Steele Read Free Page B

Murdock’s office without knocking. “I put two guards on her,” he said without preamble. “Siren got to her first and scared her pretty badly. But she’s agreed to come in with us.”
    Ryan pursed his lips. “I knew Siren would want her, but I didn’t think they’d act so fast.”
    “It’s no wonder. She’s as strong as we believed. Maybe stronger. That’s why Siren wasted no time in contacting her. But they made a huge mistake in trying to bully her. She may still be weak on the outside, but she’s strong as stone on the inside. She didn’t stop fighting, even when they backed her into a corner.”
    Ryan mulled over this. “They must want her pretty badly to try and force her like that so soon.”
    “My sentiments exactly,” Steele replied.
    “Keep a guard on her at all times when she’s away from the compound. I don’t want anything else to happen to her while she’s under our care. The less stress she has, the better we’ll be able to work with her.”
    “Siren will try again to get her,” Steele pointed out.
    “I know. The persistent bastards. But we’ll just have to deal with that when the time comes.”
    There came a knock at Ryan’s door. “That’ll be Vicious.” He reached out to hand Steele a manila folder. “Here’s tonight’s assignment.”
    Steele moved, file in hand, and opened the door. The dark-haired man on the other side gave Steele a nod as he passed out of the office, then took his place within. The door closed on the two men and Steele rubbed a hand over the top of his head.
    It was time to shave again. He could feel persistent spikes of hair trying to grow. He hated his hair—a cross between red and blond, it curled like crazy and only served as a distraction when he was working. Enemies could easily grab one’s hair and yank savagely. He couldn’t—and wouldn’t—have that.
    He looked down at the file in his hand and opened it. Pictures of men stripping down stolen cars lay within, as well as a schematic of the building they were using to carry out their illegal activities. Steele clenched his jaw, shut the folder and went to prepare for the long night ahead of him, putting the last lingering thoughts of Marla aside.
    * * * * *
    Marla lay in bed, mind running furiously, keeping her from sleep. Night filled the room—she’d unplugged all of the electrical appliances—and a slight cool breeze came in from the open window. Oh how she’d missed the feel of fresh air washing over her skin!
    She couldn’t stop thinking about the events of the afternoon. Everything had changed for her within the space of a few minutes. If Steele was to be believed, and strangely enough she did believe him, then she needn’t worry anymore about her hospital bills or her lack of a job. From near bankruptcy, she now had a fortune to look forward to.
    All she had to do was allow Sterling to study her. And that couldn’t be too bad, could it?
    Her thoughts took a turn and, with a sliver of anxiety, she dwelled on the odd and dangerous behavior of the two men from Siren. They’d actually dared to pull a gun on her! She didn’t know what to think about that. She’d been scared, of course she had, but she’d also felt assured that she could gain the upper hand. Would they have fired on her had they known of her daring? How badly did they want to study her—if studying her was all they wished to do, which she doubted?
    Marla admitted to herself that she wasn’t entirely surprised by the offers from both parties. She’d suspected that, once the headlines in the papers had revealed her new quirks, something like this would happen sooner or later. She just hadn’t expected it so shortly after her release from the hospital.
    And what to think of the giant, Steele? He was a hulking brute of a man…but she’d sensed gentleness in his nature right away, and she sure as certain liked him better than the men from Siren. His eyes, nearly silver they were so gray, had spoken volumes to her.