Rogue Operator Read Online Free PDF Page A

here
post-date the old boys’ club. Separate yourself emotionally from the situation,
and ask yourself why they don’t want to work with you.”
    She
dabbed her eyes dry, then looked at him.
    “I don’t
know. What else could it be?”
    He had
chuckled. “Oh, it’s because you’re a woman, all right. But again, ask yourself
why.”
    She
frowned, eying the desks of two of the men who had already refused her, them
whispering amongst themselves, stealing occasional glances at her.
    Her eyes
shot open and she smiled.
    “Because
they’re married?”
    “Bingo.”
    “And
they’re afraid their wives will get jealous.”
    “Two for
two.”
    “But why
would they get jealous? We’re all professionals.”
    “Conway,
have you looked in a mirror lately?”
    She
blushed and turned away modestly.
    “Anybody
not married here?”
    He shook
his head. “Nope.” He stood up and knocked on the LT’s door. He waved him in and
Percy opened the door, poking his head inside. “I’ll take her off your hands,
LT.”
    The LT
had blown him a double handed kiss, and Percy had taken her to lunch so they
could get to know each other a little, then invited her for dinner with his
family. His wife had taken to her right away, treating her like a younger
sister, jealousy not entering her mind. Percy wasn’t sure how he felt about
that. Was it that she trusted him, or knew Jamie was way out of his league?
    Probably
a little bit of both.
    And so
it had been. They had become partners, and his wife hadn’t expressed a concern
at any time, Jamie having a standing invitation to join them for dinner every
Sunday if she wanted. And once the guys at the office had got to know her, they
realized how despite her good looks she was just “one of the boys”, her ways
slightly tomboyish, with a blue streak that would make a sailor blush at times.
When she had told her “Do you wanna be the mama or the papa?” joke at the first
Friday after-work outing, he knew she was in, one of the retired old timers
actually pissing his pants.
    So it
was rare now that he had to deal with guys from the department ogling his
partner so obviously.
    And it
annoyed him.
    “We’ve
cordoned off the area. I ran the plates. They all check out as legit, out of
state, not stolen. We’re canvasing the area, but don’t expect much. This is
mostly abandoned industrial.”
    “What’s
with the dust?”
    Percy
and the sergeant turned to Jamie, who was standing behind one of the vehicles.
    “What
dust?” asked Percy, rounding the vehicle.
    “Look,”
said Jamie, pointing at the side of the vehicle. “This side is covered in dust,
so is that one.” She pointed at the other SUV. “But look at the other side,”
she said, rounding the vehicle. “It’s clean. Both of them.”
    Percy
looked at both vehicles, walking around them, then examined the ground. He
pointed about fifty yards away. “Look at that!” It was as if a large fan had
parked itself in the center of the abandoned parking lot. It was completely
devoid of litter, it all seeming to be pushed against a chain link fence to
their right, or out of the general vicinity. As well, the dirt from several
years of rain and winters, showed a definite pattern of having been recently
blown outward in all directions.
    “Are you
thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked Jamie.
    “Helicopter?”
    He
nodded.
    “Christ,
Boss, if they used a helicopter to get away—”
    “This is definitely way bigger than we think it is.”
     
     

 
     
    Cortina Street, Huntsville, Utah
     
    Phoebe Shephard pushed open the door to the mud room as the garage
door rumbled closed. “Charlie, I’m home!” she called, not really expecting an
answer. Her son was fourteen, and was usually attached to a pair of headphones
leading to his iPhone. But announcing herself was a habit she had always done,
and would continue to do, even if it was to a house with no available ears, or
an empty one as it was on occasion.
    The
fridge closed in the