Hot Pursuit by Christina Skye Read Free Book Online

closer to the clerk. “Hygiene? Paper? You know—women’s things.”
    When the clerk showed no sign of comprehension, Taylor gave up and ducked into the nearest aisle, intensely aware of the growing silence. The chunky man was standing beside Rains, who looked even paler than before.
    Taylor inched back down the aisle. Coming after Rains was probably a bad idea. His nasty friends on the street had looked like people who played by their own rules.
    She circled back to the checkout area, planning to head for the door.
    But before she could pass him, the clerk motioned to her and leaned forward.
    â€œHelp,” he whispered, his lips barely moving. “You leave quick, miss. Then you call police fast.”

Chapter Five

    He watched her from across the street. She was hot and sweaty, her hair glowing gold in the sun, black leather hugging trim curves.
    The woman had great legs, no mistake about it.
    Jack Broussard couldn’t help a flash of raw male speculation before his mind snapped back to work. He’d been tracking Taylor O’Toole under close surveillance since she’d left her apartment. During the jaunt, he’d noticed Rains’ altercation with a group of strong-arm men whom he knew to be Argentinean nationals. Jack had called in a situation report and was assured that his intervention was unnecessary because federal agents were already monitoring the scene.
    But to his infinite irritation, Taylor had calmly followed Rains inside the convenience store. The woman was stalking him, without a hint of a doubt.
    Jack glanced at his watch, scowling. Taylor O’Toole was everything her file had said—brash, stubborn, and smart. The file had told him all about her twelve best-selling books, the sister near Carmel, and the coastal resort that had been in their family for three generations. He also knew her shoe size, food preferences, important friends, and shopping habits.
    But files didn’t tell you how a woman moved, how she smelled up close. Taylor O’Toole got five-star reviews on both counts.
    Jack felt no guilt at this intrusion into a stranger’s privacy. As a SEAL, he knew damned well that the U.S. government didn’t set up surveillance on civilians without justifiable cause.
    Not that Jack wanted this surveillance assignment. Demolition and bioweapons work was his real expertise, and he’d been in the middle of a training mission in the jungles of Puerto Rico when a chopper had landed, pulling him in for briefings about a top-level Navy scientist who’d gone missing with secret lab documents. Jack didn’t know what his attractive neighbor had to do with the kidnapped scientist, but as a SEAL, he wasn’t paid to know all the details.
    Right now his mission was to stay on top of Taylor O’Toole 24/7. If she was contacted, he was to document all details. If her involvement raised any red flags, he had orders to take her into custody. If she came under attack, he was to yank her out of harm’s way fast. Rumor had it that Taylor’s brother-in-law had pulled more than a few strings to ensure her protection, and Sam McKade had plenty of friends in high places after his act of heroism the prior year.
    But certain things continued to bother Jack, starting with Taylor’s fall from the rocks the day before. The explanation she’d given didn’t hold up. Jack knew that experienced climbers checked their gear and fixed protection obsessively, since their lives depended on it. Ropes didn’t just pull free, and bolts didn’t snap for no reason. Either her instructor had slipped up—or the equipment failure was no accident.
    Most people would have put the fall down to simple carelessness, the kind of thing that could befall any amateur, but Jack Broussard wasn’t most people and he never left questions unanswered. Being prepared had saved his skin a dozen times while walking point through a steamy Colombian jungle or