safe for now, but she had no doubt. The FBI guy would find her, and when he did, she’d be in a ton of trouble.
* * *
Kip Moore had a job to do. He actually had several. In addition to bringing down the branch of the Vladimir network that had popped up in Texas, he had to find the infuriating P.I. who had the nerve to draw a gun on him.
He didn’t know whether to be impressed or insulted. She might have been small, but someone had taught her how to shoot—and to shoot well. There were only so many P.I.’s in El Paso, so tracking her down wasn’t difficult. His P.I. lady was in truth, Sadie Lane of The Lane Group.
He needed to figure out her connection to the Vladimir network and his investigation. He was going to offer to bring her in as a consultant on the case. It would be the perfect way to find out what she was up to. He was currently on his way to pay her a visit. Turned out her office was on the outskirts of downtown not too far from where he’d let her out on Saturday night. It was part of a larger row of nondescript offices, and he read the sign outside her door confirming he was in the right place.
He was prepared for just about anything when he walked through the door, but he wasn’t expecting to stare down the barrel of her gun yet again. He couldn’t help but smile. “We can’t keep meeting like this.”
“Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?”
“Yes, ma’am, you did. But it wasn’t very polite of you to draw your gun on me the other night after I helped get you out of that mess in the woods.”
“I told you I wasn’t planning on using it. And I was more than capable of getting out of ‘that mess’ as you call it, all on my own. If you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty good with my gun.”
He laughed and looked at her closely. In broad daylight, she was even prettier than he’d noticed Saturday night. She wore dark jeans and a simple navy T-shirt. Her long brown hair hung loose down past her shoulders. Unlike so many women, she didn’t have makeup caked on her face. That was a plus. But it wasn’t like he had any time to date. Even more so, he didn’t have any business dating. Not right now, maybe not ever again. He quickly pushed those thoughts away.
“Why don’t you just lower the gun so we can talk without threats?”
“And why would I do that? You’d have yours pulled on me in less than a second.”
“You are a smart lady, Ms. Lane.”
She raised her eyebrow at him, and her dark chocolate eyes narrowed in disapproval.
“I’m Special Agent Kip Moore with the FBI. You can just call me Kip.”
“Agent Moore,” she said, as she held her head high. “I have work to do. I don’t have time for baseless FBI inquiries right now.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Lane, but if you don’t talk to me now, I’m going to come back and hound you every day until you do.”
She scrunched up her nose, and he could tell that she was thinking of how to play things.
“What do you want from me?” she asked.
“Answers.”
“I told you on Saturday night why I was there. I was searching for a missing teenager named Megan Milton. I don’t see that there could be anything else for us to discuss.”
“We didn’t find evidence of any missing teenager in the woods.”
“I went on a lead. You have to understand that when a child is missing, every lead must be checked out.”
He was skeptical but was letting it go for now. She was holding back on him. “All right. I can understand that.”
“Good, so now we’re done.”
He put up his hands. “Not so fast. Could you please lower your weapon now? I promise I won’t draw mine on you. You have my word.”
Her lips turned up into a smile and amusement flashed through her eyes. “I don’t even know you, Agent Moore.”
“I’m a federal agent.”
The room fell silent. After a few moments, she looked him directly in the eyes. “I would be a fool to take your word on anything.”
She was frustrating. Even more so because she had a point. “Okay, can I at least have a seat while I talk?”
She nodded. “That’s fine.”
He took a seat across from her desk in a comfortable chair, and took a moment to gather his thoughts. “First, things first. Here’s my FBI identification.” He removed his credentials from his pocket and slid them across the table. She picked up the ID with her left hand, still holding the gun in her right. After studying it for a minute, she nodded.
What was the best way to get through to her? “I need to know what you saw in the woods Saturday night. Take me through it step by step.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but he lifted his hand. “And before you say you didn’t see anything, remember that I know you had on night vision goggles. Looked like military grade if you ask me. And since I was in the military, ma’am, I’m quite familiar with how they work. So I know you could see and that you saw something.”
She sighed. “Could I see, yes. Did I see anything? No. I heard a lot of noises, but I never got visual on anything other than some FBI guys. And then you.”
He nodded. Was she telling him everything? “Why don’t you let me buy you lunch and see if anything more comes back to you?”
“It won’t,” she responded quickly.
Too quickly. Maybe he needed to provide her with an incentive to get involved. “I’d like to be able to tell you more about the investigation in hopes that you could assist us.”
“Assist the FBI?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She did that scrunching thing with her nose again and didn’t seem to be too enthused. Maybe he’d made the wrong move. He’d thought she’d be intrigued by the prospect of working with the FBI, but it seemed now that was not the case.
“I’ll have to pass.” She visibly relaxed and set the gun in front of her on the desk.
“Even if it involves working on a high profile case? Taking down some Russian mob types from New York that have shown up in El Paso?”
He watched as her eyes widened and the color drained from her face. Then she tipped over in her chair. He was by her side in a few steps. The woman had passed out on him. He really had his hands full now.
* * *
“Sadie, are you okay?” a deep voice asked. She must be dreaming. Igor’s grimy face flashed through her mind—his ice-cold blue eyes mocking her. Igor could find her. Hunt her down. He was close. So close. She was in danger. She felt strong arms propping her up. She knew the voice from somewhere but couldn’t place it. Then at that moment it came rushing back to her. Her eyes popped open, and
