Short Fuse: Elite Operators, Book 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

plate.
    They carried their dishes to the sink despite Roger’s insistence that the “kitchen girl” would take care of it, then crossed through the empty, dark series of desks and cubicles to leave through the front. The whole modular unit smelled like an office-supplies store, and the nighttime air seemed extra fragrant as Warren shut the door behind them.
    Without asking, he shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Without protesting, she pulled it closed, inhaling the cool scent of him that clung to the fabric.
    They walked for ten minutes, following the beam of his flashlight, before he spoke. “Now what do you think of this place?”
    “You mean now that I’ve met the so-called team?” She shrugged. “Par for the course. An old hardhead who’s been promoted to incompetence, an alcoholic who’s easier to hide than fire, an up-and-comer who’s taken a challenging assignment to climb up the ladder faster, and a local liaison who’s just doing his best to keep everything on an even keel. You’d find a similar bunch running most of Garraway’s mines, from Alaska to Guyana to Australia. Remote sites are a great place to stash misfits and eccentrics who are good at their jobs, keep production up and their staff in line, but are too embarrassing to allow into networking events.”
    “You sound like my sister.”
    Shoving aside the nonsexual implication of that comparison, Nicola decided to broach what they still hadn’t discussed and named the corporate affairs director at Copley Ventures. “Your sister being Laura Copley?”
    “That’s her. She refers to people as stallions or donkeys. She always says you can’t have two stallions in the same stable because they’ll fight, so you have to pair hot tempers with even ones.”
    “I met her once. Two years ago, at an industry conference in Zug. I’m sure she wouldn’t remember, but she certainly made an impression. In this business you don’t get many young women who manage to be shrewd and gracious at the same time.”
    It was too dark to see his smile, but she could sense it was rueful. “She got all the personality genes.”
    “I don’t know about that,” she replied softly. “The resemblance is obvious now that I think about it. I’m not sure why I didn’t make the connection earlier.”
    “Same reason no one else does. Who would believe that a diamond heir would swap the family fortune for a policeman’s salary?”
    “People who understand the importance of following your own path.”
    He was definitely looking at her now. She could feel his attention in the darkness. “Does that include you?”
    “My dad cycles through three feet of snow to reduce his dependence on fossil fuels and my mom washes the house with apple cider vinegar to so she isn’t rinsing toxins into the water supply. I work for a company that digs miles into the earth to find gold. What do you think?”
    “Fair point.”
    “The thing is, Warren, we all have to make our own—”
    The words died in her mouth as he stopped short, extending his arm to keep her from taking another step. She followed the direction of his gaze, her breath catching when she saw it.
    Her cabin door hung open.
    “Don’t move.” He pulled out the gun she hadn’t even realized he carried and slowly advanced on the cabin, the flashlight raised in his other hand.
    With lethal silence he slipped inside the open door and when the single bulb’s illumination disappeared inside the cabin, her calm went with it. She began to shiver uncontrollably, alone in the impenetrable darkness, taking her phone from her pocket but too afraid to use it in case the lit screen revealed her position.
    Get it together, she told herself sternly. Anyone watching will already know exactly where you are. Pull up the number for site security and tell them to get their asses down here.
    The phone was on its second ring when Warren reappeared in the doorway, motioning her forward. She was halfway to the