Operation: Endgame by Christi Snow Read Free Book Online Page B

covered with a joke about her students shooting at her, but Jake wasn’t fooled. She was deathly pale and her composure was visibly shaken. While her voice remained strong and sure, her hands were shaking and her eyes were wary and shifting as she watched the room.
    There was definitely something going on and whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Jake needed to do some investigating before he let Cassie know of his presence. He had a feeling, as stubborn as Cassie was, she was going to start stonewalling him. He needed to find out what was happening before she had a chance to do that.

Chapter 12
     

    Jake pulled himself into his truck, shoving the crutches into the passenger seat. He had a feeling he knew someone who might give him more information than Derek had been willing to impart. At least that would be the case, if she knew what was happening. He knew Cassie and she didn’t allow other people to help her very often, but if Derek knew what was going on, then Penelope might too.
    All of them, the girls and the guys in Cassie’s life, had spent their college years hanging out together as a huge group. They were all friends, so he didn’t think twice about heading to Penelope’s store. Cassie hadn’t trusted Colton or him with this information, but maybe she’d trusted the girls. He pointed his truck down University and turned onto 19 th Street.
    There was a whole row of glorious mansions which flanked the edge of the campus on the South side. A few of them were still residences, but most had been converted to hold commercial businesses. Penelope owned a bookstore which she ran out of one of the old Colonial-style mansions, called Raider Readers.
    As he opened the door, the bell tinkled above it. The front room looked empty, but he heard Penelope call out from deeper in the house, “Come on in! I’ll be out in a moment.”
    Jake chuckled as he glanced around. The house was gorgeous. When Penelope started the bookstore, she didn’t change the layout of the house at all. The rooms were all still in their original configuration. They were now simply overflowing with books and bookshelves. Each room held a different genre of books. It was a bibliophile’s dream.
    Jake browsed through the shelf showcasing the fiction new releases while he waited on Penelope. He didn’t realize the new James Patterson novel was already out. He was thumbing through it when Penelope walked into the room.
    “Jake?” Penelope rushed up to him and enveloped him in a huge hug, but then frowned down at his crutches and cast. “What did you do? Does Cassie know you’re here?”
    “Hi, Penelope.” He grinned at her and looked down at his cast. “It was simply a bad jump. No big deal. The cast should come off next week, and no, Cassie doesn’t know I’m here yet.”
    She looked at him quizzically. “I didn’t think so since I just talked to her a couple of hours ago and she didn’t say anything about you. Don’t get me wrong, I love it when a good-looking guy comes to visit me, but…” She gave him a flirty smile, but she had a definite confused look about her. “Why are you in town and more specifically why are you here before you’ve even said hello to Cassie? Are you book shopping or do you have something on your mind?”
    Jake lifted the Patterson book. “A little bit of both. I want to buy this, but really I need to talk to you.”
    Penelope took the book from him, set it on the counter, and motioned towards the back of the house. “Let’s go have a seat in the reading nook and we can chat.” The reading nook was a part of the house that at one time was probably the parlor. There was a fire roaring in the fireplace and several leather club chairs scattered throughout the room. One corner featured a tall, narrow Christmas tree twinkling with little white lights. Jake could hear the music from the Nutcracker playing through the sound system. The walls were covered with dark oak paneling and the entire room evoked a