Beneath the Secrets, Part Two (Tall, Dark & Deadly) Read Free Page A

disappear without her having proof they’d existed.
    “Kara?” Blake’s voice snapped her
back to the table, and when her eyes met his, she felt that
familiar flutter of awareness he so easily created in
her.
    “Yes?” she answered, barely finding
her voice as the memory of being beneath him in the truck swept
over her.
    “What do you want to drink?” he
asked softly, a warm quality to his brown eyes saying he hadn’t
shaken off their intimate encounter anymore than she
had.
    “Drink. Right. Yes.” Kara cast the
waiter an apologetic look, her senses reeling as Blake’s hand
settled on her leg, heat pooling low in her belly. “Sorry. Coffee,
please.”
    The waiter departed and Ignacio’s
gaze settled on Kara, his lips twisting snidely. “I thought I was
buying you a drink?”
    “I prefer a clear head,” she
replied tightly. And a steady hand on my
gun.
    “Talk to me about the staff here at
the restaurant,” Blake said, pulling Ignacio’s attention to him,
and Kara had the distinct impression it was intentional. He didn’t
like Ignacio focusing on her. That made two of them.
    Ignacio stared at her several more
seconds that felt like an eternity before shifting his attention to
Blake. “What do you want to know?”
    “Who’s in the know about the true
nature of the operation?”
    “The restaurant runs like any other
with a staff who know no differently. Eduardo, the manager, and the
entire warehouse staff are, as you say, ‘ in the know’.”
    “How many does that
make?”
    “Thirty, mostly
non-English-speaking illegals who do our handling.”
    “What time do the daily shipments
go out?”
    Kara watched Ignacio’s jaw flex, a
subtle sign he didn’t like to be questioned. But then, no one had
questioned him in a long time. “Ten. That allows us the coverage of
restaurant traffic.”
    “And who’s in charge of overseeing
the product making it to the pier?” Blake asked.
    “Eduardo signs it out and I
personally sign it in.”
    “Every day?” Blake pressed. “Seven
days a week?”
    “Monday and Thursday only,” Ignacio
corrected. ”The Coast Guard has a bigger presence on the weekends.
We still run the boats, but without product.”
    Kara’s gaze flicked back to Eduardo
and the girl as they got up and headed toward the back. A powerful
urge to follow, to know the girl was okay, if only for now,
overcame her. “Excuse me,” Kara said. “I need to go to the ladies’
room.” She snatched up her purse and didn’t look at Blake or
Ignacio, but Kara could feel Blake’s eyes on her, hot and heavy,
and she knew she wouldn’t have long before he’d come after
her.
    Quickly, Kara cut behind the bar,
following Eduardo and the girl into the hallway that led to the
bathroom and a series of offices that she’d tried to get into once
before but found locked. The hallway was empty but one of the
office doors was cracked open.
    Kara eased her way to the wall by
the opening, flattening against the wall, and she could just barely
make out Eduardo’s voice. “I need the blonde,” he said. “Now.
Tonight.”
    “I can’t get her here until
tomorrow night. She said she has to—”
    “The boat leaves at 4am. Tomorrow
night is too late.”
    “Eduardo—” The female yelped.
“Ouch. You’re pulling my hair. It hurts.”
    “I said I need her here tonight. If
she isn’t on that boat that goes out you’ll be on it instead, which
means you’ll be everyone’s fuck buddy on the island.”
    “I’ll find a girl.”
    “That girl. It has to be her. We’ve
cleared her records already.”
    Kara’s stomach rolled. She’d been
right. They were running some sort of sex operation with the women
they made disappear. She didn’t want to think about what that meant
for her personal agenda. She couldn’t. Not now, or she might lose
it and go in that office and shoot Eduardo. That wouldn’t get her
the answers she so desperately needed.
    “Go get her,” he ordered, and Kara
whirled to escape and