Sloane Read Online Free PDF Page B

was blown to bits. She never had time
to get out of that building.”
    Silas’ jaw twitched. He’d never liked the fact that
Griffin had untied French. “We should have made sure.”
    “She’s dead.” Griffin looked back and forth between
the two of us, daring us to challenge him.
    “Well, whatever the case,” I said, “we have to follow
up with this lead. Costello Labs called Leigh. Dr. James Armstrong
from Costello Labs, to be precise. He’s a medical doctor, but he
works in research, not with patients. I remember him from when I
was posing as an intern. He definitely had ties to secret
experiments.”
    “We have to talk to this guy,” said Silas.
    “I think so,” I said.
    “Well, where the hell is this place?”
    “It’s in town,” I said.
    “In Boston?” said Griffin.
    I nodded.
    “Then they’re the ones who took her,” said Griffin.
“We have to go and get her back.”
    “We need to be careful,” I said. “We can’t tip our
hand. If they do have her, we still don’t know why. We need more
information.”
    Silas folded his arms over his chest. “It seems
pretty cut and dry to me, Sloane. I say that Griffin and I go in
there and convince this James Armstrong guy to give Leigh
back.”
    “I should go in,” I said. “They know me. They think
I’m an intern. They never figured out that I worked for French.
After the lab explosion, all the interns got let go. I have a way
in.”
    Silas shook his head. “No way, Sloane. This might get
hairy. I think it would be better if you hung back.”
    “You always make me hang back,” I said.
    “You’ll cover us,” he said. “You’re the best shot
long range. It only makes sense.”
    I sighed. “Should we be firing guns already?”
    “I want her back,” said Griffin. “God knows what’s
happening to her. I want her back now.”
    Silas gave me a grim look. “We’ll do whatever we have
to.”
    “But Silas—”
    “Sloane, if things get really tense, you know that
you sometimes freeze.” His voice was quiet.
    Damn it. I looked away.
    “I need you on the periphery,” he said.
    All right. Fine. I’d hang back. The boys could go in
up close and personal, and I’d hide out and cover them from a
distance.
    * * *
    The rooftop was bathed in afternoon sunlight, but I
was shivering all the way up here. It was colder in May in Boston
than it was in West Virginia, and I hadn’t come prepared. It didn’t
help to be twenty stories up either. It was even colder up
here.
    The roof where I was set up looked directly on the
Costello Labs building.
    I peered through the telescopic sight of my rifle,
spotting Griffin and Silas as they entered the building
downstairs.
    They looked so tiny and far away, even through the
magnified glass.
    I trained my crosshairs on a security guard who was
right at the door. He didn’t seem to be paying Griffin and Silas
any attention. Both of them were dressed in suits and looked like
businessmen going to a meeting. They walked through the lobby
without stopping to speak to anyone. They looked like two guys who
knew where they were going, who belonged.
    That simple trick was the most obvious skill an
assassin needed, and the hardest skill to master. If you could pull
it off though—if you could truly appear to be someone who knew what
you were doing, who belonged—then getting through sticky situations
was that much easier.
    Most people noticed suspicious things. And a
confident person didn’t look suspicious. Confident people were
convincing. If you projected assurance, people were assured. The
trick was to do it well. I had to admit that it wasn’t my strong
suit, probably because I wasn’t actually confident most of the
time. I generally felt a little off kilter, as if I didn’t really
belong anywhere.
    I compensated for this by doing my best to look
pissed off or frustrated. Frustrated people didn’t reassure other
people, but most people stayed clear of angry strangers. No one
liked being yelled at. Anyway, I