Versions (The Blacklist Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Nothing.
    She stood beside the scarred wood and chipped paint of her antique headboard and pondered the white coverlet and ruched gray pillows. The sheets had been tangled on that bed a thousand different ways the thousand different times she and Nate had enjoyed each others’ bodies. No way in hell would she lay with him again.
    The question was, how could she get out of it without landing a bullet between her eyes?
    A tiny crack in the seam of the floor caught her attention. Rin leaned forward and yanked the single slat from its neat home. The hollowed-out space in the floor nestled the smooth vinyl covering of a passport and a neat stack of bills bound by a teller’s sleeve. With one shaky, scuffed hand, Rin pulled them from the nook.
    “Nathan Harlow,” she said in a muted whisper. “I’ve got you, you son of a bitch.”

4
    “ M s. Lee , I need the reports on Kessler and Eglin Air Force Bases by the end of the day.”
    Rin's gaze lifted from the endless rows and columns eating every inch of her computer screen to the starched black suit and face of her superior. In all the long hours Rin had put in at the office over the course of her short career, Shakina Morris’s gorgeous ebony skin hadn’t once cracked its ultra-professional veneer. Rin valued the trait, wished she had the control to mask her reactions. It would sure help if she faced Nate again.
    “Hi, Mrs. Morris.” She smiled. No, the woman never returned the gesture, but it didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate a friendly face. Rin grabbed two file folders and held them out. “I emailed the assessments maybe four minutes ago, and here are the prints along with some notes.”
    “Both of them?” Shakina Morris’s right brow twitched.
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “But you came in late this morning.”
    “Six minutes,” she nodded. “I apologize, but won’t give an excuse for mismanaging my time.”
    “If everyone would mismanage it so well, I’d let you all take a half-day Friday.” Shakina cradled the files in her arm like precious babies and sighed. “I don’t get personal with my employees for my own reasons, but are you okay?” She leaned in and whispered, “You look like you’ve been crying.”
    “Oh. I got new make-up yesterday. Maybe it’s a reaction to the new chemicals,” Rin lied, sticking as closely as possible to the truth.
    “Right.” Shakina turned to leave.
    “Mrs. Morris, I have a favor to ask.”
    The woman stopped and swiveled on her pumps with an exaggerated exhale. “What is it?”
    “I need an hour for lunch, please. My grandfather lives at the Potomac Center. When I go visit after work, he’s always asleep and I don’t want to disturb him.” Shakina’s face maintained its waxy neutrality. So, she continued, “I’ll have Fort Jackson’s report in your box before I leave for the day.”
    “I want them done correctly. Take your hour lunch and have the assessment to me by Monday.”
    “Thank you.”
    “You have my favor. Don’t abuse it, Ms. Lee.”

5
    “ S eriously , lady, go.” Rin beat the steering wheel like Questlove, her straight hair probably standing on end like his did too. A white-headed woman parked at the main entrance, her extra-long, extra-wide town car congesting the lot better than a deep fried Twinkie did an artery, all so she could shoot the shit with another white-haired lady standing at the corner.
    She drummed harder, falling into the words of the song to keep from falling over the steep edge of rationality. The Roots played and Quest sang.
    “ I was born faceless in an oasis
    Folks disappear here and leave no traces
    No family ties nigga no laces
    Less than a full deck nigga no aces
    Waitin' on Superman losing all patience ”
    The impulse to roll down the windows and blare the two ten-inch subs corroding from disuse in her trunk peaked as patience waned for answers to WTF was going on with her life. Lucky for her, the three cars waiting behind her, and the resident of the nursing