Read 02 Avalanche Pass for Free Online Page B

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    Maybe a burger, he thought. Even a room service kitchen couldn’t get a burger too wrong. So long as you liked lukewarm burgers and rapidly cooling fries.
    There was a light tap at the door and he frowned. Housekeeping had visited the room hours ago to deliver new towels and give the room a quick going over.
    He killed the TV, tossed the remote on the bed and moved toward the door, then hesitated. Long established habit made him wary. He’d been a cop for years and that meant there were a good many people out there who didn’t have cause to love him. And as the years passed, more and more of them were being released from the penitentiary. He glanced at the backpack beside the bed. His .45 ACP was in there. He never traveled anywhere without it. For a second, he thought of retrieving it and then he grinned to himself. Caution was all very well, but that was a little excessive. Odds were, it was some middle-aged woman from housekeeping who had forgotten to replace the mini shampoo bottle in the bathroom. If heopened the door with a .45 in his hand, she might well go into shock.
    The light tap on the door was repeated and he realized he’d been standing here looking at it for some time. He moved to it, lay his hand on the lever and said:
    “Who is it?”
    “Tina Bowden. From the desk.” He recognized her voice. Not a middle-aged woman from housekeeping after all, he thought. The young and very attractive woman from reception. He smiled to himself. He couldn’t recall ever sending anyone who looked like Miss Bowden to the Big House. And he was sure that if he had done so, he would remember. Definitely.
    “Just a moment,” he called, and opened the door.
    She smiled at him as the door opened to reveal her. She’d changed from the rather severe trousers and blazer of her uniform. Now she was wearing a short denim skirt that revealed her very good legs and a sleeveless white top whose V neckline did a similar job for her breasts.
    All in all, he thought, Tina Bowden looked a damn sight more appetizing than any room service meal he’d ever seen. He smiled back at her, not sure why she was here.
    “Did I forget my receipt?” he asked and she shook her head.
    “No. But you did leave this behind.” She held out his Mastercard and his hand went to his back pocket in a reflex action as he reached for his wallet. Then he realized that there was no need to check. The card was there in front of him, after all.
    “Oh,” he said, reaching out and taking it. He checked it quickly, making sure that it was his card. “Thanks. There was no need to bring it up personally. You could have phoned.”
    She shrugged. “All part of the service. I do a delivery run most nights,” she told him and he examined her a little more carefully, taking in the impossibly high heels on the slingback shoes she was now wearing. Earlier, in uniform, she would have been wearing low shoes. She seemed a little taller, and the high heels accentuated the excellent muscle tone and shape of her calves.
    “Do you always dress up to do it?” he asked. “Or are you heading somewhere special?”
    Her smile widened. She was pleased that he’d noticed she’d changed. She did a small pirouette for him.
    “You like?” she asked, and he nodded his head slowly.
    “Very much,” he told her. “Beats the hell out of a FedEx uniform.”
    She seemed in no hurry to leave so he opened the door a little wider.
    “Would you like to come in?”
    She inclined her head to one side, studying him for a few seconds, then replied, “Yes. I think I would.”
    He stepped aside and gestured to one of the chairs at a small circular table by the window. She sat gracefully, crossing her legs. They were very good legs, he thought once more—and they got better the more he looked at them. He wondered where this was heading.
    “Drink?” he asked. He nodded toward the side table. “All I’ve got is Jim Beam.”
    “That’ll be fine. With ice, please,” she said. He