Never Cry Mercy Read Free Page B

the bar.
    One of the guys cleared his throat.
    I swiveled the barstool a hundred and eighty degrees.
    The pair stood about four feet away, tattooed arms crossed over their chests, heads cocked, hardened looks on their faces, like a couple of wrestlers doing a promo shoot before a cage match. If that was the best they could do to intimidate me, it would be an easy night for me.
    "Help you?" I said.
    "We were wondering the same thing," the flagpole-looking guy said.
    "I'm doing all right on my own." I kicked the floor and spun back toward the bar. Flagpole reached out, grabbed my shoulder with his bony fingers. My momentum stopped. I swung back toward them.
    They stood in the same positions, the skinny one a little closer than before. Neither spoke.
    "I'm just passing through," I said. "Don't want any trouble. Don't need it, frankly. But if trouble comes looking for me, I'm ready."
    My words must've delivered a shot of adrenaline to the heavy guy because his breath quickened and his face darkened. He prepared to attack. But it wasn't him that did.
    The skinny guy darted forward, moving faster than I figured he could. He grabbed my collar with one hand as he cocked the other back. He held his fist there. Big mistake. He should've struck when he had the chance. Now all I needed was for him to swing and throw himself off balance.  
    The kitchen door banged and swung open again. Both men diverted their gazes down the bar to the other end of the room.
    "Linus," a woman said. "Get your damn hand off him. Now, I mean it. Both of you, get back to your table."
    The skinny guy, Linus, let go, brushing my shoulder off before retreating back a few steps and ultimately returning to his seat. His heavy partner had already found his way to their table. My gaze bounced between the pair, waiting to see if either decided to defy the woman.
    And who was this woman? She commanded the two men, who easily combined for five hundred pounds, like they were her children. They cowered off to their corner without a word in return.
    I turned to face her, expecting to see someone who matched my old partner Bear in stature, and possibly looks.
    But she didn't.
    She looked like someone I'd known years before. A woman who'd been in my life for a brief period of time, but left one hell of an impact. A crater I hadn't managed to crawl all the way out of.
    She wasn't an exact replica, though. The face, eyes, shape and size of her body, they were as I remembered. But the hair was wrong. Too short. Too trendy. Too blonde.
    The woman stood with the edge of the door pressed into her back. Smoke from the grill wafted through. Her stare was fixed on me. Her lips remained parted, like she'd become stuck mid-breath. Had she stopped breathing?
    She made her way down the bar, eyes narrowed, head angled. A dozen memories flooded my mind as I recalled the intricate web of secrets that drew us together the first time.
    She stopped in front of me. Brushed her short hair back.
    There was no doubt of her identity as I stared into her eyes.
    "Reese," I said under my breath.
    I'd met Reese McSweeny several years ago when a job Frank Skinner had brought to me turned upside-down in every way imaginable. Reese was an NYPD homicide detective, but her story ran far deeper than that of a cop. A foster brother turned SOG operative. A husband turned terrorist supporter. In the end, all forces merged into one final showdown, and she was forced into witness protection. I'd often wondered what had become of her. Never imagined she'd end up working in a dive bar in the middle of nowhere.
    She leaned in close to me. Her mouth was inches away. The mixture of grill smoke and her body lotion made my mouth water and my face burn with desire.
    "Jack," she whispered. "Don't call me that. Everyone here knows me as Billie."
    "Billie, huh? They give you a last name?"
    She started to answer, but her eyes shifted to her right, toward Linus and his partner. "We can't talk like this right now. They'll get