Thin Line Read Online Free PDF Page B

to regroup and
    refocus."
    She looked over her shoulder, past me, toward the door. "Hello, Riley."
    Bear held up both hands in retreat and said, "I can wait in the hall."
    Clarissa shrugged. "Don't matter to me. I'm leaving."
    I intercepted her as she made for the door. With my hands on her shoulders, I thought she might take a moment and think it through. Instead, she pulled
    away from my grasp and drove her shoulder into mine as she passed.
    "How'd you even find out I was here?" I said.
    "For someone who needs to remember faces in order to stay alive, you're pretty inept. You know that, Jack?"
    Aside from a few homeless guys and cab drivers and maybe the aging prostitutes, I hadn't run into anybody she might have known.
    Shaking her head, she said, "You remember Alexis?"
    I didn't, but decided against admitting to the fact.
    "One of my friends. You met her before we started dating."
    I shrugged, said nothing.
    "Jesus, Jack. Blonde, sometimes with weird highlights in her hair. About my age. Shorter than me. Works in a coffee shop. Any of that ring a bell?"
    "The woman from the café this morning?"
    Clarissa nodded and folded her arms over her chest. The look on her face reeked of attitude. And it wasn't an act. She was tough as nails.
    "You might want to have a talk with her, because she was all over me."
    "All you guys are the same. Overconfident, egotistical maniacs. Once she realized you didn't recognize her, she tried to trap you. She didn't realize you
    left the phone behind simply because you're dumb."
    I pointed at Bear. "That was him. And, hey, at least I've got you to knock me down a peg or two when my head swells up like a football."
    "Shut up, Jack." She looked away.
    Bear laughed from the doorway.
    "You too," she said with a look that caused the big man to take a step back.
    Bear said, "I don't think I've ever seen you this mad."
    "This is nothing," I said.
    "I'm leaving. Don't bother calling me next time you're in town."
    Bear stepped into the apartment so she could get out. The steel door to the stairwell slammed against the concrete wall and banged shut.
    "Sorry about that," Bear said.
    I shrugged. I'd seen it before. "She'll cool off. Might be worth me staying around an extra night to make peace with her."
    "You know Frank won't let you do that while the target's on the run."
    "Let's find out."
    I pulled a Winslow Homer knock-off down from the wall. The safe it hid had a ten-digit number pad. I punched in the code and pulled the door open. Inside
    was ten thousand in cash, mostly twenties and fifties, three false passports and matching drivers' licenses, a back-up Beretta and extra ammunition, and
    seven clean and disposable cell phones.
    The safe served as my own safe deposit box. And I didn't have to show my face on camera to access it. A second safe located in the bedroom closet contained
    Bear's belongings. I assumed they were similar to mine. Hadn't ever looked to verify.
    I flipped the phone open. Frank's number was on speed dial. I pressed the button, then switched the call to speaker so Bear could listen in when he
    returned from the bedroom.
    Frank answered on the second ring. "What the hell happened this morning?"
    I looked up at Bear, who had just stepped into the room carrying a black bag. He shrugged. Guess I was on my own for the explanation.
    "Well?" Frank said.
    "I take it you heard."
    "Yeah, I heard. So far, I've been able to contain it."
    "How'd you find out?"
    "Don't you worry about that, Jack. What you and that overgrown partner of yours need to do is figure out where this guy went and then go get him."
    "He was an hour ahead of us."
    "How do you know that?"
    "The body in his bed was still warm."
    "You're kidding," Frank said. "Anybody we know?"
    "Only people that knew this guy were other homeless and maybe a package store purveyor."
    Frank exhaled loudly. It sounded like wind blasting through a tunnel. "I need you back in D.C., but that isn't going to happen today with this monster
    storm