The Perfect Hostage (A Super Agent Novella) (Entangled Edge) by Misty Evans Read Free Book Online Page A

pumped through her veins, demanding she do some thing. Anything. The bad memories from her abduction and torture at Dmitri’s hands swam through her head.
    The bedroom had a fireplace. Although it was gas, it looked like a traditional log-burning unit like the one downstairs. It even had a set of iron accessories. Bolting across the room, she grabbed the poker, tapped the solid iron against her palm. Better safe than sorry .
    Returning to the bed, she plunked down with her weapon. Endless hours of therapy had helped her control her fear of being a victim, but when confronted with the real possibility once more, the therapy, she discovered, was flat-out worthless.
    John’s here . Nothing bad would happen when he was around.
    She kept a tight hold on the iron poker and watched the door.
    …
    The squeak of wet shoes on the marble floor gave away the intruder’s presence.
    John pressed his back against the living room wall next to a portrait of Charles and Olivia and froze. That’s what he’d heard upstairs: the unmistakable sound of wet boot tread on a dry surface.
    Easing forward on bare feet, he brought the front door into view. There were no lights on downstairs. None except for a red light on the security panel that told him the system was activated. How had the guy gotten in?
    For a second, John hoped it was Lawson who’d come back because Zara had forgotten something. Lawson would’ve announced himself. Lawson would’ve waited until daylight.
    A dark shadow outside the massive front windows caught his eye. Clouds had moved across the moon again, but snow lit the landscape, turning the dark lake a bluish white.
    Except where the tracks of a vehicle had disturbed the snow.
    Who the fuck would be out in this storm?
    John recognized the tracks. A four-wheeler had made them. A four-wheeler that had pulled something behind it. A cart? A wagon?
    The footsteps in the kitchen fell quiet, but the distinct presence of another human in the kitchen radiated in the stillness. Was the intruder a survivalist nut who’d gotten lost in the storm and sought shelter?
    John glanced at the red light. A stranded person would have knocked and rang the doorbell. If they’d broken in, the security system would have gone off.
    Which led him back to the idea the person had a key, knew the security system’s code.
    One of the Morgan family? He couldn’t see them traveling in anything but their fancy cars, and definitely not in this kind of weather.
    He edged toward the fireplace. The fire was long out, the embers cold. His cell phone and Lucie’s lay on the mantel. He snatched up both, turning his on, and pocketing hers.
    He kept his phone on silent all the time, a habit born of being in compromising situations in the Berets and with Pegasus. The bars showed no service. Not surprising in this area under the current weather conditions. He touched an icon on the screen of what looked like a normal app and his phone transformed into the Agency-enhanced computer it was. The extra juice stored inside the phone amped its ability to find a cell tower. After typing in his password, he went through a series of screens and found a list of available Wi-Fi connections in service that could link him to a specific satellite. Once it connected, he sent a message to Lawson: Trouble brewing. May need backup.
    What kind of trouble was the question. Boot treads. A four-wheeler. A quiet intruder who had bypassed a high-end security alarm to do a B&E during a blizzard.
    Only a few types of people could or would pull that off. And they weren’t your garden-variety survivalists.
    Military. Special ops. Assassins.
    None of which made him happy, but…
    A military or spec ops soldier would never give himself away by the sound of his boots. An assassin smart enough to bypass a security system? Puh-lease .
    John had to operate under that assumption anyway. Whoever the mystery man was, he was good. Just not as good as John.
    Need to get eyes on him.
    Passing the