Badass: Deadly Target (Complete): Military Romantic Suspense by Leslie Johnson, Elle Dawson Read Free Book Online

goes straight to my groin. “Won’t you feel foolish if it turns out to be my great-great-great-grandmother’s secret chicken recipe?”
    I smile and watch her eyes move to my lips. She blushes the prettiest pink and looks down at her hands. “I’m actually very hopeful it’s something as innocent as that. I hope this is just a huge mistake, a misunderstanding. For your sake.” God. I really hope that’s true.
    She nods and moves around to the side of the table. I push her bag and my jacket out of the way, giving her plenty of room. She blows out a breath, and we both reach for the lid at the same time, my hand covering hers.
    “What are you doing?” she snaps and smacks my hand like I’m ten years old.
    Automatically, I snarl right back, “Helping. Is that a new concept for you?”
    “You’re such an asshole!”
    Her sudden jump from sane to crazy is a damn surprise. “Me?”
    She pokes a finger in my chest, twisting. “Yes, you! I confide in you, tell you this is my mother’s dying wish, and you’re still dead set on getting your hands on what’s mine!”
    I grab her wrist before she can dig a hole through my shirt and don’t let go when she tries to jerk her arm away.
    She’s shouting now. “My mother wanted me to have what’s in here, don’t you see. Whatever it is. Good or bad. Right or wrong. She wanted me to take care of it.” The shouts turn to wet aching sobs. “She said I was the only person she trusted. She was the most wonderful mother in the world, and I loved her so much, and now she’s dead, and she wanted me to do this and you…” she takes a deep breath, “and you won’t let me.”
    My own anger builds, mostly because I want to believe her so fucking bad. But if what’s in that box is as dangerous as I’m afraid it is, the very fact that she has a key makes her guilty. “Maybe if your mother had been a little more upfront with you, you’d know that this,” I jam my finger against the box, “is better off in the hands of the government.”
    “If she trusted the effing government, don’t you think she would have contacted them in the first place?” She’s on tiptoes now, trying to get in my face. “And then maybe she wouldn’t have gotten killed.”
    “Wait–what?” I manage to re-focus in the face of this announcement. “She was murdered?”
    Her shoulders shake, and she crosses her arms, holding onto herself. She takes in a breath and nods.
    “When? Under what circumstances?”
    “Today. Just a little while ago.”
    “Damn.”
    “I came straight here from my mom’s house,” she whispers, her chin quivering, but the tears seem to have dried up. “She called me at work. She sounded really strange and has been acting so weird lately. I even thought maybe she’d had a stroke or something. You know? Or dementia.”
    Sympathy pulls at me, but I shove it back. “What happened then?”
    “I went straight to her house, and she told me about the key to the safe deposit box. Told me I had to go to Russia. She was so frightened. For me, I think. As she was giving me instructions, there was a crash and…” she shudders and struggles for control.
    Russia? Damn.
    “Mia, have you been to Russia before?”
    She shakes her head.
    “Why there?”
    “I don’t know,” she shouts. “She said the instructions were in the envelope, money in the box. She said I’d need my passport and…” Her eyes fill with tears and she brushes them angrily away.
    “Take a deep breath. And then tell me everything. It could be critical.”
    “It’s all critical!” she whispers fiercely. “Someone kicked in the front door. We were upstairs in the bedroom, and she made me hide. There was a struggle, terrible noises from downstairs, then a man came into the room. He searched each room but didn’t find me. He called someone, told them to come search the house, then left. I went downstairs and…”
    “And you found her?”
    She nods.
    Cold creeps deep into my bones. Who was this