Hard to Trust by Wendy Byrne Read Free Book Online Page B

PM. Even though she'd practically fallen asleep while eating, he couldn't trust her. Some lessons he had to learn the hard way, but maybe it had finally penetrated through his thick skull.
     He secured the state-of-the-art alarm at his place that kept people out and—in her case—some people in. Next, he made a phone call to Jennings. He needed to brief him, as well as figure out if he knew what those guys from yesterday were about. If Jake believed her and dismissed the potential for paranoia, it seemed like they might have been stalking her for a couple of days.
    "I've got her at my place."
    "This operation is so hush-hush they haven't even told me what happens when you retrieve her, other than expecting you to keep her safe." Jennings chuckled. "Maybe they didn't expect you to be successful so quickly."
    "Success is a relative term in this case. Somebody's after her. They seem like CIA types, but she keeps babbling about the Russians. It's all very weird, and I'm not sure what to make of it yet." He mulled through the options, thinking out loud more than looking for input. "You sure the people who hired The Alliance were CIA?"
    "They used their letterhead, and the check came from them, so that's my assumption."
    "All I know is somebody's after her, and they're playing for keeps."
    "Who knows? Maybe they're tied to whatever happened in Afghanistan. Has she told you anything about what went down there?"
    "Are you kidding? I can barely keep her from kicking my butt."
    Jennings chuckled. "I guess you're not using that Shaw charm you're so famous for."
    "Either that or she's immune."
    "That would be a first." Jennings cleared his throat. "Are you secure at your place?"
    "For the time being, but I have no doubt those guys will come looking for us. They might not know who I am right now, but chances are it won't take them long to figure it out."
    "What's your plan?"
    "I need more information. I need to know who's involved before I can figure out what role she has in the whole thing."
    "Where is she now?"
    "In my spare room, passed out cold after a couple of days of sleep deprivation, with the aid of a Tylenol PM chaser. Yep, that's how I roll with enemy combatants."
    "Okay, now you're exaggerating."
    "I'm telling you, she seriously kicked my butt, or at least tried to. I'm secure enough to admit the woman has skills."
    "All I know is they want her safe and hope you can dig up some information before they move on to the next step."
    "What the hell does that mean? This is the frickin' CIA. It's not like they have scruples or anything."
    "They're a client. I'm not privy to their reasons."
    Jake could sniff out doublespeak a mile away, and Jennings was doing it right now. "They want her for something specific. Something she knows, or something they think she knows. They don't want to protect her. Whoever they are, she's fair game as far as they're concerned. I'd stake my life on that."
    "Don't be foolish, Jake. From what I hear, she's good at sucking people in with her lies. She fooled even her best friend and ended up getting him killed."
    He'd known this woman for less than twenty-four hellacious hours, but he still didn't think she was some sort of Mata Hari. She was vulnerable and scared and beautiful, which definitely put her in the running as premier candidate for a woman he was most likely to get fooled by.
    "Jake, don't mess around with this. They told me in confidence they believe she might have killed two other agents on her last mission. From what I hear, neither one of them saw it coming."
    "I've gotta go, Jennings. I'll check in with you later."
    He peeked into the bedroom and found her sound asleep. For a minute or two he thought about chaining her to the bed to make sure she didn't run away while he slept. He was exhausted. But he didn't want to be naïve about the situation.
    Failure wasn't an option. Maybe others who had brothers close in age, like him, suffered from the same malady. Being constantly compared to