Dead Ringer by Annie Solomon Read Free Book Online

out if she still could.
    Angelina Mercer, the tramp of the new millennium, a do-gooder? She almost laughed.
    Instead, she turned around to face them, crossed her arms self-protectively, and didn't bother to hide the sarcasm.
    "Sure, why not? Anything for Uncle Sam."

CHAPTER
3
    Welcome to the team." Roper flashed Angelina another hearty smile and pumped her hand.
    She looked around the nearly-empty office and back at Roper, waiting for more. 'That's it?'
    Finn rolled his eyes. "We stopped tattooing our agents last year, but your secret decoder ring is in the mail."
    Patronizing jerk. She opened her mouth to respond in kind, but before she could, Roper interposed. "There's some paperwork to go through, but we can worry about that later." He turned to Finn. "Did you set up the briefing?"
    Finn nodded.
    "Good. Then this is good-bye for a while, Ms. Mercer. Finn will be your AC-Agent-in~Charge."
    Damn, she didn't like the sound of that. "In charge of what?"
    "You," Finn said with a gleam in his eyes she liked even less.
    "He's the team leader," said Roper. "Your contact. He makes the rules and you report to him."
    "You can call me sir," Finn said as he led her out of the office, down the elevator, and into his car. Once there, he turned on the ignition and set off without another word.
    Angelina glared out the window, already regretting her decision.
    Five minutes into the ride, Finn spoke. "Look, I know we got off to a rocky start, but how we feel about each other comes second to completing our job."
    She crossed her arms and continued looking out the window. "And how do we feel about each other, Agent Carver?" She examined her own feelings and didn't like the way part of her wanted to nestle closer to the hard length of his thigh next to hers.
    He shrugged. "I'm not going to lie to you. I have my doubts about this whole idea."
    "You mean you have doubts about me." She swung around to face him and saw that grim muscle working his jaw again.
    "I mean-" He sucked in a breath and let it out. "I mean you don't have any training and we don't have time to give you any."
    She barked a curt laugh. "From what I heard back there, I've got all the training I need."
    "Look, dammit, you don't trust me, I don't trust you. Fine. But we have to work together. I never expected you to agree to do this, and now you have. So maybe I was wrong about you. And maybe you're wrong about me."
    "And maybe we're both dead right."
    Brakes squealing, he careened into a seedy motel. "I hope to hell not, because dead is the operative word here." He parked in front of a room around back and pulled up the emergency brake with such force it sounded like he would wrench the thing off.
    He shoved open the car door, got out, and slammed it shut. Through the windshield she watched him take a room key out of his pocket and insert it in the knob of a numbered door. He stood in the open doorway staring at her, his face dark and cold as a winter night, and she realized that he expected her to follow him.
    She couldn't. The dank wall with its row of bent and battered doors closed in on her. She hadn't been to a cheap motel in years. Without warning, nausea surged through her. She couldn't have moved if her life depended on it.
    Finn stood in the doorway waiting for Her Majesty. As the seconds stretched, he muttered a curse and stalked back, yanking open the car door. Then he saw her face. She was staring at something beyond him, her eyes wide and scared. He turned and saw what her gaze had fixed on: the room door gaping open like a black hole.
    And then it hit him. What had happened to her years ago. Cursing himself for a fool, he bent down and put his hand on the tense fingers in her lap. They were ice-cold. For the first time since he'd met her, she looked small and fragile, not the indestructible wiseass she pretended to be. The enormity of what she'd agreed to do came back to him, and with it, a twinge of admiration. She had guts, he'd give her that. And now, when she