True Read online

  “I could kill Brice.” She was livid. “That son of a bitch.”

  “Some believe you knew what he was doing.”

  It was a verbal slap in the face and it hurt. “I didn’t.”

  “Did you receive any money from him? The task force team is checking your finances.”

  “Not the way you’d think.” She really wanted True to believe her. “The only time he helped me financially was when I moved to South Dakota. I had to rent a truck to move my stuff and needed enough money to get into my apartment. I couldn’t afford the first and last month’s rent because I hadn’t planned to go there until he told me about Cornas. Someone had to prove New Species were there so he could get them free.”

  “How much money did you accept?” He didn’t look happy.

  “He gave me two thousand dollars.”

  True stood, pacing the room. Jeanie watched him, worried he’d think the worst.

  “I only accepted that money because I didn’t have the funds to move. I swear I didn’t know he demanded a ransom from the NSO for the information I gave.”

  He stopped, stared at her. “Okay. I’ll relay that to the task force members.”

  “Did Agent Brice give you the names of the employees at Cornas? How many of them were arrested?”

  “Just you. We were given no list of employee names.”

  She pushed at the sheet, trying to climb off the side of the bed. “Do you have a pen and paper? I want to write them down. They’ll try to flee the country.”

  True blocked her from standing by stepping next to the bed. “Stay down. You’re healing. I’ll bring you something to write on.”

  “Thank you.” She covered her legs and leaned back against his padded headboard.

  True walked to the bedroom door but then paused, turning to face her. “You should also write out a list of personal contacts so we can notify them of where you are. I’m sure your loved ones are worried.”

  “No one will notice I’m gone for quite a while.”

  He tilted his head, frowning. “What about the male in your life? He must be frantic, attempting to discover your whereabouts.”

  “You mean a boyfriend? I don’t date.”

  He stepped closer. “Why not?”

  She dropped her gaze to his chest again. “I just don’t.”

  “Jeanie? Answer me.”

  Her gaze lifted to his. “I just don’t. Can’t we leave it at that?”

  “No. You’re an attractive female. There should be a male in your life.”

  She glanced anywhere but at him, her cheeks warming from embarrassment. It made her feel elated that he thought she was attractive. That feeling quickly faded. He could have said it to be polite.

  “I just thought it was safer. I was living a lie, unable to trust anyone because it could get me killed. A boyfriend could have been a plant hired by my bosses to see if I was trustworthy or not. I also didn’t want either of those places to think I had close ties to anyone who could be hurt by association. They loved to make threats about killing the people we cared about if we betrayed our confidentiality clauses.” She paused. “I distanced myself from my friends and family to protect them. They only hear from me on birthdays or Christmas. I knew they weren’t empty threats after…” She just couldn’t say it.

  “They forced you to become a test subject,” he guessed.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “After that I had no doubts about how evil those bastards could be.”

  “I’ll be right back.”

  He left the room. One glance at the nightstand assured her he’d taken the cell phone. She really wanted to dial the number for Agent Brice. He had a lot of explaining to do and she had some choice words to say to him. He’d lied and she’d been used. True wouldn’t make that up.

  She huddled on his bed. One sweeping glance across the room revealed he didn’t display many mementos or personal items. It reminded her more of a hotel room than a home. It made her sad. She wished there were mementos on his walls or at least some photos of friends to indicate he had a lot of people in his life.

  True disconnected the call and ground his teeth in frustration. The task force team seemed leery of Jeanie’s story. Trey had listened to him until Tim came on the phone a few minutes into the conversation. The male again demanded she be returned to his custody. It wasn’t going to happen.

  A slight noise in the other room alerted him to Jeanie’s movements. He stalked to the doorway and peered inside. She’d slipped out of bed, had crossed the room and stood in front of his dresser.

  “What are you doing?”

  She jumped and spun around, eyes wide. Suspicion surfaced that she might be searching for a weapon. He wanted to trust her but refused to be made a fool of again.

  “I didn’t want to disturb you but I was hoping I might be able to borrow some of your clothes.”

  “Why?”

  She waved a hand down the front of her body. “I’m not a huge fan of these gowns. They are kind of uncomfortable and they didn’t have anything else for me to wear at the hospital.”

  “There are shirts in the top drawer. You may borrow one.” The idea of his clothing against her bare skin created an odd, possessive reaction inside him. He didn’t like it one bit but refused to deny her comfort.

  “Do you have any boxers or drawstring shorts?”

  “Third drawer down.”

  “Thank you.” She appeared emotionally torn as she just stood there. “I hate that this is so awkward between us. I imagined things would be different if we ever saw each other again.”

  Curiosity became too strong to resist. “How so?”

  “It never crossed my mind that you’d think I was one of the bad guys.”

  “You’re female.” He hoped a little humor would ease the tense situation.

  “You know what I mean.” She sighed. “Thank you for at least giving me the benefit of a doubt by bringing me here instead of allowing them to take me to prison.”

  He took a cautious step closer, then another, before coming to a halt. “You never harmed me or any others I spoke to from Drackwood. Fuller is a bad place for females. One was killed there a few months ago. I refuse to allow you to be put in danger.”

  “Killed? You mean executed?”

  “Not by us.” He regretted the fear he identified on her features. “The guards there allow the inmates a little exercise sometimes by having them walk between the cages. The female’s cell door wasn’t locked by mistake and she was attacked by other prisoners when they freed some of the males. The guards weren’t able to save her.”

  She took a step back and bumped into his dresser. “That’s horrible. They beat her to death?”

  “You don’t want the details. She didn’t die well.”

  “Thank you for believing me. I’m afraid of Polanitis. He has to know I’m the reason Drackwood got busted. I never called in sick for work except the day of the raid. He’d do anything to get even.”

  True felt grateful she didn’t question him further about the human who was killed. “I want to believe everything you say.”

  She flinched. “It’s hard to trust me. I understand.”

  He didn’t enjoy seeing the unhappiness on her face. “You can change your clothes in the bathroom.” His gaze ran down her body, lingering a little too long on her shapely, attractive legs. “I want you comfortable.”

  She turned away. The dresser was tall and she had to ease up on tiptoe to peer inside when she opened the top drawer. He immediately went to her aid. True’s torso pressed against her back when he reached around her, his hand brushing hers as he grabbed a shirt.

  Jeanie sucked a sharp breath, her head jerking in his direction to stare at his face. He studied her features. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “I know.” She didn’t edge away.

  She smelled sweet. The lingering scent of her fear played hell on his libido. It would be easy to wrap an arm around her waist, lift her off her feet and carry her to his bed ju