Danger Mine: A Base Branch Novel Read Online Free Page A

while her brain screamed for her to run out the front. One by one her sleek ankle boots treaded between the tables, past the crowded bar, and down the hallway.
    Khani came face to face with an alarmed emergency only exit. The red handle screamed stop. She halted long enough to make certain the single water closet was empty, and then pushed through the door.
    The alarm stayed silent. A thin metal strip covered the sensor on the frame.
    No fucking way.
    Down the narrow alley few lights illuminated business doorways. Night shrouded the corners. Ever cautious, Khani palmed her pistol and drew. She advanced on the first of two dumpsters. Her feet whispered across the asphalt. The closer she came to the corner the steadier her breathing became. This was what she did. Who she was.
    She coiled, aimed, and then dipped into darkness.
    An alley cat screeched loudly enough to rupture her eardrums. The thing shot down the backstreet as though she’d fired it out of her Wilson Combat. With her stealth blown to shit in a matter of seconds, she sprinted to the other dumpster, and then crouched behind it for cover.
    Stillness enveloped the area. She held her position for several minutes. The longer she did the more doubt clouded her judgment. Perhaps her sanity had snapped and her psyche taunted her with the one thing she shouldn’t want and couldn’t have. She shook the notion away. A man King Street’s size and smell had been in her restaurant tonight and snuck out the back door.
    In full-on stealth mode, she eased around the corner, and then lunged into the line of fire—if someone had been crouched there with a gun. But no. The corner didn’t even host a rat. She studied the alley one last time, feeling eyes on her though she couldn’t see them.
    Khani holstered her weapon. She kicked the dumpster. The loud gong whittled off enough of her agitation she could dial a phone number without smashing the device into the ground.
    Why would her former operative be in the States and why would he shadow her? She had no clue, but vowed to find the answers. She dialed Law’s cell and walked to the lit sidewalk while she waited the extra seconds it took to connect an international call.
    “There are only a handful of people I’d be happy to hear from at this hour and I’m sleeping with one of them.” Law’s voice held none of the grogginess of one pulled from slumber, but years of round-the-clock training had honed the ability to function at a moment’s notice. “Good thing you’re on the short list.”
    “Bloody hell! I know there’s a five-hour time difference between DC and London. I just forget that I’m not in London.”
    “You can do that? I mean, I haven’t been there, but I hear Americans are quite unforgettable.”
    “Ignoring the obvious is my coping mechanism for homesickness.”
    “Come home. Then you won’t be sick. Or surrounded by traitors.”
    As he did almost every time, he made reference to the former English colonials. Like he really cared. He just liked giving her a hard time. “Come on, wouldn’t you fight for what you believe in? Don’t you?”
    “I’d stay and fight. Fighting with an ocean between your opponent is coward’s work.”
    The comment smacked her across the face. Law hadn’t been talking about her, had he? Intended or not, it applied.
    “You didn’t wake me to talk history. What’s up?” Law asked.
    “Have you heard from Zeke?” It wasn’t the reason she’d called, but it should have been. She squeezed her nape and meandered with the flow of two old ladies back toward Sushi Capitol.
    “Nope.”
    “He was supposed to be back two days ago and I haven’t heard from him.”
    “Back from where?”
    “Alaska.”
    “I though you two were taking that trip a couple of months ago. March wasn’t it?”
    “We were, but the thing with V happened.”
    “Oh yeah.”
    “Z was supposed to go without me, but he got called away for work and rescheduled. I thought it was going to iron out