“That subject is off-limits,” she snapped, striding from the kitchen toward Karl’s voice, which was rising animatedly from somewhere on the stairs. “We’re keeping things professional, remember?”
He followed her from the room, feeling the metaphorical door slam in his face. Goldie was full of anger and resentment, not only for him but for God too. And it wasn’t his job to try to fix it.
On the grand carpeted stairway, Karl was agitated as he clutched his cell phone tightly to his ear.
“This is the worst possible news we could receive right now,” he said into the speaker. “I agree that we need to source two more agents to replace Goldie and Zeke. I’ll get on it immediately and call you back.”
He ended the call, pressed one end of the cell to his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut behind his heavy framed glasses.
“What’s going on, sir?” Goldie asked, holding on to the curved banister at the bottom of the stairs. “You’re not throwing Zeke and I off the case, are you? We made a promise that we wouldn’t let you down.”
Karl walked the remainder of the stairs with a slow and tired gait, coming to stand next to Goldie on the shiny hallway floor. Zeke didn’t like the look on their boss’s face, not one little bit. He moved closer, wondering what on earth had happened to see him and Goldie both ejected from the assignment within hours of arrival.
“I just spoke with Christina,” Karl began. “And she told me some very disturbing news.”
Christina Phillips was the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia office, a woman who Zeke heard was a no-nonsense, straight-talking leader, admired for her dedication to the job.
“What did she say?” Goldie asked.
“Leonardo and his brother are very angry about what happened here today,” Karl replied. “And they want revenge for Marsha’s death.”
Goldie held up her hands, palms forward, fingers splayed. “Wait, are you serious? Marsha went against Leonardo’s wishes by trying to harm Louisa. Why would they care that she died defying the family’s orders?”
“I don’t know why they care, but they do.” The strain of this case was showing on Karl’s lined face. “They’ve somehow managed to find out who fired the fatal bullet, and they’ve put a hit on you, Goldie. That’s why you have to come off the case. You need to lay low until we figure out how to proceed. I’ve assigned Zeke to protect you.”
Goldie’s mouth dropped open as she stared at Zeke, revealing her horror and resistance to this plan of action.
“No way,” she said, pacing the hall. “I refuse to let this happen. You’re probably overreacting, sir. Nobody’s gonna come after me.”
“Oh, I think they will,” Karl said strongly. “For the kind of reward that the Voltos are offering, I expect a ton of criminals to come crawling out the woodwork.”
“How much are we talking about, sir?” Zeke said, his concerns rising.
Karl paused for a dramatic breath. “The Volto family has promised the sum of two million dollars to the first person who kills Goldie, and we’re relying on you to help keep her alive.”
Copyright © 2020 by Elisabeth Rees
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ISBN-13: 9781488061233
Guarded by the Soldier
Copyright © 2020 by Laura Iding
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced inany manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case ofbrief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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