Vision of Darkness Read Online Free Page B

over in panic.
    “Pru,” he said and cupped her face in his strong hands. “Hey, it’s all right. C’mon, sit down.”
    She jerked away from his gentle prodding. She had to get as far away from him as she could. Too dangerous for him. She was cursed. Frantic, she held up her hands as if to ward off an attack.
    “You need to go.” Tears swam close to the surface and she blinked hard to hem them in. “Please.” The word came out more desperate sounding that she would have liked. She firmed her lips and forced herself to meet his confused gaze. “You need to go. I can’t see you again.”
    “Pru, wait—”
    She shook off the hand he laid on her arm and—maybe it made her a coward; she’d think later that it did—but she ran away.

 
    CHAPTER 3
     
    “What’s up with your home phone?” Nick Gray Wolf, one of the few people Alex counted as a close friend, said when Alex found his ringing cell phone inside his tent and lifted it to his ear. “The line’s no longer in service.”
    “Yeah, uh, sorry about that.” Alex crawled out of the tent and wind slapped at him with a cold hand. This grassy knoll right beside the beach was probably not the best place to set up camp for the night. In fact, it probably would have been smarter all around to find a cozy B&B in town or even keep right on driving, but he had to conserve his money and he’d felt strangely compelled to stay right here, in this spot, in this town. He liked the solitude. The ocean churned below him, restless gray and white surges that pummeled the rocky beach without mercy.
    “You decide to get rid of the landline?” Nick asked.
    “No. I…needed time away to do some thinking and didn’t know when I’d be back, so I had the phone company shut it off.”
    “Thinkin’ was never your strong suit, Range,” Nick drawled.
    Hearing the nickname his military buddies had given him made something twist nostalgically near Alex’s heart. He missed Nick, who had been spotter to his sniper, and could picture the Sioux man relaxed on the front porch of his Montana ranch, staring out over the horse paddocks to the white-tipped mountains in the near distance.
    Alex smiled and squatted down to nurse his sputtering fire. “About like shutting up was never yours, Wolfy.”
    “I’m serious. You don’t do so hot when you’ve got time to brood. Where are you?”
    Alex sighed and sat back on a jutting rock, watching the flames dance. “Small town on the coast of Maine called Three Churches.”
    “What in blazin’ hell are you doin’ there?”
    Damned if I know , he thought even as he heard himself saying, “I shot a man on the job.”
    Silence echoed over the line and Alex winced, rubbing a hand down his face. “Yeah, uh—shit. Forget I said that.”
    “What happened?’ Nick murmured.
    He swore under his breath. He hadn’t meant to talk about it. The confession had rolled off his tongue unbidden, but now that it was out, he figured he might as well get it all off his chest. If anyone understood, it would be Nick.
    “I don’t know what the hell happened. It went from a quick breakfast with my handler to situation critical in a split second and I didn’t think, just pulled the trigger, almost reflexively. The man wasn’t innocent. He was a very bad guy and deserved more than he got, but it wasn’t my right to give it to him. Webster put me on leave pending an investigation, but we both knew when I left his office I wasn’t coming back.”
    “Ah, c’mon, now,” Nick said after a moment. “Don’t say that. You’re a good agent. The DEA wouldn’t know what to do without you.”
    “Good or not, I’m done.” He swallowed, forcing down the lump rising into his throat from his chest. “Someone’s gotta pay for it. If I’m lucky, they’ll pin it on my undercover ID and make him disappear. If I’m not lucky…” He let the thought trail off. By voicing the worst-case scenario—the DEA exposing him as a UC agent then tossing his ass in