Finder's Fee by Alton Gansky Read Free Book Online Page B

little help. So do me proud on this and I’ll make certain the right eyes see it.”
    â€œI … I don’t know what to say. Is something going on that I should know about?”
    â€œBe sure you take Cindy with you. She’s the best cameraperson we have.”
    Dwayne walked away leaving Karen to wonder why he so adroitly evaded her question.

eight
    J udith closed her cell phone, ending the call.
    â€œWell?” Luke directed the Volvo along the right lane of Interstate 10. They had been driving the freeways, going in circles discussing what to do. As they drove, Judith sat in the passenger seat, Luke’s laptop resting on her legs. At times, the daylight glare made the screen difficult to read but Judith learned that she could shield parts of the monitor with her hand, the shadow making the image visible.
    â€œThirty minutes. The jet has to be fueled and the pilot needs to file a flight plan.”
    â€œAny way to keep him from doing that? A flight plan is a map to our destination.”
    â€œI think it’s an FAA requirement. I’d be asking him to do something illegal and that could cost him his livelihood. Besides, merely asking would raise all kinds of flags in his mind.”
    â€œAsking to leave as soon as possible doesn’t?”
    â€œExecutive pilots are used to sudden requests for transportation. That’s what they get paid for.”
    â€œOkay. I guess you’re right. So we have to kill about thirty minutes.”
    â€œIn this traffic, it might take you half an hour to turn around and travel back to the airport.”
    â€œI hate wasting time.” Luke frowned and checked the rearview mirror for what must have been the hundredth time since they left Barnes & Noble.
    â€œWe could use the time to talk ourselves out of this nonsense.”
    â€œIt may be nonsense but it’s pretty serious nonsense.”
    Judith knew what Luke meant. Whoever was orchestrating this had pictures of them from decades before and the dates of their secrets. She knew what she had done and had hoped that it would never come to the surface again. She had spent decades training her mind to avoid any hint of the event; now some stranger had her number and was using it to force her to do what she would never do under any other circumstances.
    â€œI thought we were agreed.” Luke’s words had taken an edge. “We see this through until we find a way out, if there is a way out.”
    Judith gazed out the window, a dim reflection of her face revealed the stress she felt. How could any of this happen? How could someone know what she did decades ago and then wave it in her face? And why such an odd request? Find and rescue a boy she’d never met. There had been no mention of blackmail money but the Puppeteer was blackmailing them all the same.
    â€œI didn’t mean to snap at you,” Luke said. “Did I hurt your feelings?”
    Judith looked at the handsome man behind the wheel, then smirked. “It will take more than that to hurt my feelings. I developed emotional calluses a long time ago.”
    â€œStill, we’re stuck in this together. We probably would never have met if life continued on as it was, and here we are, chugging along the freeway at a breakneck speed of twenty miles an hour.”
    â€œI’m thankful for the slower pace. You drive like a New York cabbie .”
    â€œI’ll take that as a compliment.”
    â€œI didn’t mean it as a compliment.”
    â€œThat’s okay. I’m an expert at adjusting reality to fit my needs.”
    â€œI keep coming back to the ‘why us’ question. Why a day trader and a businesswoman?”
    â€œThere’s that word again — day trader. I hate that word.”
    â€œTrading stocks yourself instead of using a broker is the definition of a day trader.”
    He shook his head. “Listen, Ms. Businesswoman, I don’t use a broker because I’m