Wild Magic Read Free Page B

glowed.
    “Step back,” she ordered, crouching to lift the rug’s corner.
    He understood then, knelt, and pulled the carpet back himself. A safe was set into a depression under a clear cover level with the floor. “Why is it shining? Why were you glowing?”
    She gave him no answer, only shook her head, as if she didn’t understand a word he was saying.
    He turned his attention to the safe. When he reached for the cover, she put out a hand to stop him. As they touched, a jolt of heat raced up his arm and through his body. They both jerked back, so she must have felt it, too. Despite the shock, he somehow managed to keep a poker face. What the hell was going on here?
    “Let me,” she told him. She held her hands over the safe for several seconds, and the glow diminished until it disappeared altogether. She removed the cover, turned the handle, and opened the door. A tiny light came on inside the opening.
    Together they peered into the foot-square compartment. The contents consisted of three manila envelopes, a black plastic four-inch-square box, a red leather-bound paperback-sized book, and a red drawstring bag embroidered with symbols. The bag glowed—probably the gold embroidery reflecting the dim light.
    She picked up the black box and held it out to him. “Is this what you’re looking for? Or one of the envelopes?”
    Jim stared at her for a moment. Nothing was making any sense. What had happened to the glow around the safe? How did she know what he wanted? Who was she?
    The cop in him immediately categorized her: five-foot-seven or eight, dark red hair, dark eyes—too little light to tell the exact color—slim, dressed in a dark blue or black dress. Then the man in him took over. She was gorgeous, curves in the right places, skin almost luminescent. Her wavy, shoulder-length hair made his fingers itch to touch and find out if it was as silky as it looked. She smelled good, and he inhaled deeply as her scent wound its way to him—and through him. Her full mouth was made for kissing—an idea that caused him to lick his lips in anticipation.
    She nudged his hand with the box and brought him back to business.
    “Yes,” he replied, took the box, and opened it. Success. The two small flash drives inside had to contain the data his informant described. He took his specially constructed PDA out of his pocket, plugged in one of the drives, and hit the buttons for copying.
    While the machine worked, he watched the woman pick up the book and look at a few pages, a puzzled look on her face. She put it and the bag in her purse, her slightly glowing purse, took out an envelope, and laid it in the safe. Was she a thief who left a receipt?
    His gadget signaled completion of the copy, and he began the process for the second drive.
    “Who are you?” he asked again. “What are you after?” He put his hand on hers, as if the physical connection would gain him answers. It only raised more questions when the jolt went to his toes this time, after making a couple of stops, one behind his solar plexus and the other lower down. He tried to ignore both the itch in his middle and the hardening in his loins.
    She frowned. “Nobody and nothing that concerns you,” she answered as his PDA clicked again. “We need to hurry. The auction begins in three minutes, I must be there, and I have to reset the alarms on the safe.”
    He restored the second drive to its box and handed it to her. She replaced it in the safe and, after she closed its door, said, “You’d better leave while I do it. The guard is due on his rounds, and it wouldn’t do for both of us to be caught here.”
    He didn’t like it, but he acquiesced. He rose. “I’ll see you outside.”
    He silently unlocked the door and checked the hall. It was empty. He looked back at her, and she was putting the cover on the safe. He stepped into the hall and took up a position close to the stairs where he could see her when she came out. They had some talking to do.

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