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

that we could go together, but then Rhonda got shot and we were put under the microscope. He left last week.”
    “How long was the trip?”
    “A week.”
    “Hey, at least he won’t freeze off his knob,” Law chuckled.
    “Frozen knobs?” Magdalena croaked. “Now that’s bad news.”
    Law laughed harder. “Go back to sleep, love. All knobs are firmly intact.”
    “Oh, good,” Mags said.
    “Can we stop talking about knobs? I’ve been around them all day.”
    “You hussy.”
    “I wish. I’m not worried about Zeke freezing. I’m worried he might have been dinner for a grizzly fresh out of the den.”
    “I’d put my money on Zeke and light a barbecue for the bear. Khani, you know how he is. He’ll turn up when he’s good and ready.”
    Sure she knew Zeke vanished from time to time, but he always let her know—whether in an email or singing telegram—before he disappeared.
    “Maybe he found peace in the great wilderness.”
    “Right. I find zen in make-up and shoes. Zeke finds it in big pints and even bigger women. We’re city dwellers, Pierce. All of us.”
    “Then why the vacation to the last frontier?”
    “Isn’t the last frontier space?”
    “That’s the final frontier, if you’re a Trekkie.”
    “Oh. Well, I missed him. I moved half the world away to be able to see him more than once a year, but it hasn’t really worked out that way. I figured this trip would bond us or something.”
    “And then you didn’t go. Maybe he’s punishing you.”
    “It’s possible. That’s the only reason I haven't launched an all-out manhunt. Speaking of man-hunts, or women-hunts, have you heard anything about Cara Lee?”
    “Last I heard she was causing a ruckus in your neck of the woods.”
    “If you hear anything concrete, let me know. How’s work? Is the rookie holding his own?”
    “Finally we get to it,” Law sighed.
    “Get to what?” she hedged.
    “The real reason you called.”
    “Oh, stuff it, would you?” The old-blue-hairs shuffled along probably as fast as their brittle legs could carry them, but the stagnant pace only added to her annoyance. She banked left. A row of parking meters cut her off. The bastards.
    “Not a chance,” Law laughed. “And you can’t call him a rookie anymore. The kid has more chops than most lifers. I really don’t think he came to us straight out of college. He’s too seasoned for that shit. You were commander before you left. Did his file say anything about prior training and for whom?”
    “You’re the commander now,” she reminded.
    “I was the interim commander. You know I didn’t want the job. I hate paperwork. There was so damn much of it I hardly had time to eat, sleep, and bang my wife. Forget about snooping in files.”
    “Who’s your replacement? When?”
    “He wants to tell you himself. So, I can’t say, but you’ll approve. And it’s been in the works for a month now, but you were dealing with some shit and he was getting jumped in, so to speak. Now back to Street’s file.”
    “His file was sealed.”
    “No fuck?”
    That tidbit—the reminder of it—revved Khani’s over-stimulated brain. In her two years as commander of the London Branch office and one as lieutenant commander in DC she’d never come across another closed personnel file. When she’d called the UN director for her region asking questions about Street’s background she’d met with a greased wall. Every attempt to maneuver around it or over it failed and she hadn’t had enough time to devote herself to something so inconsequential. The UN had reasons for everything it did and it was all for the furthering of peace.
    “No fuck,” she finally sighed.
    The white-haired ladies separated to pass an immovable object planted in the center of the sidewalk. King Street’s hazy green gaze centered on hers, punctuating the futility of her fighting the attraction that had sparked the moment she first laid eyes on him. Her feet sank into the concrete as though it were