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There was silence, and then a younger voice took the ratulations, Agent Reed It’s yours"
Her breath caught, the quick intake lighting a fire all the way to her groin, and then she steadied herself "Friday," she countered, ignoring theas their slick-suits returned to a black neutrality "I want to say good-bye to ood ht not re voice finally said, and Peri’s jaw clenched at the pity in it Her mother didn’t deserve anyone’s pity, but that didn’t reen, a solid thu as the door opened onto an ehts already on a shower and as in her closet that her ht actually approve of, Peri paced forward into the light
CHAPTER
ONE
FIVE YEARS LATER
Peri Reed reclined in the plush leather chair across fro the adrenaline pooling as she waited in the dark for Jack to find what they had come for His mood was bad, but that wasn’t her fault Bored, she helped herself to a foil-wrapped, imported chocolate from a nearby dish
"Really, Peri?" Jack said at herher lips, she deftly folded the foil into a tiny hat, which she set jauntily on the statue of the naked wouy knows his chocolate"
"I prepped for glass Wave technology isn’t even on the shelves yet," Jack coraphic monitor The touch-screen projection hazed Jack’s athletic shape and black Gucci suit, and Peri wondered whose ass the CEO of Global Genetics was kissing to get the new holographic touch-screen technology
"My good heels are in the car Waiting Likeand closing files faster than a texting fourteen-year-old
Ih her short black hair Herthat a wo hair until she was forty, and only then allowed it to be cut shorter Moving to the , Peri smiled at her manicure in perverse satisfaction Her ht be why Peri loved the vibranther hem down to cover her low-heeled boots, she exhaled her tension and focused on the hazy night The black Diane von Furstenberg silk jumpsuit wasn’t her favorite, even if it had been tailored to fit her precisely and was lined with silk to feel like ice against her skin when she moved But add the pearls currently in the car with her heels, and it would get second and third glances at the upscale pool hall she’d picked out as a spot where she and Jack could deco dramatically to make Jack’s ears redden
The projected ht in the office suite with its heavy furniture and pictures of past CEOs Surrounding buildings were lit by security lights diht haze of Charlotte, North Carolina This high up, the stink of money had washed away the stink of the streets The corruption, Peri thought, stretching to run a finger over the lintel to intentionally leave a fingerprint, is harder to hide
"One of these days, that’s going to bite you on the ass," Jack said as she dropped back to her heels Her print would come up as classified, but it would also tell Opti that they’d been successful--or at least that they’d co to look questionable Fivefor the encrypted ineered virus, the hidden one that made it race-specific
The faint clunk and huh her Her head tilted to the cracked door, and she shocked herself with the sweet candy still on her lips She never would’ve heard it had the floor been busy, but in the silence of a quasi-legal, governht," Jack de chair with his foot and pulled the leather throne toward hiers hesitated, jabbed the holomonitor, then waved the entire field to the trash His broas furrowed, and the glow of the projection aunt and his blue eyes al being paid to do what anyone else would be jailed for Jack looked too sexy to be good at the computer stuff, but in all fairness, he was as proficient as she in evasion and offense Which is e’ve survived this long, she thought as she slipped the flexible, pallass out of her pocket and powered it up Her Opti-aug the CEO’s wave, she’d thought it was the best out there Hitting the app that tied into the building’s security, she brought up theit, she crouched to peer into the secretary’s office One wall of the outer office was open to allow for a view of the couard was cursory, but intel had been wrong a lot lately
The app finished its scan and vibrated for her attention No ht as she looked at the blank screen, not trusting it "I can’t dowhen the elevator huled The translucent screen in her palle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">