Morgan's Hunter Read Online Free Page A

hot, smiled when the spray spit from the head. “Oh, I am so ready for this.” Steam plumed, fogging the mirror, filling the room with warm, moist heat. A grin spread across her face as she unbuttoned the flannel she wore over her t-shirt. This was the best part of her entire trip—real soap, hot water, the feel of soft cotton against her skin.
    A faint knock sounded at the door. She swore. “I was so close .” Morgan turned off the nozzle with a bad tempered twist, buttoned the grimy shirt she’d almost undone. “Just a minute.” Peeking through the peephole, she frowned at the staff member in the hall.
    Morgan opened the door with a polite smile. “Yes, can I help you?”
    The perky blond beamed. “Ms. Morgan Taylor?”
    “That’s me.”
    “Hi, I’m Judy, the night manager. I tried calling up to your room—several times—but I kept getting a busy signal.”
    Morgan glanced at the phone. She’d taken it off the hook in hopes of avoiding the habitual and foolish prank calls Dave and Jim pestered members of the team with every time they got a hotel room.
    “You had an urgent message waiting for you. Someone called a couple of days ago. The guy said you’d be staying here. I saw that you just checked in, so I thought I should bring this up.”
    Frowning, Morgan took the pink piece of paper. Unease roiled in her belly as she unfolded the note. “EXTREMELY URGENT—CALL IMMEDIATELY!!! Dad” The words were underlined three times. Had something happened to her mother? “Thank you, Judy,” she murmured, shutting the door in the woman’s face.
    Morgan raced to the cell phone she hadn’t powered on in two weeks, dialed her parents’ house number. It rung incessantly, and her stomach tensed with panic. Why didn’t the voicemail pick up? She tried her father’s cell next with unsteady fingers, pacing back and forth while her heart galloped wildly in her chest.
    “Hel—”
    “Dad, what’s wrong? Where are you? Is Mom all right?”
    “Thank God, Morgan. I’ve been waiting for your call. Yes, Mom’s fine. I’m at the office.”
    Inhaling deeply, Morgan sunk to the bed. “Okay, good, good. What’s going on?”
    “Morgan.”
    She stood again, nerves skittering down her spine at the trace of sorrow in her father’s voice.
    “I have some hard news. I’m not sure how to tell you this.”
    “Go ahead, Dad. Please.” She moved about the room, unable to be still, as her heart rate accelerated again.
    “Shelly, Ian and Tom…they—”
    “What? What’s wrong with them?” She gripped the phone until her knuckles whitened.
    “They’re…they’re gone, honey.”
    Morgan stopped in her tracks. “What do you mean they’re gone? What does that mean? They’re missing? How long? The guys and I’ll be on the first plane—”
    “No, honey. They’re dead.”
    She stared at the ugly curtains half opened to the fading light, unable to grasp her father’s words.
    When she didn’t respond, he spoke again. “Your team is dead, Morgan.”
    Wispy fog threatened to dull her thoughts but she shook it away. “That’s ridiculous. There must be some mistake.”
    “I’m afraid not.”
    “This just can’t be true. How can they be dead?”
    “We’re still waiting for all of the details. I received word forty-eight hours ago.”
    “No.”
    “Yes, Morgan. Their families went out to identify their bodies, honey. Dean flew out with them to lend any support the Bureau could offer. I should’ve gone myself, but he wanted to do this.”
    Her friends were dead? She couldn’t get a handle on it. “Was it…a bear?”
    “No, Love, they were found shot.”
    Nothing could have prepared her for that—nothing. Legs giving out, she leaned against the dingy, yellowed wall for support as she slid to the floor. “Oh Daddy, I don’t understand. Shot?”
    “I wish there was some way to spare you all of this.”
    Her voice wavered, nausea churned. “I-I can’t believe this.”
    “I’ve been having a hard time