Darker After Midnight by Lara Adrián Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Lara Adrián
assistant district attorney, then as his personal assistant from the time he decided to run for a seat in the Senate. She knew he drew a hard line when it came to national security and fighting terrorism; he’d built his entire campaign on his commitmentto that platform. But she’d never heard him speak so callously about the life—or the presumed death—of another person.
Tavia turned away, watching the snowy landscape zoom past the dark-tinted window as the vehicle raced north along the highway, leaving the city proper miles behind them. “Who is Dragos?”
Because he was so quiet, at first she thought the senator hadn’t heard her. But when she glanced back at him once more, he was staring right at her. Right
through
her, it seemed. A strange prickle edged its way up the back of her neck, there and gone, as her boss’s handsome face relaxed into a look of mild confusion. “I don’t know what you mean, Tavia. Should I know the name?”
“He seemed to think you did—that man back at the station.” She searched the senator’s face for some sign of recognition but saw none there. “Before you came into the room, he told me you were in danger from someone called Dragos. He said we both could be in danger. He wanted to warn you—”
Senator Clarence’s eyes narrowed. “He said all of this to you? You spoke to this man? When?”
“I didn’t speak to him. Not exactly.” She was still trying to make sense of everything that had occurred tonight. “He saw me through the window in the viewing room. He started talking, saying a lot of strange things.”
The senator slowly shook his head. “Paranoid, crazy things from the sound of it, Tavia.”
“Yes, except he didn’t seem crazy to me. He seemed disturbed and volatile, but not crazy.” She stared at her boss, watching as he rubbed idly at his wrist—the same wrist that had been crushed in the punishing hold of the man who’d broken free of his handcuffs and breached a supposedly secure witness room before half a dozen police officers and federal agents could contain the situation. All so he could get his hands on Senator Clarence. “When he saw you, he said he was already too late. He said this person, Dragos, owned you. What did he mean by that? Why did he think you know this person, or where to find him?”
A tendon ticked in the lean, chiseled jaw. “I’m sure I don’t know, Tavia. Politicians make a lot of enemies—some of them harmless crackpots, others destructive sociopaths who crave attentionand think that violence and terror are the best ways to get it. Who knows what sins this lunatic thinks I’m guilty of. All I know is, he came to my house to commit murder, and when he failed in that, he and his militant pals decided to blow up a government building and take several innocent lives in the process. The only clear danger any of us seemed to be in tonight was coming from him and him alone.”
Tavia acknowledged those sober facts with a grim nod. She couldn’t argue with any of it, and she didn’t know why she felt compelled to dissect and examine any of what she had heard in the police station viewing room. She didn’t know why she couldn’t get the man and every bizarre word he said out of her mind.
And his eyes …
She could still see their steely blue color, and the intensity with which he held her in his unflinching—undeniably sane—stare.
She could still feel the peculiar heat that seemed to radiate out from those stormy irises in that instant when their gazes clashed and held, mere seconds before the Tasers’ probes bit into him and the bullets began to fly.
She was so deep in her thoughts, she jumped a little when the senator lightly smacked his palm against his knee. “Ah, damn. I knew I was forgetting something.”
“What is it?” she asked, turning to look at him as the SUV exited the highway to begin the couple-mile stretch of rural blacktop that would lead to her house.
He gave her a sheepish look, the one
Tavia turned away, watching the snowy landscape zoom past the dark-tinted window as the vehicle raced north along the highway, leaving the city proper miles behind them. “Who is Dragos?”
Because he was so quiet, at first she thought the senator hadn’t heard her. But when she glanced back at him once more, he was staring right at her. Right
through
her, it seemed. A strange prickle edged its way up the back of her neck, there and gone, as her boss’s handsome face relaxed into a look of mild confusion. “I don’t know what you mean, Tavia. Should I know the name?”
“He seemed to think you did—that man back at the station.” She searched the senator’s face for some sign of recognition but saw none there. “Before you came into the room, he told me you were in danger from someone called Dragos. He said we both could be in danger. He wanted to warn you—”
Senator Clarence’s eyes narrowed. “He said all of this to you? You spoke to this man? When?”
“I didn’t speak to him. Not exactly.” She was still trying to make sense of everything that had occurred tonight. “He saw me through the window in the viewing room. He started talking, saying a lot of strange things.”
The senator slowly shook his head. “Paranoid, crazy things from the sound of it, Tavia.”
“Yes, except he didn’t seem crazy to me. He seemed disturbed and volatile, but not crazy.” She stared at her boss, watching as he rubbed idly at his wrist—the same wrist that had been crushed in the punishing hold of the man who’d broken free of his handcuffs and breached a supposedly secure witness room before half a dozen police officers and federal agents could contain the situation. All so he could get his hands on Senator Clarence. “When he saw you, he said he was already too late. He said this person, Dragos, owned you. What did he mean by that? Why did he think you know this person, or where to find him?”
A tendon ticked in the lean, chiseled jaw. “I’m sure I don’t know, Tavia. Politicians make a lot of enemies—some of them harmless crackpots, others destructive sociopaths who crave attentionand think that violence and terror are the best ways to get it. Who knows what sins this lunatic thinks I’m guilty of. All I know is, he came to my house to commit murder, and when he failed in that, he and his militant pals decided to blow up a government building and take several innocent lives in the process. The only clear danger any of us seemed to be in tonight was coming from him and him alone.”
Tavia acknowledged those sober facts with a grim nod. She couldn’t argue with any of it, and she didn’t know why she felt compelled to dissect and examine any of what she had heard in the police station viewing room. She didn’t know why she couldn’t get the man and every bizarre word he said out of her mind.
And his eyes …
She could still see their steely blue color, and the intensity with which he held her in his unflinching—undeniably sane—stare.
She could still feel the peculiar heat that seemed to radiate out from those stormy irises in that instant when their gazes clashed and held, mere seconds before the Tasers’ probes bit into him and the bullets began to fly.
She was so deep in her thoughts, she jumped a little when the senator lightly smacked his palm against his knee. “Ah, damn. I knew I was forgetting something.”
“What is it?” she asked, turning to look at him as the SUV exited the highway to begin the couple-mile stretch of rural blacktop that would lead to her house.
He gave her a sheepish look, the one