The Evasion by Adrienne Giordano Read Free Book Online Page B

knew Gabe wanted to make lieutenant by the time he was thirty-five.
    But she also knew he’d walk away. He’d do it for her . Some would call him a fool. She’d call him an honorable man. A man willing to sacrifice for his loved ones.
    I adore this man .
    And yet, she couldn’t let him give up the task force. Not when it could catapult his career. If the roles were reversed, she wouldn’t want to make that decision and she didn’t want him to either. Stuck. That’s what they were.
    “You look like you’re thinking. That always scares me.”
    She shrugged, held their joined hands in front of them. “It just bugs me that we can’t do this at home.”
    “I can leave the task force.”
    “No.”
    “Then why are we talking about this? There’s nothing we can do except catch this Martinson asshole.”
    Right. She waggled the fingers of her free hand in front of her. “Let me have that phone number. I’ll get one of the firm’s investigators on it. See who that phone is registered to.”
    “I was going to call Tom with it.”
    “It’ll be faster if I have one of my people do it. Besides, you’re the one who wants to do this quietly. Tom will ask questions.”
    He stopped walking and still holding her hand, squared off with her.
    “Gabe, you know I’m right. Tom will have a million questions.”
    He let go of her hand, dug the number from his pocket and handed it to her.
    “Thank you. By the time we get to the hotel, we’ll know who that phone is registered to. Count on it.”
    —:—
    Gabe parked the rental car in the small lot behind the hotel and stared up at the back of the old Victorian. In his world, this facility would be called a bed-and-breakfast. A hotel meant a Marriott or a Hilton and would be forty stories high with long, door-lined hallways. This hotel was a big ancient house dropped on the edge of town next to other big ancient houses.
    “Wow,” Jo said. “How fun is this?”
    He glanced at her, ready to jump in with an equally snide comment, but she stared out the windshield with a quiet sense of wonderment he didn’t always see on her. Conclusion: her comment wasn’t meant to be sarcastic.
    He sighed. “I hope our room has a king-sized bed.”
    Christ, he hated those midget beds that his giant feet hung off of.
    “Don’t be such a worry wart. I requested a king and the owner said it shouldn’t be a problem. I mean, how busy can this place be?”
    She didn’t sound too convinced and just as he was about to share that thought, her phone rang.
    “Ha!” she said. “That’s Sherry’s ringtone. Told you we’d have an answer fast.”
    Sherry, one of Jo’s investigators, scared the hell out of him even more than Jo with the risks she took. These women thought nothing of entering back rooms and basements of stores in their never ending quest to find counterfeit merchandise. As a cop, Gabe understood their motivation, their need to conquer the bad guy and all that crap. He got it. No problem. But as a man with street sense, he couldn’t wrap his mind around it.
    Jo took the call, rummaged in her purse for her notepad and made notes. A minute later, she punched off. “Okay, Mr. August, that phone number you stole belongs to a business here in town. TBR Industries. I have the address. We should check it out.”
    Gabe checked his watch. Almost nine. He could get Jo settled in and do a sneak-and-peek. He wouldn’t actually go into the building since they were already pushing the boundaries of investigating on their own, but maybe a drive-by and a look in the windows.
    Keeping silent, he eased out of the car.
    “Gabe, did you hear me?”
    “Sure did.”
    “Oh, come on.”
    This would make, what, the eight-hundredth time they’d had this argument? The one where he told her to keep that beautiful ass of hers inside and out of danger while she let him do his job. No matter how many times she agreed, she never could resist the pull of action.
    He didn’t blame her. If he had to sit at