The First Prophet by Kay Hooper Read Free Book Online Page B

working with Cait again?”
    “Yeah. She’s at the hotel. And when I get back there, she’ll pretend she isn’t the
     least bit curious about who my mysterious source is—and it’s killing her. Don’t worry,
     though. She knows the score. She knows only what she needs to know, just like the
     rest of us.”
    “So if one falls, only a few more can be taken down at the same time,” Josh murmured.
     “Like the Resistance cells in World War Two, protecting those at the core, the few
     who know the identity of all the fighters in every cell. The safest way, I know. But
     it makes it all the more difficult for you to work effectively as a team.”
    “What choice do we have?” It was a rhetorical question, and Brodie didn’t wait for
     any attempt to answer it. “Thanks for the data, Josh.”
    “Let me know, any hour of the day or night, if you need anything else. And I mean
     anything, John.”
    “I will.”
    They didn’t shake hands or say good-bye, though both knew it might easily be months
     before they saw each other again.
    If they saw each other again.
    Josh slid from the car with hardly a sound, and a few moments later Brodie saw headlights
     come on farther back along the street. An exceptionally quiet motorpurred as the dark sedan passed his own car, turned a corner, and vanished into the
     night.
    After a few minutes, Brodie started his own car and pulled away from the curb, his
     eyes automatically seeking any sign that the meeting had been noticed as he left the
     quiet neighborhood and headed back to the hotel and his impatiently waiting partner.

    Tucker came abruptly out of a deep sleep, his first disoriented thought that Pendragon
     wanted out. The cat had mysteriously vanished by the time he had been ready to bunk
     down on the couch, and Tucker had been reluctant to knock on Sarah’s closed door to
     find out whether he had somehow slipped in there with her.
    So the faint scratching sound brought him upright on the couch, filled with the sense
     of something left unfinished.
The cat wants out. Damned cat.
He blinked at the morning brightness, automatically checking his watch to find that
     it was seven thirty, then pushed the blanket away and swung his feet to the floor.
    It wasn’t until then that he looked toward the door and saw the knob turning.
    Even as he heard the security system beep a mild warning as the door was opened, Tucker
     was on his feet and moving swiftly in that direction. It occurred to him belatedly
     that he didn’t have a damned thing handy with which to defend himself, but that didn’t
     stop him.
    He almost decked her.
    Wide blue eyes took him in—fist raised, bare-chested,beard-stubbled, and wearing only a pair of boxers decorated with cartoon characters—and
     she let out a rich chuckle.
    “Well, I would say Sarah finally struck gold after way too much brass, but if you’re
     sleeping on the couch, handsome, she’s obviously still missing the train!”

THREE

    Margo James was a redhead like Sarah, but all resemblance stopped there. She was tall
     and voluptuous, her gestures and movements were quick and almost birdlike, and she
     talked with blunt, brisk cheerfulness, contentedly misusing words and mixing metaphors
     right and left.
    Tucker had plenty of time to observe all these traits when he had returned from his
     quick retreat to shower, shave, and dress, because Margo insisted on fixing breakfast,
     telling him that Sarah always slept till nine at least.
    “I’m the early bird, and she’s the bat.”
    Tucker stopped himself from wincing. “You mean the night owl?”
    Margo waved a spatula. “Yeah, right. It’s amazing that we get along so well. We’re
     really as different asafternoon and morning. Take our antiques, for instance. Sarah has a real feeling for
     what’s genuine but doesn’t have a clue how things should be priced, whereas I know
     the value of a thing down to the penny—but can be fooled by a fake really easily.”
    “Sounds like