Running Blind Read Online Free Page B

Mexico, and they don’t believe in letting their enemies live.”
    â€œI don’t understand what that has to do with me or Magdalena.”
    â€œNeither do the Mexican police or the DEA. It’s what they’re hoping to find out.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œExactly what I said. The Mexican Panthers are quick to murder enemies, but they’re not known for taking out innocent people.”
    â€œYou’re not implying that Magdalena and I were involved in the drug trade, are you? Because if you are—”
    â€œI’m not implying anything. I’m telling you what the police are probably thinking.”
    â€œThen, they’re thinking wrong.”
    â€œMaybe. Or maybe there’s information that you know nothing about. Something that might have led the Mexican Panthers to you and your friend.”
    â€œLike?”
    â€œIt’s possible Magdalena—”
    â€œNo way.” There was absolutely no way that Magdalena was involved in drug trafficking.
    â€œHear me out, Jenna.” He leaned close, his dark eyes staring into hers. Were they brown? Dark blue? She couldn’t tell, and she was tempted to move closer, look more deeply.
    She leaned back instead, unsettled in a way she hadn’t been in years.
    She didn’t like the feeling.
    Didn’t like it at all.
    â€œSay what you need to say, Nikolai, but it won’t change what I know about Magdalena.”
    â€œIt’s possible your friend wasn’t the person you thoughther to be. She may have had secrets she couldn’t share with you.”
    Magdalena had seemed tense in the weeks leading to the trip, but Jenna had chalked it up to stress. Was it possible something else had been weighing on her mind?
    Jenna shook her head, denying her doubts as much as she was denying Nikolai’s words. “Everyone has secrets, but Magdalena’s weren’t the kind that get people killed.”
    â€œThen perhaps Magdalena got in the way of a transaction between someone she knew and the drug cartel. Is it possible someone working at the clinic was trafficking in narcotics?”
    â€œI don’t know. There were fifteen people on our medical team, and Magdalena is the only one I knew.” Jenna shook her head, wincing as pain shot through her skull. Her stomach heaved and she swallowed hard. No way did she plan to lose her lunch in front of Nikolai. She bent forward, trying to ease the nausea, wishing her thinking was less muddled. Maybe Nikolai was right and someone at the clinic had been involved in drug smuggling, but she couldn’t think of who it might be. Couldn’t even begin to imagine any of the volunteers stooping so low.
    Nikolai touched her knee, his fingers warm through thick denim. “Why don’t you lie down? I’ll make some more phone calls. Perhaps the police have new information.”
    â€œI’m okay.” She straightened, sweat beading her brow as her stomach heaved again.
    â€œYou’re as pale as a ghost.”
    â€œSo maybe I should have said that I will be okay.” She stood, swaying as she took a step toward the window.
    Her vision seemed to be clearing, the steroids the doctors were pumping into her doing their job. God was in control, and everything would work out okay. It was a mantra that she’d repeated to herself often during the two years she’d fought leukemia. Chemotherapy had sapped her strength, turned her into a person she didn’t know, and she’d had to remind herselfevery day that she’d be herself again when it was over. When it finally was, when she’d thought she would celebrate with longtime boyfriend Ryan Mayer and had, instead, listened as he’d told her how much he cared about her and how sorry he was that he’d fallen in love with someone else, she’d reminded herself that she would be okay. Her hair would grow back, her body would be strong again, her heart would