Read Street Game for Free Online Page B

the smallest of quivers in her voice and he felt a reaction in the pit of his stomach. Either of the girls could do that to any of them. Jaimie and Rhianna. The family revolved around the two girls. He didn’t want to think about Rhianna, off doing God knew what undercover in some foreign country.
    “For a minute I thought . . .” She trailed off, sounding very vulnerable.
    “I know. He’s fine. Everyone is. Just checking on you. You know how Mack worries.”
    “Do I?” Jaimie sounded sad now. “I haven’t heard from him for two years. I don’t think he worries all that much, Javier. But then, I’m all grown up and maybe don’t need it anymore.”
    Working fast in the dark, he strung more explosives along the windows, wrapping the warehouse so that anyone trying to get in was going to have a nasty surprise. “Go on upstairs and make us a cup of tea. I’ll be right there,” Javier suggested.
    “It’s three in the morning,” she pointed out. “What are you really doing here?”
    “I told you. Mack worries.” He kept his eyes moving around the windows, checking constantly to make certain Jaimie couldn’t be seen. The stairs were protected from sight, he noted with a sigh of relief.
    “Things went to hell?”
    That was Jaimie, straight to the point. “No, we’ve got it handled. Mack’s working his way back here with the rest of the crew. You might want to put on the coffee as well.”
    She made a sound somewhere between annoyance and amusement. In the dark it made him smile. She had that effect on everyone but the boss. She had an entirely different effect on him. His smile stretched to a grin.
    “I’m not letting everyone move in with me,” she announced.
    “You gotta take that up with Mack,” Javier said. “I’m just the scout, testing the waters, clearing out the land mines, you know, leading the way.”
    “Couldn’t you have led him off the end of the pier?”
    Javier flashed her a grin. “Mack would retaliate, Jaimie. You’re safe enough. We keep an eye on him.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “It means go upstairs and make a pot a coffee. The boys are going to be cold.”
    She sat there watching him. “You’re expecting company.”
    He gave a casual shrug. “I always expect company. I’m paranoid. I even sleep with my pretty little gun.”
    She laughed. “I believe that.” She started back up the stairs, hesitated, and half turned back toward him. “Javier, you aren’t going to blow up my house, are you? I don’t have insurance for that.”
    “Don’t insult me, Jaimie,” he replied. “You know I’m a specialist. My charges go exactly where I want them to go. Your home will be perfectly safe.”
    She nodded, tried a smile, and went on up to the third floor.
    Javier noted she was as quiet as ever. Jaimie had been recruited out of college and trained as an operative. She certainly hadn’t lost any of her skills. She was amazing in knowing where her enemies were at all times, was maybe the best of them, but she couldn’t kill. There was no pulling the trigger for Jaimie. Javier couldn’t understand why Mack let that bother him. The woman was just wired differently. She always had been. He remembered her as a little girl, all eyes and wild hair and a brain that wouldn’t quit. She’d started high school at eight years of age, Mack and Kane already fifteen and watching over her.
    Javier? Mack whispered in his mind. You where you can talk?
    That’s affirmative.
    We’ve removed the bodies. I ran into a couple of suspects, but they backed off her place. I think they’re watching it, though. I’ve got them under surveillance. We’re going to set up shop in a couple of places.
    There’s no doubt they were making a grab for her. Whose are they, Top?
    Not the ones we were looking for. Someone else is in this mix. Kane got the information from Sergeant Major Griffen that Madigan had a heart attack and is in the hospital. That explains the low profile here. They don’t want to