Ready Read Online Free PDF Page A

you?” She didn’t sound bothered by the fact.
    “Why should I be? Believe it or not, honey, this kind of thing is child’s play compared to some of my assignments. Our perp is already too escalated not to get caught. He’s not watching you from afar—the night he shoved you into traffic proves it.”
    “You’re right.” She fluffed her pillows. “He took a pretty big gamble that night. He’ll make other mistakes.”
    “And I’ll be there to catch his sorry ass.”
    “As much as I want to see Jake, Bella, and the baby, I wish we were starting the investigation now.”
    He liked the enthusiasm and hope lacing her voice. It was a big improvement over the hysterically frightened woman he’d taken out of her apartment.
    “We are. Hotwire and Nitro are going to sweep the place for bugs while we’re in Texas.”
    She snuggled into her pillow, planting impossible images into his head he’d do best to ignore.
    “I’ll find a way to pay you back for helping me, Joshua.”
    He could think of one right now, but figured he’d get slapped for suggesting it.
    He already had one over-the-top incident to apologize for; he didn’t need another.
     
    Lise could not breathe.
    Nemesis was there, right behind her. Impenetrable darkness surrounded them, but she could hear him breathing, feel his malevolent presence. Terror paralyzed her limbs and she could not run, froze her throat and she could not scream.
    “Lise, I told you that you would never be free of me.” The digitized voice tormented her with its certainty, with its inhuman inflection.
    “No,” she moaned, forcing the word out.
    “You will never get away.”
    She shook her head, her mouth opening in agonized denial, and this time she managed to shout. “No!”
    “I will always find you.” The words beat at her as relentlessly as Nemesis himself. “No one can protect you from me. No one wants to. Joshua will leave you. They will all leave.”
    She covered her ears with her hands and cried, “No,” over and over again.
    “Lise, wake up, honey.” A different voice. Tender, caring, human.
    She turned toward it and a single shaft of light penetrated the darkness, illuminating a tanned masculine hand. “Come on, honey…”
    She reached out for the hand, but she couldn’t touch it, no matter how hard she tried. She whimpered in frustration as connection remained just out of reach.
    Then suddenly her hand was engulfed in the strong, warm fingers. He started pulling her toward the light, toward safety, toward…
    “Joshua?” She hovered between consciousness and her nightmare.
    “It’s me. Are you awake?”
    Her eyes opened to the shadowy darkness of the room, so different from the dense blackness in her dream. The sensation of Joshua holding her hand woke her completely.
    “Are you okay, Lise?”
    “Yes,” she croaked out past a dry throat. “It was just a dream.”
    “More like a nightmare.”
    “Yes.”
    He got up and tried to pull his hand away, but she could not let go. She wasn’t a clinger, and since the end of her marriage two years ago, she’d done her best to avoid any semblance of relying on a man, even Jake. But she did not want to be left alone with the aftermath of her dream.
    He stopped tugging on his hand and turned it over to squeeze her fingers instead. “You sound hoarse. I’m going to get you a drink.”
    She didn’t want water, she wanted comfort. His presence. However, she let him gently disengage their fingers. He was only gone a few seconds, but it felt like a lifetime as she lay in the bed, trembling from the mental remnants of her nightmare.
    “Sit up so you can drink this.”
    She pushed herself up, surprised at how difficult it was. Her arms felt like they’d turned to Jell-O. He reached out with one hand and helped her, then sat down beside her on the bed, keeping the arm around her.
    She put a trembling hand out for the glass of water. “Thank you.”
    He helped her drink it, their fingers brushing together as