Nameless Read Free

life?”
    McBride’s question interrupted her from her ruminations. Allowing her attention to drift like that was a strategic error she couldn’t risk repeating in his presence. As far down skid row as it appeared he had gone, she had a feeling that beneath that hangover and I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude, he was still damned sharp at drawing conclusions.
    “Yes,” she told him. “The e-mail included a photo.”
    He moved around her to help himself to another cup of coffee as if they had all the time in the world.
    Anxiety and anticipation tightened her chest, making every beat of her heart an unnatural effort. Each second seemed an eternity. Each minute that got away from her was one she couldn’t get back, one that might prove pivotal as this case played out. Standing around here wasting those precious moments had her tension mounting at breakneck speed.
    To make matters worse, standing this close to McBride, she found it impossible not to inhale his scent—a mixture of man, heat, and his many vices. He seemed taller than the six one his personnel file had listed. Definitely leaner than the one ninety he’d weighed according to those stats. The instant he opened the door, he had put her off balance. Scarcely dressed … all that naked skin culminating in the fuck-me vee exposed by his unfastened jeans.
    She had arrived prepared for his bitterness and underlying anger. Like he said, the way his career ended had been ugly, and very public. But none of her preparation had readied her for his blatant sexuality. He had been handsome before, but this edgy, primitive version of that man had her scrambling to regain her usual poise.
    The angles of his face were more distinct than in the photos she’d seen, as if time and living a life of debauchery since leaving the Bureau had chiseled them so. A couple of days’ beard growth accentuated those distracting changes. The whole package was very disconcerting.
    “No luck tracing the IP?” he asked when he had made some headway on his second cup of coffee.
    “None,” she admitted. That was one of the few things they did know already, the unsub was smart. “This one knows how to erase his cyber footprints better than most.”
    “Sounds like you don’t have much considering you’re beyond the twenty-four-hour mark.” He turned his head, stared directly at her. “That’s bad, Agent.”
    “That’s why I’m here.” She held his gaze, understanding on some level that he used this probing intimacy as an intimidation technique rather than as the crude invitation he would have her believe. “We need you.”
    He set his cup aside. His hand shook and he immediately fisted it to halt the visible reaction to his apparent overindulgence in self-abuse. According to his psych evaluation, he hadn’t been a drinker or a smoker during his time with the Bureau. This raw, uncut demeanor gave the definite impression that the crash of his career had taken a significant toll. His brown hair was longer, shaggier, as if he hadn’t visited a barber in quite some time and didn’t care. The Florida sun had streaked it with gold. His current occupation, when he bothered to show up, was acting as a spotter at a local nightspot. He mingled in the crowd, watched for trouble, giving security a heads-up as necessary. From the look of things, he mingled a little too much.
    Whatever McBride’s demons and addictions, the only thing she cared about was obtaining his cooperation. This was her first opportunity to play a principal part in a high-profile case. The only way she was going to get Worth’s respect, or that of any of her colleagues, was to prove herself in the field. She had to make this happen. They needed to know she could do it. She needed to know she could do it.
    Challenging Worth’s decision on not bringing in McBride was a step in that direction even if it risked her career. Call it instinct, woman’s intuition, whatever, but she had a feeling that McBride was the only one who