White Hot: A Patrick & Steeves Suspense Read Online Free Page A

plan to do with Dal all day?
    Before she knew it, Jill ushered her and her father out the door. It closed behind them with a final click. She stood rooted in the hallway, staring at the man once so familiar and now so strange, her mouth hanging like a fish gasping for air.

6
    E mily tore a corner off her slice of toast and pushed it around her plate with her fork, soaking up the last of the egg yolk. Always her favorite part. Today, she did so out of habit, barely tasting the food. Across the table her father spread jam on his bagel with precise movements, careful to obtain complete coverage, even to the very edges, especially particular around the hole in the middle. Something her mother had always taken great joy in teasing him about.
    “Did Mom know?” she asked, putting her fork down and folding her hands in her lap. They were in the hotel restaurant, a quieter - and less visible - choice than the busy breakfast buffet near the elevator. A lone waiter swiped at his smart phone beside the coffee pots, occasionally glancing in their direction.
    Her father put his knife and bagel on a plate and met her eyes. “She suspected. We joked about it sometimes, my double-life as a secret agent. She always said I reminded her of Maxwell Smart or Inspector Clouseau.” He grinned. “I’m afraid your mother didn’t have much faith in me as a serious spy figure, more as a bumbling bozo.”
    Despite herself, Emily chuckled, the laughter the first small crack in the unbearable tension between them since he’d stepped into the meeting upstairs. “I’m sure that wasn’t true, Dad. You were always her hero and she made no bones about it.”
    Blinking rapidly, her father pressed his index fingers to the corner of his eyes. “I wish I’d been able to tell her. I guess it was her way of letting me know it was all right to keep that secret from her.”
    “Start at the beginning,” she said, leaning back in her chair and motioning the waiter for more coffee. “Help me understand this.”
    “The beginning … let me give you the executive summary,” he grinned and lifted his cup for the waiter to top it off.
    “The early years, my life was only about the military. As it is, when you’re in the military.” Em nodded and he continued. “I found I couldn’t go back to a civilian life. Fortunately, I didn’t have to. Much like you, I was ‘noticed’ let’s say, and recruited by the CIA.”
    “But now you’re NSA?”
    “Yes, they took over our mission, and recruited Jack and I a few years ago.” He leaned in, lowered his voice. “They have a long reach.” He settled back in his chair and in a normal voice said, “Shall I continue?”
    Emily nodded.
    “As it turned out, my job at the museum was a good cover.”
    “Because of the travel?”
    “That, yes. Also I worked alone a lot. So nobody was really aware of what I was doing, most of the time.”
    “So your new assignment was to handle Jack?”
    “It didn’t start out that way. At first we were partners, went on missions together - that’s how we became such close friends.” He raised a brow, attempted a sly smile. “I see you’re already close with Steeves.”
    Emily flicked her hand through the air. “This isn’t about me. When did you become his handler and stop going into the field?”
    He leaned back in his chair and held her gaze, the wrinkles at the edge of his eyes deepening. “You can’t guess?”
    Damn, it was going to be hard to stay mad at him for long. “When I was born.” She knew it was true the instant the words left her mouth.
    “Yes.” He nodded. “The third trimester was difficult for your mother. We almost lost you.”
    “I didn’t know that.” She blinked and leaned forward.
    “I was away,” he continued. “The guilt of not being there for her, for you… When we left the hospital, I promised her I’d figure out a way to be home.”
    “And that’s how you came to be Jack’s handler.” Weird that she’d never heard the