Shades of Gray by Brooke McKinley Read Free Book Online Page A

“If locking my door is the best the FBI has to offer in the way of protection, then I’m seriously hosed,” Danny had felt compelled to point out. As usual, Miller had ignored him.
    The day was warm for this time of year, the open windows bringing the scents of fall inside, along with weak sunlight that illuminated dust motes hanging heavy in the air. The pungent tang of car exhaust, rotting leaves, the crisp apple smell of autumn, and the musky aroma of cologne all mingled together in Danny’s nose.
    Danny went still, bile rising in his throat. Cologne? I don’t wear cologne. He stumbled forward a step, caught himself. He could still detect the faintest hint of fragrance wafting toward him on the breeze blowing from the open windows at the back of the apartment.
    Oh, shit! Oh, fuck! They’re in here. Okay, calm…breathe… He couldn’t go out the front door. By the time he unlocked it they’d be on him. Get into the kitchen. Go now, asshole. Move! But slowly.
    Danny walked into the kitchen with his bags of groceries, an even pace, humming lightly under his breath. Like everything was normal.
    Like there wasn’t at least one someone in his apartment who was seconds away from blowing his brains out through his forehead.
    Danny set the sacks on the counter, moved out of the sight line of the living room. Quickly and quietly, he crossed to the large window next to the refrigerator and peered out at the rusted fire escape. He’d never tried to open this window. Never tried putting his weight on the fire escape, either. But when you have no options, your choices are easy.
    One, two, three… do it! He heaved against the frame and the window opened in a screech of flaking paint and groaning wood. He could hear feet pounding toward the kitchen and someone yelling in Spanish as he vaulted onto the fire escape, throwing himself down the steps and pitching forward to miss busting his mouth against the ancient metal by mere centimeters. Run, don’t look back. Run!
    But of course he looked back; how could he not? One floor from the ground he jumped clear of the fire escape and took off at a dead run Shades of Gray | 39
    around the corner, but not before he glanced over his shoulder and saw two men racing down the steps after him. The man in the lead kept coming, but the one behind stopped. Danny would have known that face anywhere; it haunted his dreams almost as often as Hinestroza’s did. Madrigal. The man Hinestroza always sent to clean up a mess. The man Danny had known for more than a decade. The man who never left the house without cologne. Madrigal gave Danny a smile made wolfish by too many pointed teeth crowding against thin red lips. He didn’t seem bothered that Danny was getting away, saluting Danny rakishly with his silencer-tipped gun. Danny’s escape only made the hunt more fun.
    Danny winged out of sight, suddenly grateful for all the exercise the guards had made them do in prison. He plowed through the mass of people lining the street for the local farmers’ market, for once not bitching about the commotion. Halfway down the block he ducked into a tiny bookstore, weaving his way through the stacks until he was hidden in the back.
    He pulled the cell phone from his jacket pocket, sweat running down his face to drip onto the key pad as he hit the button for Miller’s number. Answer, goddamn it! Pick up the fucking phone!
    “Sutton here,” Miller answered after the fourth ring.
    “They know,” Danny panted. “They were in my apartment.”
    “Where are you?”
    “That little bookstore right around the corner from my place.” Danny paused to suck in a lungful of air. “On Walnut.”
    “Are you safe there?” Miller’s voice was tight and matter-of-fact.
    “Fuck, Miller, I don’t know!” Danny flung his hand outward, sending a spray of books toppling to the floor. “Shit!” The woman up front gave Danny a suspicious glance over the rim of her glasses.
    “Sorry,” he called, bending over to