Dating for Keeps by Rachel Hogan Read Free Book Online

continued to advance slowly and carefully with his gun drawn.
    Tessa decided that she needed to do something. She didn't know where Lucas was, but Michael's boasting statements only reaffirmed the fear she had just realized that Michael had lied to her and he was a fraud. Getting down on her hands and knees, she began to crawl gingerly on the floor, taking great care not to bump into anything. She didn't exactly have a plan, but she wanted to get behind Michael. She knew there were some fairly large and heavy items on the other side of the store, and she had the crazy idea that maybe she could sneak behind him and hit him on the head, knocking him out cold. The adrenaline she felt combined with the fear at what might happen if she failed was enough to propel her forward on her mission.
    Unbeknownst to her, Lucas wasn't far from where Tessa was located. He spotted her as she crawled out from the bathroom hallway and he could see the wheels turn as she decided what to do. As soon as he saw her heading towards the heavy objects, he was terrified. The last thing he wanted was for Tessa to be in danger. Suddenly to his horror, Tessa bumped into a shelf, causing some books to fall on the floor. The noise aroused Michael who immediately turned his sights to Tessa's direction.
    "I hear you," he sneered. "You think you can hide from me? Not likely."
    Realizing that he had to do something to save Tessa, Lucas immediately sprang from his hiding spot.
    "I'll admit it Michael, I never thought it would come to this day," he said calmly, walking out the dark shadow he had been hiding in with his hands in the air.
    At the sight of Lucas, Michael stopped walking towards Tessa and immediately turned his attention towards his desired prize.
    "Lucas, Lucas, I don't know why you thought that. I knew I would get you in the end."
    Tessa, still frozen on the floor from the distress she had felt when the books fell, listened intently to their conversation. She immediately noticed that Lucas was speaking without an English accent. She gathered there was a lot more to the whole story than she had been led to believe.
    As Michael advanced towards Lucas, he kept his gun drawn but his manner was much more relaxed. He seemed to forget that Tessa was somewhere in the building, or at least he didn't feel threatened by her. Tessa looked at Lucas, who caught her eye at that moment. With a slight nod of his head she could tell that he knew what she was trying to do, and he wanted her to continue on her path. It was their only hope.
    In an effort to buy them time and keep Michael diverted, Lucas encouraged him in more conversation.
    "I'm still confused Michael. How did you manage to pull this one off?"
    Michael scoffed, "It was easy. You know we tracked the violin to this shop, so all I had to do was explain to your little girlfriend here what was going on. She was more than happy to help me."
    "Oh?" Lucas appeared surprised, and the tone in his voice encouraged Michael to continue talking.
    "Well of course I had to twist things around a little bit. I simply told her that I was the FBI agent and you were the drug smuggling criminal. She's a simple girl, it didn't really take much to convince her. It was very helpful that you never reveled your status as an FBI agent to her. She doesn't love you anyway, you know. She was only dating you because of a bet."
    This news seemed to take Lucas by surprise. "A bet?" he said stunned.
    "Oh, you mean she didn't mention that to you? How funny," Michael sneered.
    Lucas was perturbed but determined not to let his emotions get in the way of what was important. "I have to ask you, Michael," Lucas prodded. "Why not take the violin when you had the chance? Why set up here at all?"
    "Because, I knew you were following me, and I've been dying for a chance to get my hands on you. My operations would be running so much smoother if you weren't always screwing things up for us."
    "It's not just me, you know. The whole FBI is after you.