Easy Target by Kay Thomas Read Free Book Online

of his sanity intact where Sassy was concerned.
    “Let’s go. We have just enough time to get across town and meet Marissa’s contact.”
    “But I don’t want to go back home. I think we can find Elizabeth here.”
    He stopped with his hand on the doorknob.
    “Are you crazy? After all you’ve been through in the past four days? Where would you start looking? You don’t even know for certain that Elizabeth was ever in Africa.”
    “But Juan said she was put on a boat in Venezuela. Wouldn’t that—­”
    “Juan Santos, your contact?”
    She gasped. “How did you know that?”
    “I don’t think you should depend on what old Juan told you. He has, or I should say, he had a somewhat dubious reputation.”
    “Had?”
    “Juan’s dead. He tried to kill Nick Donovan yesterday morning on the Sidi M’Cid Bridge.”
    Sassy put a hand over her mouth.
    “Nick told me before I came to get you. It seems Juan was notorious for lying when the truth would do. That caught up to him yesterday.”
    “But why would he have lied to me?”
    “I don’t know, Sassy. I think the more important question is, why would he have told you the truth? According to what Nick learned yesterday, Juan lied about pretty much everything, even when he didn’t have to.”
    She stared at the floor a moment longer before shaking her head. “I came here to Africa looking for Elizabeth because of what Juan told me. I can’t believe—­” She stopped herself. “I don’t want to believe it was all a lie.” She moved to the door but didn’t make eye contact. “God, we’re running out of time,” she repeated. “Trey’s running out of time.”
    He nodded. What had she traded to get the trafficking routes for the women he had seen on the side of the road in Constantine? He thought of the kiss they’d shared last night and wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He also didn’t want them to walk out of this room at odds with each other.
    He couldn’t argue with Sassy and keep her safe at the same time. He had no idea if Rivera’s men were still looking for her or not. With Ernesto Vega dead, things were most likely in utter chaos, but he wouldn’t take chances with her safety.
    Regardless of what was happening with Trey’s case, getting Sassy home to the U.S. was the wisest course of action for now. Convincing her of that would be the problem. He decided to wait until he knew how they were getting out of Africa before pushing the subject of going back home any further.
    “Why are we meeting so late?” she asked on the way to the elevator.
    He grabbed hold of the new subject with gusto, happy not to be bickering. “It must be because of the holiday. Marissa warned it would take a while to get everything together. I’m not sure who we’re meeting across town. She just told me where to wait, and said that they’d find us.”
    He turned in their hotel room key, and they caught a cab. The streets were bustling, much more so tonight than the evening before. The cab dropped them in the driveway of the Hotel Hocine, and they walked inside to meet their contact.
    Bryan did a double take when he saw Gavin and Marissa seated in the lobby drinking coffee. He grabbed Sassy’s elbow and pulled her with him to the white leather sofa.
    Gavin stood. “Merry Christmas.”
    “What are you two doing here?” The hair rose on the back of Bryan’s neck. There was a warrant out for this man’s arrest in the U.S., yet Gavin was in Africa instead of trying to clear that up?
    What the fuck?
    He shouldn’t be that surprised. Gavin had a way of turning up in the most unexpected places. The first time they’d met was in an army hospital in Afghanistan. It had been crazy unexpected and a godsend at the same time.
    But with AEGIS under investigation, could Bryan really be one hundred percent sure of Gavin? Loyalty was incredibly important to him. But Bryan was experienced enough not to take it all on face value, even though his and Sassy’s options were so very