Never Go Home Read Online Free Page A

narrowed
her eyes. Her hands rose into the air and became animated. “I know the dangers.
I saw what happened to the Prime Minister.”
    I glanced at
Sasha. “She doesn’t know?”
    Sasha shook her
head.
    A few months
prior there had been an incident that brought Sasha, Prime Minister Alex
Parkin, and me together. In order to save the man’s life, I had to shoot him in
the shoulder. It worked out in the end. I didn’t go to prison. We caught the
bad guy, the bad girl, and Parkin became a hero.
    “He’s lucky
he’s not dead,” I said. “Anyway, did you really bring me in here to talk about
Alex Parkin?”
    “I’ll get right
to it, Jack. I know my security has been bad.”
    “I
exaggerated,” I said.
    “No, you
didn’t. I need the best.” She glanced at Sasha, then back at me. “That’s why I
want to hire you.”
    “What?” I
looked at Sasha. She shrugged.
    “Money is not
an object,” Marcia said. “You can name your price. I can provide every resource
you need. If you want to bring in your own men, I can accommodate that.”
    I leaned back
in my chair and crossed my left leg over my right knee. Marcia’s stare never
left mine. She looked serious, and perhaps scared. The attempt today had left
her shaken. Understandable, I thought. She sat motionless. It was up to me to
respond. She was not going to break the silence.
    “Listen, I’m
not sure what Sasha told you, or what your people might have said about me, but
I’m not in the body guarding business. It works against my natural instincts.”
    “I saw you in
the cafe. You knew the two people behind the counter didn’t belong there.”
    “No,” I said.
“I knew the girl didn’t, but then I figured the skinny kid was the plant. You
know what happened to him? He ended up wetting himself on the floor. I was just
as wrong as the men you hired.”
    Marcia said
nothing. She leveled me with her dark eyes. Half of me said to take the job.
The other half said to run away.
    “Sasha, tell
her I’m not the right guy for this.”
    Sasha put her
hands in the air. “I don’t want to lose you, Jack, not for any amount of time.
But if you agree, I have no qualms about you going. I don’t want to see
anything happen to Marcia.”
    “Thanks,
Sasha.” I shook my head.
    “Four weeks, a
million dollars U.S.”
    “What?” I said.
    “One point
five,” Marcia said.
    I rose and
walked past the women. The storm clouds to the north had thickened in the short
time I’d been in the office.
    “Two million
dollars, Mr. Noble.”
    “You could buy
a full team of pros for a quarter of that.” I turned to face her. “I’ll give
you the number of a guy. He’ll have four men here by midnight. They’re
specialists. They can keep you safer than I can.”
    “I don’t want
them,” Marcia said. “I want you.”
    “This is crazy.
I’m not a bodyguard.”
    “I’m not
leaving this office until you say yes.”
    “Hope you
brought a change of clothes then.” My cell buzzed against my thigh. I held my
finger out as I reached for it. “Hold on.” I glanced at the screen. “I’ve got
to take this.”
    Sasha glanced
over at me. “Erin?”
    “No, someone
from the States.” I walked past them, turned when I got to the door. “Let it
go, Sasha.”
     

Chapter 5
    I stepped into
the hall with the phone buzzing in my hand. No one seemed to notice or care. I
answered the call before it diverted to voicemail.
    “Jack?”
    I hesitated a
minute. It’d been over a year since I heard a voice that sounded like my own.
    “Sean?” I said.
    “How’s my baby
brother doing?”
    “I’m doing OK.
How… How’d you get this number?”
    “I’ve got my
sources.”
    “Who?”
    “Is this how
you start a conversation after going a year without talking to me?”
    “No. You’re
right. Sorry, Sean. What’s going on? Is everything OK? Is Dad OK? Did something
happen?”
    “Dad’s all
right. Crazier than a hoot owl, but he’s doing fine. Deborah and Kelly are
fine, too.