For All to See (Bureau Series Book 1) Read Free Page B

her skull.
    “You know the rules. No barking before sunrise. I’m sticking firm to that today. So don’t give me any droopy-faced looks and think you’ll get away with it.”
    Dutifully, he chuffed.
    “I swear you’re brilliant.”
    He rubbed his head into her open palm. She opened the door, and then held tight to the doorframe. “Okay,” she whispered. Ninety-five pounds of bone and muscle rocketed out the door with more enthusiasm than was humanly possible.
    Madelyn stepped from the tiled floor and her athletic shoes settled into the sand. Her lungs filled with salty air. A sigh lifted some of the fog of her mild hangover. Deacon barked.
    “Deacon Garrett, the rules,” she chided.
    She flipped the bottom lock and turned to glare at him. His stocky frame faced the lush vegetation at the back of her small house. The black brindle pattern that made him look like a panther with multi-colored tiger stripes stood out against the white beach backdrop. Her gaze rose over the steep mountain to their back. The first rays of sunshine lightened the sky over the low peak.
    Deacon tilted his head, sniffed, and barked again. This time the noise had an irritated edge to it.
    “Come on, boy. Leave the monkeys alone. We’re late.”
    With no time for a warm up or easy pace, Madelyn hurried down to the shore where the wet-packed sand held against the force of her churning legs and took off. Or so she thought. Deacon’s incessant circling told her she’d eased off instead. His mocking didn’t faze her like it normally would have. Most of her effort went to finding a rhythm, keeping it, and holding on to her stomach’s contents.
    Her calves burned. A sting settled in her chest. The mild morning waves burbled to her right. That sound, and knowing Nichole would be waiting for her, and probably worrying by now, kept her legs moving.
    Finally the diamond-white sand met pitted and broken asphalt. Madelyn eyed her destination a quarter mile past the beach’s edge. The ramshackle metal building had outlived its better days. Still it remained useful, like an old man past his prime who worked his garden daily. It refused to be resigned. Its light-cream paint was chipped in places and the wooden stairs of its entrance were warped by the moist air and unrelenting sun.
    The gleam of its interior lights reassured her. A neon blue sign, jutted out above the entrance, professed Adisa Gym . The sign beckoned like a light house’s beam. The solid surface under her feet improved the resistance and allowed her a strong final effort. A burst of speed propelled her legs to stretch and pull faster and faster. She ate the road beneath her and smiled when Deacon pulled alongside her, lowered his head, and pushed too.
    Madelyn dragged herself inside the gym door. Deacon pranced in front of her and scooted off to make his rounds. Investigating every smell and greeting every patron was hard work.
    Dried sweat mixed with the musk of new in the humid air. The stench had become a comfort. She filled her lungs with it as she worked the tremors out of her leg, resting her foot high on the base of the fighting ring and stretching. Several regulars were scattered across the gym. Some wailed on heavy bags while others pounded weights up into the air with animalistic grunts and groans, their strained muscles binding with tension.
    At least I’m not the only one moving slowly this morning.
    “How’s my best girl?” a booming voice asked.
    “Don’t let Nichole hear you say that,” Madelyn warned.
    Amadi Chiduben, the owner and Madelyn’s mentor, strode his monumental frame from the hallway that housed lockers, bathrooms, and his personal quarters. Muscles wrapped muscles forming a sloping topography of potent ability beneath his midnight-sky complexion.
    “She’s not here yet. Else, I’d never have said it.” His dark lips parted, revealing a brilliant smile. “Nichole is a lover. You’re a fighter.”
    She was now. Thanks to him and years of