Still Mine by Mary Wine Read Free Book Online

she did understand what it was like to watch your case evaporate into thin air. There was nothing more frustrating to a deputy devoted to his badge. She owed Kent that much respect.
    Nothing but darkness met her searching gaze. The engine settled into a steady drone as they hit an interstate. The driver kept within the speed limit, a move designed to help them integrate into the flow of traffic. Most people didn’t understand how easy it was to get lost among the general population. Jo did. Without a speeding getaway or some other clue like a license plate number, even Ross Locke wouldn’t be able to track her down. The plates on the Hummers were generic government numbers, not something many people knew, but a feature of Special Forces. An entire fleet of military vehicles placed around the country with identical plates. There was no way to single them out. Once they reached their destination, she could be moved to any point on the globe and there would be no record. She was going to disappear with as much ease as a SEAL team might.
    Taking a deep breath, she forced her heart rate to remain calm. Panic would be a death sentence.
    It would appear she was going to discover just who wanted her company so badly. She needed to concentrate on that. The details didn’t really matter as long as she got to the center of the problem. Any information would get her closer to a resolution.
    The sharp focus of the men inside the Hummer sent a tingle down her neck. Ross Locke ran a tight team but there was a marked difference that she felt as they continued down the highway.
    The real question was what finding out would cost her.
     
    Paul replaced his phone with nothing more than the slightest sound. The office was dim, only a small light still aimed at his desktop. A detailed blueprint was clipped on a raised tabletop, but the complicated equations didn’t snare his attention like they normally did. Sleep wasn’t even a distant memory in spite of the early morning hour because he’d never laid down in the bed.
    His package was secure. Jonnie…
    A large hand slowly lifted one of the numerous pictures that cluttered the top of his desk. It was always amazing when the one percent possibility emerged as the reality. But that wasn’t what fascinated him the most. The expression on her face, captured in living color, was what his mind dwelled on. What was she thinking and did she think about him? Did he make as many appearances in her dreams as she did in his? The surveillance photo slipped from his fingers and settled among the others on the surface of the desk.
    She wouldn’t be smiling when she saw him. In spite of that knowledge, he felt a surge of anticipation move through him.
    Picking a photo up again, he studied the radiant smile on Jolene’s face. His lips twitched up in response. The emotional reaction made his fingers tighten on the edge of the picture. A curse slipped out of his mouth as his gaze caught the display on his computer monitor.
    His current project was almost complete. The top-secret aircraft would keep the edge tight on global dominance for the American Air Force. It was an achievement that had driven him to give up the only other thing in life worth devoting his soul to.
    His wife.
    But just maybe he didn’t have to be caught between his twin passions. She hadn’t moved on, hadn’t taken a lover or found a man to father that baby. Neither had he discovered another woman to replace her. Valda sure had tried to make sure he didn’t wander off base again. The man had carefully paraded a prescreened and approved number of women past him in the last few years. But none of them were Jonnie. The promise of sex should have snared his attention; instead, he’d buried his energy in the project on his worktable. Jerking off in the shower his only concession to the physical needs of his body.
    It had always been a facet of his personality, obsessing over his newest creation. That part of his character ran deep. Even