Time Was Read Online Free PDF Page B

of her rock-hard body undulated without mercy.
    Preston knew he should be feeling more appreciative of the redhead’s anatomy, but he was too worried right now.
    He chewed on his lower lip.
    God Almighty—not only did his personal security guards know there was something behind the monitors (that was bad enough), but, worse, Zac’s operatives had managed to find a way in.
    Undetected.
    Preston had no way of knowing how they’d managed to bypass all the security devices.
    He had no way of knowing how they’d gotten in in the first place.
    Which meant that he had no way of knowing what they might have stumbled upon while making their way through his secret kingdom.
    That made him nervous.
    He hated being nervous.
    He blinked, tried to smile, didn’t quite make it, and so turned his attention back to the jaw-dropping redhead.
    Something dangerous about her. Preston liked that. Dangerous women were one of Nature’s ultimate aphrodisiacs.
    Across from the redhead, the woman in the goggles removed her black cap. Preston’s gaze—and those of his guards—were drawn to her thick waves of startling silver hair. Seeming pleased that she now held their attention, SilverHair shook out her luxurious locks, wet her lips with her tongue, and smiled.
    The redhead glared at her, but not out of jealousy. “Don’t push your luck with me.”
    The young Asian man looked around the office. “Nice desk. Everything so neat and just-so. Lots of extra room, too. Do many planes land here?”
    Preston blinked. “What in the world are you . . . I mean, no . . . I mean . . . uh, um . . .”
    â€œA complete sentence,” said the young Asian, handing the two confused security guards the clips from their Uzis. “We’re going for a complete sentence here—a qualifier, a verb, do I hear anyvotes for a dangling participle? By the way, you dropped this.” He offered a small object.
    â€œMy wallet! ” said Preston, suddenly patting himself down. “How’d you manage to—?”
    â€œIt’s a compulsion. Got any Sprite in that wet bar over yonder?”
    â€œEnough,” said the muscular man who’d come in with the silver-haired woman.
    â€œSam,” said Zac, “meet my team. Folks, this pale, well-dressed gentleman who is for the moment too awestruck to form complete sentences is Mr. Samuel Clemens Preston—who owes us a nice chunk of change, if I’m not mistaken.”
    Preston turned slowly around to face the handcuffed guards, cleared his throat, and managed to find his voice, weak though it was. “How did this happen?” he said. Then, much louder: “What the hell were the two of you doing?”
    The guards looked at one another, then the floor, then one of them lifted his head and mumbled something.
    â€œI didn’t hear you,” said Preston. “What were you doing?”
    Ed Ransom, looking for all the world like there were 2,341 other things he’d rather be doing at the moment, slowly lifted his head and whispered: “Listening to gnat farts?”

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    â€œI still insist it wasn’t a bloody fair test!” said Killaine, brushing a few strands of her red hair away from her eyes. “After all, no huma—”
    Zac raised his index finger, signaling silence, then turned toward the granite giant who was driving the van. “Any insects on the windshield, Mr. Green?”
    â€œNo bugs, no tracking devices, nothing here now that wasn’t here this morning,” said Stonewall.
    â€œGood,” said Zac, turning back to look at the others. “I apologize for having interrupted you, Killaine; please.”
    â€œAll I’m saying is that no human could have sneaked in there as easily as we did. ’Tisn’t a fair challenge to our abilities. Seems like cheating to me.”
    â€œBut it isn’t,” said