Assassin's Promise, The Red Team Series, Book 5 Read Online Free Page B

 
    “Please. We’ll get more flies with honey than a show of force.”
    “What makes you think I have no finesse?”
    “Besides the way you’re looking at me now?” She pulled her hand away. “You’re kind of scary, Greer. If you want to find out about Sally, this is the way to do it.”
    He nodded and got to his feet. “May I have these graphs?”
    His request surprised her. “Sure. But please don’t share them. I haven’t published them yet.”
    Greer shook his head. “I’m not in competition with you, doc. You do your thing, I’ll do mine.”
    The professor also stood. “And what is your thing?”
    “Finding Sally.”
    “And other than that? It can’t be your full-time job.”
    Greer folded the sheets of paper she gave him. “I’ll tell you all my secrets if you have dinner with me.” He grinned, pleased he’d kept the offer so clean when his thoughts of her were anything but.
    “Well, I am kind of hungry.” She smiled reluctantly, then frowned. “I don’t think I had lunch today.”
    “There a good steakhouse around here?”
    “We have several. My fav is J’s.”
    “Then J’s it is. My treat.”
    He waited while she gathered her papers into a neat stack, then packed them into her briefcase. She closed her laptop and added it. They stepped into the hall. She shut off the lights, then locked her office.  
    They didn’t speak as they went down the stairs. Out of habit, Greer went first. His SUV was parked in the almost empty lot, near the building. “Want to go in my car? Or shall I follow you? The restaurant could be packed.” He looked at his watch. “It’s prime feeding time. We might not want to take two cars.”
    “You can drive. If you don’t mind.”
    He opened the passenger door for her. “I don’t.”
    She was looking around the interior of his SUV when he got in on the driver’s side. “It’s lighter in here than I thought it would be with all the window tinting. It’s kind of gangsta.”
    Greer grinned. “I’m a gangsta kinda guy, I guess.”
    Her smile evaporated. “Are you?”
    He looked at her as he backed up. “Yeah.”  
    “Are you into illegal things?”
    Greer released a long breath. “I’ll tell you true, doc, when I find Sally, I’m gonna lay down some heads.”
    “What if the people she’s with meant well?”
    He shrugged. “Don’t matter. She’s underage, in an isolationist community. Whether she went there of her volition or was brought there by whomever she’s hooked up with, makes no difference. She isn’t old enough to make that decision. I told her I would help her. She should have come to me.”
    He chanced a glance at the professor. He’d told Sally while she was in the hospital getting the drugs flushed from her system that he’d protect her. And he hadn’t. So yeah, he felt as if he’d let his own sister down.  
    And Christ, he couldn’t take on much more karmic debt than the load he was already carrying. He was going to find Sally and move her someplace safe.
    Unbidden, the ghost eyes from his dream came to mind. Hell was waiting for him. For sure. But he wasn’t going anywhere until he found Sally.

    * * *

    At the restaurant, Remi fought to keep things together. Greer was one of the most exciting men she’d ever met. Intense, charming, sexy as hell. His ripped body probably had zero percent body fat, which made her self-conscious about her own curves. He smiled easily and joked frequently, but none of that hid the sharp edge of his intellect.  
    The only thing she knew for sure was that he wasn’t what he seemed—a thing she decided to confront him about after they gave their orders to the waiter.  
    “I checked you out.”
    He smiled. “Oh?”
    She’d called the Department of Homeland Security—not using the number on his card but the one on their website. She’d vetted him before deciding to share any of her data. “When I called DHS, I was rerouted to a Christian Villa—” she paused on the name, wondering