Renegade (Elite Ops 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

of Mikayla Martin. They've pulled from the project because of their belief in her. And I swear to God, I don't even blame them. If I were someone else, I'd believe her, too. That's how honest she has always been. How good her reputation is."
    Confusion filled his face now. "If you asked me if I knew a good woman, then Mikayla would be the first that came to my mind."
    Maddix shook his head as he sighed heavily, his lips tightening for long moments.
    Damn if Maddix didn't act as though he was telling the truth. Nik watched
    curiously as Maddix lowered his head and stared at the desk for long moments.
    As he lifted his gaze back to Nik, Maddix finally sighed, confusion evident in his dark brown eyes. "You know, I helped that girl get a loan for that dress shop of hers. My wife and I sent all our friends there for dresses, tuxes, suits, whatever we could do to help her. My wife, Glenda, and Mikayla were fast becoming friends before this happened. I just can't understand why she'd lie like this."
    "And this is what you want me to look into?" Nik asked incredulously. "Do you know how much I charge, Maddix? I don't come cheap, even for a fucking favor. This is like putting a junkyard dog in a cage."
    Maddix's eyes narrowed. "You owe me, Steele; you made that statement yourself.
    That you owed me one. I'm calling in your marker."
    "That marker gets you a discount," he grunted. "And a slim one at that. This isn't a cut-and-dried job. You're talking about indefinite work here."
    Maddix leaned forward. "Nik, I put myself in a spot when I helped you before. I risked my business, my family, when I went against Lilly Harrington. If she had learned what I was doing, she could have convinced friends to pull out of some very important D.C. contracts I have. I went out on a limb for what you were doing. Remember that while you're setting your price."
    Nik rose to his feet. "I'll take eighty percent of my normal fee for the job in cash."
    For a moment, grief flashed in Maddix's eyes. "I don't have enough in personal cash at the moment, and too many eyes are watching the business funds since this
    murder," he finally said, his voice low. "Give me fifty, Steele. Come on; I know a lot of people. I'll owe you. "
    "I don't want your favors, Maddix." Nik stood to his feet as he stared back at the other man coldly. "I'll be at the Suites until morning if you change your mind."
    "Steele." Maddix rose as well, his movements jerky. "Look, I don't have a good feeling about this. I've built my business using my gut, and my gut is twisted into so many knots it's painful. Whatever the hell is going on isn't going to threaten just me; it's going to threaten her." He reached to the desk and tossed a picture across it with an angry jerk of his hand.
    Nik shouldn't have looked. He knew he shouldn't look, but he wanted to make
    certain the helmet was angled correctly for Tehya to get an image of the picture.
    However, his eyes went straight to the photo as well, narrowed, and something inside him became intrigued.
    Thick, long dark blond hair fell straight as a ribbon, thick and healthy, over her shoulder and across her breasts like a soft, warm, living curtain. She had a wide, clear 21
    forehead, a pouty lower lip that drew the male animal inside him. Brows a shade darker than her hair arched over eyes that seemed to suck him in. Amethyst eyes. Eyes that glowed even in that damned photo. They were surrounded by thick, naturally long lashes.
    Her face was makeup free, innocent, honest. Pure.
    Purity, he knew in many cases, was only skin-deep, but somehow, even that
    cynical part of his soul wanted to believe the purity he saw in her went clear to the bone.
    "She has three younger brothers and her parents are damned good people,"
    Maddix snapped. "That girl." His finger stabbed at the picture. "She's decent, Nik. I've known her all her life and she's known me just as long. She's investigating me, for God's sake. Talking to people. Refusing to relent on her belief