Boss On A Leash: A Single Dad Billionaire Romance by Kara Hart (new books to read txt) 📕

and looked around the small apartment. She liked it, it was comfortable. The television was still on The Cartoon Network so she sat on the couch and started watching. She thought back to how she’d been in similar situations like this before on many occasions, but mostly in hotel rooms. While her client was asleep or in the bathroom, she would just steal what she could easily pawn at Ted’s, leave, and never look back. She always made it a point never to take any money; she always got paid up front, and taking extra could get her hurt. She always took something that would not be noticed for several days, something that could be written off by the client as just being lost or misplaced. She took a sip of coffee and  to herself. But this was different.

Yes, Jeff was a cop, and she had had her run-ins with them before, but there was something about Jeff that she really liked. He could be kind and generous, but he could obviously be tough when he needed to be. She knew that first hand the first time they met that night off of 15th Ave. But, there was something else about him, a childlike innocence in the way he saw the world which, along with the big dog, made her feel safe. Something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

She reached for the remote which was lying next to the computer. “Hey! That’s not a Mac,” she said out loud. She leaned forward looking at it, then slid the computer toward her. It was very light and shaped like a laptop that couldn’t close shut. The screen and keyboard were of a shiny black glass and she could not discern any letters on the keyboard. She ran her fingers over the shiny keyboard and felt no letters, not indented or embossed. A touch-screen keyboard, she thought. Then her hand ran over the power button which was activated by the body heat of her finger. Screen and keyboard lit up. “Oh!” She jerked her hand away as if it would bite her.

The image in front of her was something she had never seen before. The “desktop” had the official Interstellar Police Force insignia on it. The same that was on Trent’s badge. Jennifer stared at the logo. It appeared to her to be three planets orbiting a distant sun. The text above and below it was in a script she could not read. She glanced down at the keyboard. It was indeed a touch-screen keyboard, and the keys were now brightly lit, but not configured like any computer keyboard she had ever seen. “What the hell is this?” she said, while looking at the letters on the keys which were in the same text as the script on the desktop. “Hieroglyphics?” She stared at it for a few minutes more, then thought out loud, “Oh, I get it. It’s some kind of police encryption program.” She decided that she was not going to mess with it any longer. She slid the computer back to where it had been, picked up the TV remote, and started channel surfing. The computer automatically shut down after five minutes of inactivity.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Jeff and Genghis spent all day parked on the corner of 10th St. and 13th Ave in the heart of the Compton Square district of Old Town. The cameras were all out in this area, but they didn’t see Colus Valda anywhere. At one point they both got out and walked several blocks, but to no avail. After about three pm they decided to go back to the apartment and pick Jennifer up.

Colus Valda spent the day in Chloe’s duplex. She was at work so he had the place to himself. He didn’t like to venture out unless he absolutely had to, especially now. But today he would have to. So, he kept himself busy by sleeping, raiding the refrigerator, and watching television. When he found the local news on the TV still reporting on the Compton Square apartment fire he relived every exhilarating moment of his best work ever – or at least his best work since the munitions factory fire on Tarket. His heart started racing and blood coursed through his veins when he saw the video replays of the building collapsing to the ground in a black billowing cloud of smoke, dust, and flame. Part of the building landed on a police car, crushing it, which made him laugh hysterically.

Colus looked up at the clock and decided it was time to go and meet up with Bollar. He grabbed his things and went out the door, stood for a few minutes, and looked up and down the street. He didn’t see the IPF, so he started walking over to Ray’s. When he got to the bar, Bollar was sitting at a table. He gave Valda an indignant look and glanced at his watch.

“Yes, yes, I know,” Valda said to Bollar as he sat down. “I’m late, but I couldn’t turn away from the entertainment box.”

“I saw,” Bollar said, while taking a drink of his beer. “Actually, Colus, I was pretty impressed.” He held out his hand.

“Hmm?” Colus didn’t understand at first, then, “Oh! yeah, yeah. The Interrupter.” He reached into his pocket and removed the device that kept his location masked from the IPF agent and hesitantly handed it over to Bollar. “I’ll be staying with the human female Chloe so I should be fine for a couple of days. And I’ll walk the streets that don’t have any cameras monitoring them. But I ah . . . would like it back soon.”

Bollar just stared at Valda for a few seconds. He never liked Colus Valda. He was the type who would get them both caught with his stupidity and carelessness, and his . . .

“What?” Bollar looked at the Interrupter. “What is this? Why is it sticky?” He looked up at Colus. “What did you do to