Dangerous Secrets Read Free Page B

a man had a fling with.
    She was the forever kind of woman, and a woman like her wouldn’t settle down with a man like him. He was straight blue-collar working boy and she was class and money. It was just the way of the world.
    His phone rang, jarring him out of his mental bashing. When he saw the number he frowned. It was a little after one. “Hey Ben. Everything okay?”
    “Yeah,” his brother said. “Couldn’t sleep. Figured you’d be off work by now.”
    “I’m on my way home.”
    “How are things with the rich girl?”
    He gritted his teeth. When he’d agreed to this, he’d thought of her the same way. Not anymore. “Her name is Izzy and don’t call her that.”
    “Whoa man, chill. I was just checking in. We’ve got two weeks until Edward decides which security company to use.”
    “Tell me something I don’t know,” he said as he took a left turn.
    “All right, I will. We landed the temporary hospital gig and the contract for The Devlin Group in Cartagena.”
    “We got the Devlin job?” Adam wasn’t surprised about the hospital job. They’d needed to beef up security after a few serious bomb threats and he’d known their bid was right on the money.
    Landing The Devlin Group, however, surprised him. Marcellus Security had put in a bid to provide security for six Fortune 500 company executives and their families operating and living in Colombia for a month in a very high profile deal. Adam had been concerned their bid was too high but he’d been unwilling to cut costs to hire second-rate contract employees. All his guys were ex-military, most of them former Special Forces.
    “You better believe it. I’ve already contacted the team. They’ll be ready to go. Of course Marian is already bitching about the paperwork, but I’m sure once she gets her next bonus check she’ll change her tune.” Ben’s voice was light and Adam knew his brother didn’t mind Marian’s complaining any more than he did.
    Marian was their cousin and had been with them since they’d started Marcellus Security four years ago. Back then she’d worked for pennies while pulling sixty-hour-plus weeks. She could complain all she wanted because she’d earned it.
    Adam sighed as he steered into his driveway. He and Ben were partners and he hated leaving him and Marian with all the day-to-day business. “I should be back in a few weeks. Listen, we don’t need the Forester job so if you want me to come back—”
    “Forget it. Edward Ballantine might be a little strange, but we’ve got the right numbers, and if we land this gig, it’ll open the door for government jobs. That man has all the right contacts and I don’t think I need to tell you that’s where the real money is.”
    Yeah, his brother didn’t need to tell him that. The security industry was cutthroat but if they could get in with the government, it would open up contracts all over the globe.
    Something he needed to remind himself of when he was around Izzy. He couldn’t let his growing feelings for her get in the way of their plan. She might be trying to gain her independence from her family but she didn’t have a clue what it was like to starve or worry about getting shot walking home from school.
    He and Ben had been taking care of each other since they were kids. He was tired of working for pennies. And this job would change their future.
     
    The man glanced in the rearview mirror as he headed toward the outskirts of town. It didn’t look like anyone had tried to follow him from Mad Dog’s. He didn’t think anyone had time to write down his license plate number.
    Still, he might have to lose the truck anyway. The small town police department of Coconut Bay was getting remarkably close to tracking him down. Maybe they were finally catching on to his clues, subtle though they were.
    Contrary to what stupid psychologists and psychiatrists thought, he didn’t want to be caught. He simply enjoyed screwing with the detectives on his trail. Soon he’d