The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents #6)(31)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Her blood iced. No, no, no.

Hugh’s smile stretched across his face. She knew that smile. It was his fake smile. One he gave when he was in the presence of an enemy.

She wasn’t Hugh’s enemy. That just left…Cooper.

“If anyone can keep her safe, I guess it will be you, bodyguard.” Hugh walked around the desk, clutching his bag. He paused for just a moment beside Gabrielle. “I’ll be seeing you again. You can count on it.”

Her heart felt like it was about to burst from her chest.

Hugh didn’t trust Cooper. She sure got the message he’d sent her—loud and clear—should have realized it sooner.

Hugh reached for her. He hugged her—and slipped a small flash drive into her hand.

Her fingers curled around the drive, concealing it completely.

He pulled away. This time his smile was real. It reached his eyes. “You know I can’t turn away from a good story,” he said.

No, he couldn’t.

“I’ll be back.”

He strode toward the door. Cooper started to slide out of his path, but Hugh stopped him. Hugh slapped a hand down on Cooper’s shoulder. “If Gabrielle gets so much as a bruise…”

Gabrielle slipped the flash drive into her back pocket.

“…you’ll answer to me.”

Then Hugh was gone.

Cooper glanced her way. “What the hell was that about?”

It was about Hugh not trusting him. About Hugh being forced out of D.C., but by whom?

Her money was on the EOD. She needed to access that flash drive, but Hugh had concealed it from Cooper for a reason, and she didn’t want his eyes on it, not until she’d seen for herself just what material it contained.

“He’s gone!” Penelope poked her pretty head in the doorway. “Actually gone—with a serial killer loose in the city! Am I crazy? Or is he?”

Gabrielle’s heartbeat drummed so loudly she was sure that Cooper and Penelope had to hear it.

“And there’s someone here,” Penelope continued as she smoothed back her hair. “Some woman who said she’s from the FBI.” Her perfectly manicured index finger pointed to Gabrielle. “She keeps asking to see you.”

The situation was going from bad to worse.

Cooper was frowning now as he glanced through the doorway.

Penelope smiled at him and she batted her lashes. “The FBI lady is right down the hall, second door on the left.”

Cooper hurried out.

Gabrielle crept toward Penelope.

Penelope’s smile vanished. “What is going on?”

“I’m not sure.” She didn’t want to mention the EOD to Penelope. Until she figured out more about what was happening, Gabrielle didn’t want to risk the other woman’s life.

Sure, Penelope was flighty, she was flirty, but she was also one of the few people that Gabrielle counted as a friend.

“What can I do?” Penelope asked. “Hugh’s worried, I can tell, and when he worries…I worry.”

Gabrielle eased out a slow breath. “I need to use your computer, and I need you to keep both Cooper and that FBI agent busy while I do it.”

Penelope nodded. “Done.” She started to walk away, but then stopped. “When this is all over, you’d better share your byline with me.”

“I will,” Gabrielle promised. She would have promised just about anything right then.

Penelope bustled away. “Oh, Cooper, the agent is this way, in the conference room…”

They only had one conference room. It was down the hall, in a location a good thirty feet away from Penelope’s desk.

Perfect.

Gabrielle all but ran for the empty desk.

* * *

AN FBI AGENT. What were the Feds thinking? To get involved in an EOD case like this just wasn’t protocol. Mercer should have shut them out immediately.

“Right here,” Penelope said, her perfume seeming to swirl in the air around him. She threw open the door. “Agent Noelle Evers, this is Cooper Marshall. He’s—” Penelope broke off, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “I think he’s working with Gabrielle,” she murmured, sounding confused.

“I’m her partner.” Cooper crossed the room and offered his hand to the slim redhead. He’d never seen the woman before. Her handshake was brief but solid, and he had the feeling the woman was assessing everything about him—probably because she was.

He glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see Gabrielle.

But Penelope was the only one there, and she was shutting the door.

He pulled away from Agent Evers. “Gabrielle…”

“Oh, she’ll be right in. She just stopped by the restroom.” Penelope lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Talking with Hugh got her emotional. She hated to see the old guy go. He was like a father to her.”

Her real father had left her too soon and with a fear of storms and a quest for justice that wouldn’t end.

He headed for that door. If she was upset, he wanted to be with her.

Penelope blocked his path. She smiled at him, but her gaze drifted to the FBI agent. “You’re here about the D.C. Striker, aren’t you?”

The D.C.—

“Yes,” Agent Evers said, voice smooth, “I am.”

Excitement lit Penelope’s gaze. “He’s a serial killer, isn’t he? Hugh was right about that. You’re here because that’s what the FBI does. You hunt serials.”

“It’s one of the many things we do,” Agent Evers said, still in that smooth voice that didn’t give away any emotion. “We hunt them, and we try to figure out why they do the things that they do.”

Her job was very different from his.

He didn’t try to understand the killers. He just eliminated them.

* * *

GABRIELLE SANK INTO Penelope’s chair. Her fingers were trembling as she pushed the flash drive into position.

A few clicks of the mouse, and she had that drive open.

There were two files stored there.

One was titled…EOD.

She clicked that one first.

Her gaze darted over the document that opened. It looked like it was a series of notes that Hugh had made.

Ex-military. Covert Ops. Specialize in hostage retrieval and unconventional warfare. Lockwood and McAdams…military records are sealed. Possible EOD agents.

Then Hugh had listed what appeared to be a series of locations and dates. Were those EOD missions?

A phone rang beside her, and Gabrielle jumped. She glanced up, made sure no one was watching her then she went back and clicked on that second file.