3 Thank God it's Monday by Robert Michael Read Free Book Online Page A

look for a deleted file. You were only kicking
back error messages. It cost Camilla her life.”
    “I am sorry, Hallie,” he said. Jake brushed her hair back
from her ear and traced a tear down her cheek.
    She put her hand to her mouth and closed her eyes.
    “I want you to remember it all Jake. I am surprised Kyle
didn’t tell you. How does that not come up in conversation? Am I selfish?”
    “No. You aren’t. We both want the same thing. Maybe
somewhere in those memories I am gaining lies an answer to how to protect my
father, too.”
    She shook her head.
    “We can’t go near him now. It is too dangerous. We need to
think about us. About our family, Jake.”
    Jake considered this as he drove. The airport was visible on
the horizon, its lights blinking vaguely in the moist night air. The hum of the
tires on the road was soothing. His nerves needed soothing. He wanted to do
something. He wanted to right the wrongs, he wanted to correct his mistakes. He
wanted to pay back what had been stolen from him.
    “You’re right. Hallie, go back and get Sarah safe. I will
head to the house and get some things, talk to Kyle, and tell him we are
stepping down.”
    She raised an eyebrow.
    “You want to leave the Agency? They are protecting us. They
are the only way we can bankroll this escape.”
    He shook his head.
    “I have money, Hallie. Don’t worry.”
    “You are going back to Galbraith, aren’t you?”
    “They are going to get me, anyway. I want you safe. And I
want to smoke out some rats in the process.”
    “You don’t trust Kyle?”
    He looked at her.
    “I don’t trust anyone but you, Hallie.”
    She reached across the console, her body colliding with his.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and wept. He drove like that for several
minutes, the lights of the airport getting closer, Hallie sobbing into his
jacket, her strong arms squeezing him.
    Jake had made up his mind before he had left the Senator’s. The
senator was more than willing to accommodate Jake after all he had been through.
Besides, Robert and Nancy had a soft spot in their hearts for Hallie. Agreeing
to see her safe had been an easy proposition.
    Jake and Hallie entered the airport and parked on the runway
near a private jet. A man with a captain’s insignia descended the stairs from
the Gulf Stream. He did not smile, but opened the door and took Hallie by the
hand.
    “I am Captain John Haverland, ma’am. I have been instructed
to fly you to Denver. We are fueled and ready to go now.”
    “No waiting?”
    “No, ma’am. I have clearance to enter the queue as soon as
you are aboard,” he said. Jake could see that under his military hat, the man was
bald. He sported a pointed goatee and a thick mustache.
    Jake came around the Suburban to give Hallie a hug. She
embraced him desperately. He could feel the pressure on his ribs.
    “Don’t do anything stupid,” she said to him.
    “I can’t make that promise,” Jake replied.
    She leaned back and took his face in her hands.
    “I know. That is why I worry about you.”
    His eyes darted back and forth between her brilliant green
irises. He loved her. He feared for her. He would sacrifice himself for her.
    He could not turn back. He could not let her see how
determined he was to keep her from returning to New York. What he had to do
there, he would need to do alone. Still, he was having second thoughts.
    “You will be three girls in the mountains. What if someone
comes for you there? Someone who knows that we have spoken to the Senator?”
    She shook her head.
    “No one knows,” she scoffed.
    “I would not be too sure about that,” he returned. “I think
our boys back at the mansion are eyes and ears.”
    Hallie smiled crookedly.
    “You are such a conspiracy theorist,” she said. “You dream
up stuff I would never consider.”
    “It is what keeps me alive, Hallie. Without my natural fears
and prejudices, I would not last more than a minute in the real world.”
    Hallie took a deep