Croc and the Fox Read Free Page B

did say what a cold bastard he was. His last girlfriend, a few years back, said he lacked a pulse. He didn’t, it just beat very slow.
    Or usually did. With a womanly shape pressed against him, his heart actually pattered a little faster than usual.
Probably from the jog up the stairs with his burden. He’d have to hit the gym more to make up for his lack of physical endurance.
Reaching the big, black truck with tinted windows, he pulled open the passenger door and saw Jessie sitting in the driver seat, tapping madly on her tablet. She didn’t look up.
“Ahem.”
“I’m busy,” she muttered.
“I need a hand.”
“Since when?” When he didn’t reply, she raised her eyes from the screen. Her lips twitched as she looked him over. “Forget a hand. Don’t you mean the jaws of life?”
“Not you, too.”
She grinned wider. “Oh, come on. It’s not every day I see you hugging someone.”
“I am not hugging her. I am merely making sure she doesn’t fall off.”
An arched brow spoke eloquently of what she thought of
his claim.“Are you going to help me or not? She’s one of the
    victims, obviously. We need a trauma team.” Maybe some oil to loosen her grip.
“Sorry, Viktor. You just missed the last one.”
“Shit.” Now what?
Jessie set down her tablet and scooted over. She peered at his victim. “I don’t see any obvious signs of injury. Does she need immediate medical assistance?”
He shook his head. “No. I didn’t see any evidence of physical damage.”
“Is she unable to communicate?”
“Oh, she can talk,” he said dryly. “Even if some of what she says is crazy.”
A red mop lifted and amber eyes glared at him. “I am not
crazy.”“Really?” he queried. “We’re outside under the big, blue
    sky.”
She squeaked and hid her face again.
“Viktor! That was mean,” Jessie chastised.
“Just proving my point. Now, are you going to help me?” “I don’t know what you expect me to do.”
“Get her off me.”
Jessie chewed her lower lip. “Um, excuse me, miss,
would you mind getting off agent Smith and coming with me?”
    No verbal response but a head shake clearly indicated no.
A shrug lifted Jessie’s shoulders. “I tried. Guess you’re stuck with her.”
“Jessie!” he hissed.
“Viktor,” she aped back with a taunting grin.
“I can’t go back in and command the cleanup with her hanging around my neck like an albatross.”
“Don’t worry about it. Mason’s already taken over. Although, at the time, when he called it in, I wondered what he meant by you ditching the job in favor of dating.”
“I’m going to kill that bear,” he growled.
“Get in line. My dad’s already claimed first dibs. Looks like you’re stuck with your new friend there for the moment. Hop in the back with your honey, and we’ll get out of here.”
“Aren’t you still needed? We did our best to keep the computers intact so you could extract their information.”
“You caught the bad guys completely by surprise. They didn’t have time to wipe anything. Mason established a link to their computer and is uploading the files for me as we speak. I can’t wait to dig into those and see what I can find. Since I don’t need to do any fancy, high tech mumbo jumbo, we’re free to go back to base. But keep in mind, if you’re going to make out in the backseat, keep the clothes on because I don’t want to go
blind.”Grumbling about bossy, think-they’re funny swans, and
    no good bears, Viktor managed to slide into the back seat, his passenger not loosening her grip at all until the door slammed shut. Tentatively, she lifted her head and peeked around.
    “Is this a car?” she asked.
“A truck.”
“And it is going to transport us?”
“We’re going to take you to processing,” Jessie
    announced, starting the engine and putting it into gear. At the first lurch, his lady tucked back into him, and holding in a sigh, Viktor hugged her loosely.
It was going to be a long trip.

Chapter Three
    Damn FUC,