Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

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    “Yes,” she answered, very low. “He’s had extensive training.”
    “I’ll just bet he has. What’s he really doing here, Abbey?”
    “I didn’t know he was here until I saw him at the harbor. I have no idea how long he’s been here either.
    I know less than you.” She worked at keeping her voice expressionless.
    Jonas caught her chin in his hand, tilting up her face, studying the smooth curves. “He put that neat little circle right between your eyes, didn’t he? He slammed that gun into you hard enough to give you a bruise and he would have pulled the trigger if it had been anyone else.”
    “I can’t say what he would have done,” Abbey protested, pulling her face out of his hands, “and it’s a smudge. He thought I’d killed his partner. You were pretty upset that night as well. All of us were.”
    “You should have seen him examining the cliff,” Jonas said. “He knew exactly what to look for. He saw something I didn’t. I’ve gone back three times to try to figure out what he saw that we missed. He was like a damned bloodhound.”
    There was self-disgust mixed with reluctant admiration in his voice.
    “He’s a good detective. Why can’t you work together?”
    “Because he isn’t working with me. He ‘did me the courtesy’ of telling me he was in the area. He neglected to say he had a man undercover and he only gave me the bare outline of what he was after.”
    Abigail shook her head. “I don’t know any more than you do.”
    “I know there’s something between you, Abbey. I really, really don’t want to stick my nose in where it isn’t wanted, but I can’t, in good conscience, let this go. He’s from Russia. The world over there is very different from ours. I’m guessing, from the way he moves and the way he acts, that he was trained in something a little more lethal than police work. His background, if one tries to look into it, is a huge mystery. I’m betting he’s an intelligence operative and I don’t like that idea at all.”
    “You’re being melodramatic and you’re making him sound like a spy. He’s a police officer, no different from you, and if you checked up on him then you know he’s legitimate.” Abigail had no idea why she couldn’t stop defending Aleksandr, but the words kept tumbling out of her mouth in spite of every intention to remain silent. “I know you, Jonas. If you didn’t think he was Interpol, he’d be in jail or thrown out of the country. You have too many friends.”
    “He has more than I do. Whatever he is, he’s got a lot of heavy people behind him. Things work differently in other countries. Before you get upset”—he held up his hand—“I know you’ve traveled extensively, but there are places where the police just shoot the suspect rather than try to bring them before a judge. And there’s a lot worse things going on. I’ve seen men like Volstov and he’s not just a cop.”
    “It happens here as well,” Abigail pointed out. “But I understand what you’re saying to me and I promise I’ll be careful.”
    “Abbey, I don’t think you are understanding what I’m saying to you.” Jonas sat back as he pushed a hand through his hair, betraying his agitation. “Men like Aleksandr Volstov can be in the same room with Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    you and you don’t even know they’re there. They can move fast and if you blink you miss them. They walk down a street as casual as can be and someone passing by falls to the sidewalk dead before their body ever hits the ground. They’re already gone and no one can quite remember how to describe them.
    That’s his world and he lives in it and he’s comfortable in it and make no mistake, he’ll kill to protect it.
    You could get hurt.”
    Abigail avoided looking him in the eye. “I know that, Jonas.”
    “What is he to you? How far into this relationship are you and can you back out of it?” Jonas leaned closer. “It isn’t just you we have to worry about. These people play rough. His partner has been killed.
    Somehow I don’t think he’s going to take that lying down. That mark between your eyes tells me that.
    Tell me what you know about him.”
    Abigail wanted to deny any relationship. They didn’t have one anymore. They were never going to have one again. “Only that he was a policeman in Russia and that he says he works for Interpol. That’s it.
    That’s all I