizer set in and he started to collapse.
    Leigh shoved her shoulder under his and eased his bulk to the floor. He was a lot heavier than he looked, and she had to strain to keep him from hitting his head.
    Oncehe woke up, there was going to be hell to pay.
    Chapter Four
     
    D r. Richard Sage eyed the acne-scarred tech in the rumpled lab coat. “What do you mean you can’t activate him?”
    “The subject isn’t answering his phone.”
    “For how long?”
    The tech tapped his electronic tablet. “Last contact was at one p.m. yesterday. His phone has not moved since ten a.m. today.”
    That was more than twelve hours ago. Clay Marshall was never without his phone, which made it the perfect tracking and activation device. “Where is it now?”
    “At his office.”
    “Put an alert on that phone. The moment it moves, notify me.”
    “Yes, Doctor.”
    Richard pressed a button to summon his assistant. Ruby Rypan entered the room a moment later. Her blond hair was smoothed back and restrained in some kind of elaborate twist. Her high heels clicked on the floor and pushed her from merely tall to Amazonian proportions. She was pretty but never let that get in the way of professionalism, which Richard appreciated. Her suits were always modest, showing no hint of cleavage or thigh, and she’d never once spoken of her personal life. She left for exactly eight hours each day, returning fresh and renewed, wearing a different suit. If it weren’t for the bottled water that always resided on her desk, she could have been a robot.
    “Yes?” she said, standing just inside his doorway, a tablet poised in her hands as she awaited his instructions.
    “One of my subjects has gone missing. Put the word out to our contacts that I’ll offer fifty thousand to any man who brings in Clay Marshall.”
    “Yes, sir.” Her fingers flew on the tablet. “Alive or dead?” she asked, without any indication of her preference.
    “Alive. I won’t pay them anything for Marshall’s body. Make that clear.”
    “Yes, sir. Anything else?”
    Richard considered asking her to do the rest, but that was best left to him. Maybe it wasn’t the best option to use thugs and killers to do an operation as delicate as finding and subduing one very dangerous man, but Richard