MARCUS (Dragon Security Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

me and it took everything I had to ignore him. Stepping into shoes, I grabbed my wallet and keys off the dresser.
    “If you go, lock the door behind you.”
    “If I stay?”
    I shook my head. “Stay out of my stuff.”
    I was gone before he could answer.
                 
     
    The hospital was crowded. It was a Friday night in a large city, drunks and parties gone wrong and teens overdosing, enough to keep any emergency room busy.
    I found Blake Zimmerman pacing outside an exam room, his hands buried deep in his front jeans pockets. He was a startlingly good-looking man, tall and built powerfully, his athleticism a power that seemed to just flow off of him. It was almost frightening, especially when his gaze fell on me and I could feel his anger in just the slight squint of his eyes.
    “What the hell?” he demanded. “Where was your man?”
    “I don’t know. I’m going to find him and ask.”
    “Ask? I’m paying you to protect her!”
    “But you asked us to stay back, to not let her know we were there. My asset cannot protect her as well that way.”
    “I don’t want to scare her.”
    “Yeah, well, I’m sure this was pretty scary.”
    He shook his head, turning his back on me. He ran his hands over the top of his shaved head. I moved closer to him, touched his arm.
    “What happened?”
    He shook his head again. “She was having dinner with a friend. She went into the parking lot to get into her car and someone fired two shots at her.”
    “Was she hit?”
    He glanced toward the closed exam room door. “Just a graze on her thigh. They’re sewing her up now.”
    “Okay.” I stepped back. “I’m going to go talk to my asset. I’d really like for you to change your mind about the way we’re handling this. If I could—”
    “No. I don’t want her to know.”
    “But, Blake, she clearly knows that someone’s after her.”
    “She doesn’t need to know that all this is connected. I…I don’t want to do anything to interrupt this process.”
    “I understand.”
    “This baby is extremely important to my wife and me. I can’t put that at risk.”
    “Okay.”
    I walked off, thinking the guy was an idiot. But I couldn’t force him into something he didn’t want.
    Marcus was in the waiting room, sitting at the back of the room where he could see everything, pretending to read a magazine. If I hadn’t known his face, I might have thought he was just another patient waiting to see a doctor.
    I sat beside him.
    “What happened?”
    He shrugged. “Shooter was in a car. He got off two shots. I pursued, but he disappeared in traffic.”
    “You didn’t stick around to watch your target?”
    “I’m not supposed to get close to her.”
    “Yes, but you had no idea if there wasn’t another shooter on the ground. You left her vulnerable.”
    “There was no one else there.”
    “How do you know?”
    “She was surrounded by restaurant patrons within seconds.”
    “And one of them could have been a second shooter. You don’t know.”
    “I did what I thought was best.”
    I dragged my fingers through my hair, lifting it off my shoulders in an attempt to cool myself as my mind raced. My assets are supposed to be well trained. They’re supposed to act on instinct. If he thought chasing the shooter was best…I wasn’t there. I don’t know what the situation was like. But when you’re paid to protect someone at all costs, then that’s what you do.
    “Do I need to replace you with someone else?”
    “No, ma’am.”
    “This target is important, Marcus. You must protect her before anything else. Do you understand?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Let the police chase the shooters. You stay with the target.”
    “Even if it means exposing myself?”
    “Yes.”
    He nodded. “Okay.”
    I slapped his knee as I stood up. “Check in with the office daily, please.”
    “I will.”
    “And next time something like this happens, I’d rather get the report from you than the client.”
    “Sorry,