Gut Instinct Read Online Free Page A

and hopefully would be flying home today. But something told me that Jennifer wouldn’t let whatever was in her head go. When she got on target, she was like a dog with a bone. Well, more like a wolverine with a rabbit, or whatever wolverines ate.
    I said, “So? What’s the big secret?”
    “Pike, I saw them together and they weren’t acting like terrorist contacts. They were . . . intimate. They acted like close friends.”
    I kicked that thought around, trying to see where she was going. “So you think they’re just friends? That’s your big intuition? How does that not also make them terrorists? Do me a favor. Don’t tell Johnny your theory when we get to his room. It’ll just make us both look stupid.”
    I pulled into the parking lot of the Raffles hotel and shut off the engine. “Why would a destitute Moro woman be friends with some rich Filipino, and only meet in an upscale gym? And why were they sneaking around? You’re not making any sense.”
    She said, “Pike, I don’t know how to convince Johnny, but I’m serious. My instinct tells me this isn’t the right track. They need to refocus on Bayani. Find a new thread.”
    “Your instinct. Really. Because they acted like friends.”
    She rubbed her face, glanced out the window, then turned and looked me in the eye. “Because they’re lovers. That’s why they’re acting the way they are.”
    If I’d been drinking a bottle of water I would have spewed it all over the car. Before I could say anything, she started talking in rapid sentences. “Pike, the woman wore a cross. She’s Catholic. Why would she have anything to do with a MILF terrorist attack? And they were intimate. I mean really close. I got that vibe as soon as I saw them together. They were acting secretive because there’s no way a Muslim woman could express something like that. She’d probably get her head cut off. Somehow those two found each other, and they’re worried about anyone else knowing.”
    I said, “Did you see them kiss or something? Anything besides your gut?”
    “No. I didn’t need to. The big secret here isn’t terrorism. It’s the wife wanting to stay in the closet.”
    “So you have no proof?”
    “Pike, I
know.
I don’t need a sex tape.”
    I said nothing, considering her evidence. The biggest point in her favor was the cross the woman wore. That, and I’d learned to trust Jennifer’s instincts. She was rarely wrong, whether she was reading me or someone else. I don’t know how many times she’d seen through whatever subterfuge I’d tried to put up.
    She said, “You don’t believe me, do you?”
    “It doesn’t matter if I do. It’s whether Johnny will.”
    •   •   •
    Johnny looked at the products Jennifer provided and said, “Excellent. Better than excellent. Smart thinking on the credit cards. We’ll be able to run this to ground in no time.”
    He looked at the photos of the woman with the cross Jennifer had pulled off the video and whistled, “Yeah, she’s a MILF all right. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a terrorist that hot.”
    He started giving orders to the team, getting reach-back with the Taskforce intel analysts to run to ground who the supposed end guy was. Jennifer looked at me with a question. I just shrugged.
    Johnny said, “It took you less than two days to get it done. You were slated for four, so why don’t you two take a couple to see the sights.” He waved a hand around his suite. “If I could, I’d give you a room here, but cover is a bitch.”
    He smiled, clearly happy with the progression of the mission. I saw Jennifer’s expression and knew that wasn’t going to last.
    She said, “Johnny, I have to tell you something else.”
    “What?”
    She looked at me, and I shrugged again, saying
Go ahead
with my expression.
    “I think you’re on to the wrong scent. Yes, they were being secretive, but it’s not because of terrorism.”
    He said, “Go on.” And she laid it out. I saw Johnny’s face go