lectures and events she and Richard were scheduled to attend. If she’d been working this case, she would have gathered that information. Someone attending the Abernathy lecture could be the accomplice and the accomplice could be the one who accessed her purse and switched her insulin.
As she’d suspected, Burke’s system was password protected. She was no hacker and had only a rudimentary knowledge of how computers worked. What would Burke use as a password? She knew nothing about the man that would provide a clue. Not even his birthday. She was finished before she’d started. There was no help for it; she was just going to have to ask him.
She was about push off the couch and go in search of him when Burke entered the cabin. Their gazes locked. He didn’t look particularly angry at finding her at his laptop. In fact, he would have walked right by her, out of the common living space, but she spoke.
“I need access to your system. I need a list of the chemists who attended the Abernathy lecture with us. That person may be the one behind the attempts on my life.”
“We’ve been through this. You don’t need to do anything at the moment except lay low.”
“This is my life. My freedom. No one cares as much about it as I do. No one will fight as hard as I will.” When Burke didn’t respond, she added. “Okay, then, I want to go to Washington. If you’re not going to do anything to find the guilty party now, I don’t need to be here. I want to hire a lawyer and a private investigator to work on my case. We’re just wasting time here. The longer we wait, the colder the trail will get.”
“Have you forgotten that your life is in danger?”
A tremor went through her but she fixed him with a steely look. “I’ll take that chance.”
“The choice isn’t yours to make. It’s mine and we’re staying here.”
Eve didn’t respond to Burke’s comment, seeing no point in it. His mind was made up.
Since he made no move to reclaim his laptop, Eve returned to the task of trying to figure out Burke’s password.
* * *
Burke watched Eve bend over his laptop again. Shoulders hunched slightly, she gently tapped the keyboard. Her features were a study in concentration with her brows drawn together and her soft brown eyes fixed on her task.
There was no way she was going to be able to figure out his password. She’d soon grow tired of the task. As for himself, he needed to call Lanski.
Burke left the cabin. A bird chirped from somewhere nearby. It was a warm day. He rubbed the back of his neck that was knotted with tension and damp from perspiration. The lake beckoned. He cast a longing glance at it, then resigned to playing babysitter, pulled out his phone from the back pocket of his jeans.
Lanski did not pick up so Burke left a message, including that it wasn’t urgent. He was seeking an update on Alasdair McHampton. Burke closed the phone with a loud snap. He felt tense, edgy, at loose ends. He wasn’t used to being on the fringes of an investigation and sitting idle. Being at the cabin didn’t help. Usually when he was here, he made the most of the slow pace, so unlike what he was accustomed to on the job. He took time to recharge after being drained from an assignment. Part of the problem was that his haven had been breached on this trip. It was not his haven this visit. This trip it was a safe-house. He’d brought his work with him. He frowned. And who was he kidding? His problem wasn’t that he’d brought his work to the cabin, but that his work was Dr. Eve Collins.
He shouldn’t have brought her here. Hell, he shouldn’t be the one to guard her. He should have assigned another agent to that task once he realized how fiercely attracted to her he was.
He’d been a poor guard. While on his watch, there’d been two attempts on her life. Was that because in his attempt to put distance between
As she’d suspected, Burke’s system was password protected. She was no hacker and had only a rudimentary knowledge of how computers worked. What would Burke use as a password? She knew nothing about the man that would provide a clue. Not even his birthday. She was finished before she’d started. There was no help for it; she was just going to have to ask him.
She was about push off the couch and go in search of him when Burke entered the cabin. Their gazes locked. He didn’t look particularly angry at finding her at his laptop. In fact, he would have walked right by her, out of the common living space, but she spoke.
“I need access to your system. I need a list of the chemists who attended the Abernathy lecture with us. That person may be the one behind the attempts on my life.”
“We’ve been through this. You don’t need to do anything at the moment except lay low.”
“This is my life. My freedom. No one cares as much about it as I do. No one will fight as hard as I will.” When Burke didn’t respond, she added. “Okay, then, I want to go to Washington. If you’re not going to do anything to find the guilty party now, I don’t need to be here. I want to hire a lawyer and a private investigator to work on my case. We’re just wasting time here. The longer we wait, the colder the trail will get.”
“Have you forgotten that your life is in danger?”
A tremor went through her but she fixed him with a steely look. “I’ll take that chance.”
“The choice isn’t yours to make. It’s mine and we’re staying here.”
Eve didn’t respond to Burke’s comment, seeing no point in it. His mind was made up.
Since he made no move to reclaim his laptop, Eve returned to the task of trying to figure out Burke’s password.
* * *
Burke watched Eve bend over his laptop again. Shoulders hunched slightly, she gently tapped the keyboard. Her features were a study in concentration with her brows drawn together and her soft brown eyes fixed on her task.
There was no way she was going to be able to figure out his password. She’d soon grow tired of the task. As for himself, he needed to call Lanski.
Burke left the cabin. A bird chirped from somewhere nearby. It was a warm day. He rubbed the back of his neck that was knotted with tension and damp from perspiration. The lake beckoned. He cast a longing glance at it, then resigned to playing babysitter, pulled out his phone from the back pocket of his jeans.
Lanski did not pick up so Burke left a message, including that it wasn’t urgent. He was seeking an update on Alasdair McHampton. Burke closed the phone with a loud snap. He felt tense, edgy, at loose ends. He wasn’t used to being on the fringes of an investigation and sitting idle. Being at the cabin didn’t help. Usually when he was here, he made the most of the slow pace, so unlike what he was accustomed to on the job. He took time to recharge after being drained from an assignment. Part of the problem was that his haven had been breached on this trip. It was not his haven this visit. This trip it was a safe-house. He’d brought his work with him. He frowned. And who was he kidding? His problem wasn’t that he’d brought his work to the cabin, but that his work was Dr. Eve Collins.
He shouldn’t have brought her here. Hell, he shouldn’t be the one to guard her. He should have assigned another agent to that task once he realized how fiercely attracted to her he was.
He’d been a poor guard. While on his watch, there’d been two attempts on her life. Was that because in his attempt to put distance between
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