Phantom Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page B

get going. Bastien has someplace he needs to be.” She turned a stern look on Bastien. “Don’t you?”
    Some of the tension in his face eased as the corners of his lips twitched. “I suppose I do.” He glanced at Cliff, then down at the manacle around Cliff ’s ankle. “What about Cliff?”
    “Todd, would you please release Cliff and escort him back to his apartment?”
    The soldier nodded, his countenance relaxing. “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Thank you.” Melanie looked to Bastien. “Shall we?”
    She noticed he didn’t nod this time and wondered how bad the lingering headache and dizziness were.
    Bastien clasped Cliff ’s arm and pulled him into a man hug. “Thanks for watching over me.”
    “Any time, man. You’ve been doing the same for me for years.”
    Bastien strolled over to the door, bumping Todd hard with his shoulder as he passed.
    Melanie shook her head and followed him out of the room. She was beginning to suspect Bastien would have had a hard time fitting in with the immortals even if he hadn’t killed one of their own and injured dozens of their human assistants at the network.
    In the hallway, the guards’ close scrutiny unnerved her.
    Bastien seemed utterly unaffected by it. He also exhibited none of the weakness he had demonstrated in the holding room. Not until they were alone inside the elevator with the doors closed, traveling upward.
    Staggering, he threw out a hand and leaned against the wall.
    Melanie grabbed his other arm to steady him.
    He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and looked down at her. “You’re irritated.”
    She shrugged. “You don’t exactly make it easy for them to like you.”
    “I don’t care if they like me.”
    “Don’t you?”
    “No.”
    “Why?”
    “Why should I? They judged me and condemned me before they even knew me.”
    “Well, you have to admit your past is a little . . . dark.”
    He emitted a humorless laugh. “And my present isn’t?”
    Melanie didn’t know what to say to that.
    When the elevator pinged , letting them know the five-story climb to the ground floor was over, Bastien straightened. Melanie’s pulse jumped when he removed her hand from his arm and gave it a squeeze before releasing her.
    The doors opened.
    Melanie swallowed.
    John Wendleck, head of security at the network, waited for them in the lobby with at least two dozen men. “Dr. Lipton,” he said with a nod of his head.
    “Hi, John.” She had known him ever since she had come to work for the network right out of medical school and had tried numerous times to coax him into calling her Melanie or Lanie. But he insisted on calling her by her title, telling her merrily that she had earned it.
    Well, he wasn’t merry now. He was all business.
    Melanie stepped off the elevator, Bastien beside her.
    Before Bastien could muscle his way through the guards or do something else to rile them, she asked, “Did Todd by any chance call you?”
    “He did. These men”—he motioned to the soldiers standing at attention behind him, fingers on the triggers of their automatic weapons—“are going to accompany you wherever you choose to take Mr. Newcombe.”
    Not a good idea. Bastien was bound to say or do something to set them off and she really didn’t want to end up digging more bullets out of him.
    “I’mmmmm pretty sure my Chevy Volt won’t hold this many,” she commented.
    Beside her, Bastien laughed. It was the first time she had heard him do so, the deep rumble warming her insides like hot cocoa.
    John’s lips twitched. “I’m sure it won’t,” he agreed. “Two men will ride with you. The others will follow in separate vehicles.”
    “That really isn’t necessary—”
    “I believe it is. You’re an important member of our family.” Chris worked hard to make the network feel like a family. “We just want to make sure nothing happens to you.” His eyes shot Bastien a warning.
    Bastien stiffened. “I didn’t harm her when I breeched the network.