Hidden Embers Read Online Free PDF

up. But while her body was exhausted—nearly seventeen hours on the road could do that to a woman—her brain was wide awake. She’d spent much of the drive mulling over the information that Phoebe had given her, trying to match it up to any of the hemorrhagic viruses she’d worked with.
    She’d come up empty, but it was early days yet. Besides, Phoebe hadn’t given her much to go on. That could be why—
    A knock on her window. Jasmine bolted upward, reaching for the can of pepper spray she kept in the console between the front seats. She had another one attached to her keys. A girl could never be too careful.
    Turning on the flashlight she’d deposited on the passenger seat, she shined it out the driver’s-side window—and then wished she hadn’t.
    Two men were standing there, and neither looked sober—or skilled—enough to change a tire. Which probably meant they weren’t knocking on her car window to offer her a hand.
    Her heart sped up a little and tiny frissons of fear worked their way down her spine even as her mouth tightened in annoyance. Why was it that a woman broken down on the side of the road was a beacon for every asshole in a fifty-mile radius? Normally she wouldn’t have been the least bit nervous about her ability to take these guys, but as recent events had brought home, she wasn’t anywhere close to her usual fighting form.
    One man knocked again, and with a resigned sigh, she cracked the window. Neither looked as though they were going to go away—at least not without talking to her first. And the last thing she wanted was for one of them to get the bright idea to pick up one of the rocks by the side of the road and smash her window in an effort to get in.
    “Hey, lady, do you need some help?” one asked with a drunken leer.
    “Yeah. We’re really good at working on cars.”
    Since neither looked like they knew how to bathe let alone work on a classic car, Jasmine couldn’t keep the doubt from her voice as she said, “No, thanks. I appreciate the offer, but I’ve already called triple A. They should be here any minute.”
    “You don’t need them,” said the first guy, reaching for her door handle. “We can help you with whatever—”
    Her fingers tightened on the pepper spray, and she cursed herself for leaving her gun at home in Atlanta. She usually carried it only when she was going into an area of the world a lot more dangerous than Texas. Here at home, she’d always felt able to defend herself without a weapon.
    And she was able to now, Jasmine assured herself, broken body or not. These certainly weren’t the first drunk guys she’d ever run across, and they probably wouldn’t be the last.
    “Really, guys. I’m fine. I appreciate the offer, but I’m good.”
    “Aww, come on now, sweetheart. Open up.” The second guy went around to the passenger door and yanked at it. When she made no move to let him in, his voice turned mean. “I said, open up.”
    “No.” Her fear was growing more pronounced, drowning out her annoyance, but she shoved it back. There was no way she had survived working in half the developing nations in the world only to fall victim to two drunk idiots on the side of the road. She wasn’t sure of much anymore, but of that she was absolutely certain.
    “Listen, bitch, we just want to help you out.” The first one sounded a lot less drunk suddenly. Interesting, but definitely not encouraging.
    “And I already told you, I don’t need your kind of help.”
    “You could have fooled me.” He kicked her front tire. “This thing is flat as a pancake.”
    She didn’t answer, just rolled the window back up, which infuriated the two of them even more. The first one walked to the front of her car and started shoving up and down on her hood, making the Mustang bounce crazily. This really pissed her off, seeing as how she’d just had new shocks put in.
    Gritting her teeth, Jasmine weighed her options. She could call the police, but who knew how long it