A Time & Place for Every Laird by Angeline Fortin (ebook reader TXT) 📕

crap. No sightings. No reports, though his agents were at thepoint of exhaustion from hours spent in front of the monitors. Theyneeded to find this Manning woman before more people were hurt,including Claire Manning herself.

“Show me what you got, Marshall.” Jamesoncommanded, turning away from Nichols.

“Impossible to tell, sir.” The enthusiasm inthe agent’s voice dimmed and faded after he had watched theinteraction of the two senior agents. He backed up the videofootage and played it forward slowly. “Camera shot every twoseconds. We got one of the front, but the angle is too deep to seeinside. We’re lucky we could get enough of the license plate forsomeone to catch it.”

Jameson grimaced as Nichols lifted a mockingbrow.

Nichols pulled out a chair and sat next toMarshall. “How goes it on the other escapee?”

“Much more promising, sir. He …” he cast alook up at Jameson and corrected himself. “I mean, X20 has beenfairly resourceful but was easily noticed making its way out ofSpokane. Simms and his men are currently tracking it through themountains on infrared. They should have it soon.”

“Any chance the other one is with him?”Nichols asked.

“It doesn’t appear so, sir.”

Jameson was disappointed with theirprogress. Finding one being’s heat signature in the wilderness waseasy, but how would they track another body through a crowd ofmillions if the anomaly had made it into Seattle? “Get men at theSeattle airport. I want every flight checked and Claire Manningfound. Nothing on the family yet?”

Marshall shook his head, “No, sir, as far aswe can see she hasn’t attempted to contact her parents or callthem. No emails, either. We’ve got their phones tapped and theolder brother’s. Tails on friends, just in case, as ordered.”

Nichols shook his head for another reason.“You’re wasting time on her, Jameson.” The INSCOM agent raised abrow to the nervous Marshall. “Anything to connect her yet?”

Marshall swallowed tightly. “No, sir. Notyet.”

“Anything solid on J42 at all?”

“Still attempting to track him down,sir.”

With a grunt of aggravation, Jameson slappedhis palm down on the desk. “Get me something!”

Nichols rocked back in his chair andconsidered Jameson levelly over his Styrofoam cup as he sipped hiscoffee once more. “Jameson, I mean no disrespect here,” Nicholssaid softly, “but this is bullshit. You have no grounds to push tothis extent. Watching her house, her family … tapping her phonesand email based on a hunch? Did you even bother with awarrant?”

“And what have you got, Nichols?”

“I’ve got confirmation that nothing leakedand nothing is missing from the lab. Anything so problematic thatit might have been questioned has been rounded up or disposed of,besides those two men.”

“They are not men.”

Nichols snorted rudely. “Look who’s talking.They are nothing in the big picture. We get them, fine. We don’t,who cares? They will never last out there either way, and they knownothing that can threaten the project if they are exposed. We havedone our job. You should relax.”

“You should shut the fuck up,” Jamesonsnarled.

“Going off half-cocked like this will onlyland you knee-deep in shit if Colonel Williams finds out you’vebeen jacking with agency resources without cause,” Nicholswarned.

“I have cause!” Jameson said. “She ishelping him. I know it.”

Nichols only laughed at that. “You don’tknow shit.”

Chapter 27

Three dayslater…

Claire mentally shook herself and forced herattention back to the book in front of her, only to realize thatshe had no idea what had been said on the page before her. Turningback a page, she scanned that one and then the one before it, onlyto realize that she hadn’t absorbed a word of the book in almost adozen pages. Closing her eyes with a groan, she opened them againin time to see Hugh crossing the deck outside the window with yetanother load of firewood. His T-shirt was damp with sweat, clingingto his muscular body. She could see the bulge of his pecs, themovement of his lats as he walked. His biceps stretched the shortsleeves tightly.

Had the definition of flirtation somehowchanged in the past 250-plus years? Because this was beginning tofeel more like payback.

Admittedly Claire hadn’t finished that firstkiss with the intention of slipping right into bed with Hugh, andit was true that she was lacking recent experience in the wholearena of romance, but she had expected something … more. That extraedge that transformed playful interaction into flirtation.

But ever since leaving theCrab Pot, nothing more significant than that single kiss had takenplace. When they had returned to the house, the evening hadfollowed the same theme as others before. They talked, ate andcleaned up together before retiring to the library, where Hugh hadbuilt up a fire to ward off the chill. Hugh had then taken up themonstrous A History of the Worldto read, but instead of ensconcing himself alonein the cocoon of the library’s big armchair, had taken a space onthe couch a few feet from where Claire had curled up with the thickfile Danny had printed for her.

The evening had been pleasant but not at allwhat she had expected after Hugh’s confident assertion of hisflirtatious skills and after his demonstration at the restaurant.He was close enough to tease her with his presence, for her to feelhis body heat and to hear him breathe, but far enough away to deterany of the touching he had been allowed by their new agreement.When the clock had struck midnight, he had banked the fire and ledher upstairs to her bedroom door. There he had bid her goodnightand turned away to his own room, leaving her to wonder when itwould all begin. To her, their casual camaraderie had turned tointimacy. It was that shift when friends were not merely friendsany longer, when awareness overrode friendly interaction. Theattraction had been there before their departure that morning, butby that evening it had increased tenfold.

Surely, given license to proceed, Hugh meantto act on it?

Still, the next day had delivered only moreof the same. After that single embrace and intoxicating kiss, Hughhad been nothing but courteous, charming, and humorous company asthey were confined inside throughout the rainy May day. They hadplayed games and read with Robert’s collection of classical musicCD’s streaming in the background, and through it all, Claire