Bare Witness by Katherine Garbera Read Free Book Online Page B

responsible for a child. I don’t like it.” There was vehemence in Anna’s voice, and Justine remembered that her friend had been kidnapped when she was a young teenager.
    “Is it bringing back memories of your kidnapping?”
    “No,” Anna said. But there was a note in her voice that said otherwise. Justine wanted to find out more about the past that Anna rarely mentioned, but she didn’t like to talk about her own childhood, so she kept quiet.
    “Can you get a Kevlar vest for the kid?” Justine asked.
    “Charity is working on it. We’re going to try to get the head of immigration to process Nigel and his daughter into the country so that we can stay with them the entire time.”
    “Good. I’ll contact you before we land so that I know where to direct them. Don’t forget to include the nanny—Constance Wareham.”
    “I have her on the list. If there’re any flags for immigration, I’ll let you know.”
    Justine heard the sound of Anna’s fingers moving over the keyboard as they spoke, and she knew that their other agent was checking on things at the same time. Talking to Anna was returning her sense of normalcy. Making her focus on the job again, and stop thinking about Nigel and how he’d felt when she’d landed on top of him. How he’d felt when she’d kissed him.
    “Good. So that’s all for now?” Justine said, instead of just hanging up like she usually would have. A part of her was reluctant to let Anna go. Because once again, she’d be back to dealing with Nigel, and the attraction between them that she had no clue how to handle.
    “Yes. You okay?”
    “Why wouldn’t I be?”
    “You don’t sound like yourself.”
    “Neither do you,” Justine said. She should have hung up. She’d been ignoring Nigel very nicely, but Anna was a different case. Turning the conversation back on her helped a bit. Justine closed her eyes and shut out the man who was disturbing her. Made him nothing more than a cardboard cutout. The client, nothing more. Who cared that he was a good father and he did things for Piper that her own dad had never done for her?
    “I’m just ticked because I can’t find the answers I’ve been looking for.”
    “Yeah, me too.”
    “Answers to what?”
    “Nothing. I just meant my thing isn’t any big deal,” Justine said.
    “Do you want to talk?”
    “Hell, no. I’m not a talker.”
    Anna laughed. “No, you aren’t. Charity is, though, and she’s had a lot to say about Daniel.”
    Justine smiled. “Lucky you.”
    “I wouldn’t go straight to lucky. If she mentions him one more time, I’m going to scream. I mean literally, there’s not a single subject I bring up that she doesn’t turn back to him.”
    “I’m glad it’s you and not me.”
    “Me, too. Otherwise, you two would probably be sparring.”
    Sparring sounded good to Justine right now. She needed the freedom that came from fighting. Talking, sitting, thinking about Nigel—those things were making her edgy. A good solid fight would loosen her up. Too bad there wasn’t a dojo on the plane.
    “True. See you on the ground,” Justine said.
    “Yes. I’ll email or text the information from immigration once I receive it.”
    “Good. Bye.”
    “Justine?”
    “Hmm?”
    “Whatever’s going on in your head…you need to get over. No matter what Sam thought at the beginning, this isn’t going to be a cakewalk.”
    Justine hung up without replying. She knew that better than anyone. Pocketing her BlackBerry, she looked down the aisle of the plane and saw Piper and Constance sitting quietly, and realized then that she wasn’t going to let anything hurt Piper or Nigel, or even Constance, for that matter.
    For once, it wasn’t just because she was being paid to do a job. A part of it was because of Piper, and helping kids who were in mortal danger had always been important to her. Another bigger part had to do with Nigel.
    Not because Nigel was one hell of a kisser or because Piper reminded her of the