woman.”
Yeah, that was the part of all this that bothered him the most .
“Now listen to me and listen well,” she seethed, her fury returning. “I have no intention of leaving the area until my book is written, so get that through your thick skull now. Perhaps you’d like to know, in the meantime, that I still have videos of you in my possession, despite the fact that you stole my three thousand dollar camera and my laptop. I swear to you I’ll put your face on every widely publicized forum in the country if you tell anyone what you learned about me from pillaging my laptop.”
He glanced down at her pendant, certain that little sucker was the source of her so-called videos. Had she offloaded those she’d taken previously, or were they still stored in the pendant’s memory?
“Tell me what you’re after,” Jackson demanded, struggling to fathom her plans .
“I just told you. I have a book to write.”
That wasn’t the whole story and he knew it. “Why all the pictures of me?” he persisted. “What do you want with Sulayman?”
The pointed question turned her rigid. “Considering the havoc you wreaked on my life the other night, I don’t think I owe you any answers,” she retorted. “You’re damn lucky I don’t just shoot you out of spite. In fact, I suggest you haul ass now before I change my mind.”
Jackson considered lunging for the pendant first. Only he didn’t trust her not to shoot him—probably not lethally but in a spot that would slow him down and force him to have to explain how he came by a bullet wound. He couldn’t risk getting thrown out of Gateway for violating rules of behavior.
With a grin that promised retribution, he accepted that he had lost this round. “See you Wednesday, then,” he tossed out with a grin that promised retribution. Before she could cancel his scheduled interview, he withdrew behind the dumpster. Darting through a break in the chain-link fence, he crouched behind the ivy to watch her jump into Schlesser’s Jeep and peel out of the parking.
An incredulous chuckle sandpapered Jackson ’s throat as he recalled how she’d attempted to turn the tables on him. But then he pictured her having to do the same with a hardened criminal like Davis , and his humor evaporated.
She might be able to hold her own with Abdul, who was, in actuality, a law-abiding citizen, but Davis was another animal altogether .
What could be so important to Lena that she would ignore a death threat to get it?
As her taillights faded in the direction of the bank, he pushed to his feet and headed in defeat toward his dorm room. Tomorrow, he’d alert his colleagues to Lena ’s pendant and warn them that she was also packing heat. Hell if he’d tell them how he’d found that out, though.
**
With fingers locked around the steering wheel, Lena flew up the 235 to PNC Bank.
Dear God. A belated shiver of horror cascaded through her. Had Abdul really planned on strangling her to death?
For some strange reason, she hadn’t felt like her life was actually in danger. She just didn’t fear the man. Maybe it was the restraint in his long, warm fingers. Or the unspoken communication that seemed to exist between them assuring her that he was all bluster and no bloodlust. But, hell, if he could commit larceny, which he’d basically admitted to, what made her think he wouldn’t stoop to murder?
Because he hadn’t come close to inflicting the kind of punishment she’d experienced at the hands of angry criminals before police supervision interceded, that was why. And right before she’d pulled her gun on him, she could have sworn he was about to kiss her .
Careening off the highway under the bright lights of the bank drive-thru, Lena dropped the money pouch through her lowered window into the drop-off box. As she tugged the bar that swept it safely into the vault, her disposable phone buzzed. She knew it was Peter calling; no one else had this number
Yeah, that was the part of all this that bothered him the most .
“Now listen to me and listen well,” she seethed, her fury returning. “I have no intention of leaving the area until my book is written, so get that through your thick skull now. Perhaps you’d like to know, in the meantime, that I still have videos of you in my possession, despite the fact that you stole my three thousand dollar camera and my laptop. I swear to you I’ll put your face on every widely publicized forum in the country if you tell anyone what you learned about me from pillaging my laptop.”
He glanced down at her pendant, certain that little sucker was the source of her so-called videos. Had she offloaded those she’d taken previously, or were they still stored in the pendant’s memory?
“Tell me what you’re after,” Jackson demanded, struggling to fathom her plans .
“I just told you. I have a book to write.”
That wasn’t the whole story and he knew it. “Why all the pictures of me?” he persisted. “What do you want with Sulayman?”
The pointed question turned her rigid. “Considering the havoc you wreaked on my life the other night, I don’t think I owe you any answers,” she retorted. “You’re damn lucky I don’t just shoot you out of spite. In fact, I suggest you haul ass now before I change my mind.”
Jackson considered lunging for the pendant first. Only he didn’t trust her not to shoot him—probably not lethally but in a spot that would slow him down and force him to have to explain how he came by a bullet wound. He couldn’t risk getting thrown out of Gateway for violating rules of behavior.
With a grin that promised retribution, he accepted that he had lost this round. “See you Wednesday, then,” he tossed out with a grin that promised retribution. Before she could cancel his scheduled interview, he withdrew behind the dumpster. Darting through a break in the chain-link fence, he crouched behind the ivy to watch her jump into Schlesser’s Jeep and peel out of the parking.
An incredulous chuckle sandpapered Jackson ’s throat as he recalled how she’d attempted to turn the tables on him. But then he pictured her having to do the same with a hardened criminal like Davis , and his humor evaporated.
She might be able to hold her own with Abdul, who was, in actuality, a law-abiding citizen, but Davis was another animal altogether .
What could be so important to Lena that she would ignore a death threat to get it?
As her taillights faded in the direction of the bank, he pushed to his feet and headed in defeat toward his dorm room. Tomorrow, he’d alert his colleagues to Lena ’s pendant and warn them that she was also packing heat. Hell if he’d tell them how he’d found that out, though.
**
With fingers locked around the steering wheel, Lena flew up the 235 to PNC Bank.
Dear God. A belated shiver of horror cascaded through her. Had Abdul really planned on strangling her to death?
For some strange reason, she hadn’t felt like her life was actually in danger. She just didn’t fear the man. Maybe it was the restraint in his long, warm fingers. Or the unspoken communication that seemed to exist between them assuring her that he was all bluster and no bloodlust. But, hell, if he could commit larceny, which he’d basically admitted to, what made her think he wouldn’t stoop to murder?
Because he hadn’t come close to inflicting the kind of punishment she’d experienced at the hands of angry criminals before police supervision interceded, that was why. And right before she’d pulled her gun on him, she could have sworn he was about to kiss her .
Careening off the highway under the bright lights of the bank drive-thru, Lena dropped the money pouch through her lowered window into the drop-off box. As she tugged the bar that swept it safely into the vault, her disposable phone buzzed. She knew it was Peter calling; no one else had this number
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