Free Fall by MJ Eason Read Free Book Online Page A

all: Jeremiah Silvers was a cold-blooded killer. The man I believed was my brother possessed the same cold, empty stare of a killer.
    Outside, the clouds had disappeared entirely. The light from the moon, rising above the neighboring apartment complex, spread its light into the small window of the dining room where I sat. Its allure was too powerful to resist. The second I stepped out onto the balcony, I became aware of a certain electricity in the air. As if something unstoppable had been set in motion tonight.
    I found myself searching the shadows of the lawn outside my first floor apartment.
    “Justin?” I called out, but my only answer was silence. A strange, uneasy silence that precedes something about to happen.
    It was a long time before I slept that night and even then, my sleep was broken with uneasy dreams that disappeared with the light of day.
    * * * *
    When I awoke the following morning, all the previous night’s transgressions came back to haunt me.
    I’d lied to Roc, the man I was in love with, driving a deeper wedge between us. I’d been dishonest with my team—the people I counted on to have my back—and I’d failed to disclose a valuable piece of information in not letting Roc know about my suspicions about Justin, which might someday be responsible for getting myself or another one of my team killed.
    By keeping silent, I’d committed what amounted to subversion.
    The usual nausea followed me throughout the day. I was sick most of the time now and yet I had been avoiding facing the truth until today.
    I’d stashed the pregnancy tests out of sight underneath the bathroom sink in case Roc should drop by, but even after having confirmation of my pregnancy in my hands, I still couldn’t accept it. After all, Roc and I were always so careful, taking all the necessary precautions, and yet according to the little pink positive signs on all three pregnancy tests, his guys managed to get through our best line of defense.
    I was pregnant. My future was all but sealed. I had to get out for my child’s safety.
    But even if by some crazy miracle, I was able to walk away from The Agency, which meant leaving Roc, I’d spend the rest of my life looking back over my shoulder. Wondering at every unnamed sound, every strange bump in the night, if this was the moment. Paybacks can be hell on earth. Payback for the type of work we performed might prove to be fatal.
    I’d wanted out for a long time now. Learning about the baby just made the decision final for me.
    This was Roc’s biggest concern when he’d recruited me to The Agency a little more than three years earlier. How many times did he tell me, ‘Rainie, don’t rush into this decision. You’ve been through a lot lately, losing your parents suddenly. Take all the time you need before giving me your answer. You have to be willing to commit your whole life to The Agency. There is no getting out.’
    He’d been right, of course. Dealing with my parents’ deaths, which happened very mysteriously in the small North Carolina town they’d gone to searching for clues to Justin’s disappearance, would have been impossible to get through without Roc’s help.
    But there was the baby to consider now.
    Roc and I never talked about having a family. Our world existed in the here and now. There was no room for talk about the future. Would he even care about the baby? Roc didn’t like to talk much about his childhood, but I suspected it hadn’t been a happy one. He told me once that his parents split up when he was still very young and he’d been shuffled off to his grandparents’ home in Anchorage, Alaska where he’d been brought up.
    The only question remaining now was when or if I were even going to tell Roc.
    None of that mattered, because it was done. I wouldn’t have an abortion.
    There was only one person I could trust with the news. The woman who had been my friend since our days back at the University of Virginia and my doctor since she’d obtained