Read The Enemy Within (Daughters of the People Series Book 3) for Free Online Page A

you don’t mind the wait.”
    “I’m a little
early.” Her irritation over the intractable Laura faded. “In fact, I deliberately
came early to see if you wanted to have lunch with me. My treat, in return for
your expert shopping help.”
    Laura gave a
patently fake cough into her hand.
    “Sure,” he said.
“Want to wait in the office while I catch up?”
    “That would be
lovely.”
    “Go ahead,
then.” He pulled out a set of keys, selected one, and handed it to Indigo.
“I’ll be right there.”
    She took the
ring of keys from Bobby’s hand. and headed toward his office, ignoring Bobby
and Laura’s quiet conversation behind her. The blinds were pulled down tightly
against the row of glass windows between the main area and his office. Indigo
unlocked the door and flipped the light switch on as she went in, closed the
door, and dropped the keys on his desk.
    She wandered
around his office, exploring the books shelved neatly along the length of the
wall behind his desk. Pictures and memorabilia sat at regular intervals, interspersed
among the books. She examined each in turn as she skimmed book titles. There
was a picture of Bobby with his family when he was about ten and another right
beside it of him as an infant, held gingerly in his father’s arms. Indigo sighed
at the love on Robert’s face as he gazed down at his son, touched at the depth
of expression.
    There were the
obligatory sports photos and a few snapshots from Bobby’s time in the military.
In one, he and Drew bracketed Hiro. All three were dressed in camouflage and
wore somber expressions. From the thinness of their bodies and their relative
youth, she guessed the photo had been taken on graduation day for advanced
training of some sort.
    She’d
deliberately fostered a lack of knowledge about Bobby as subtly as she could.
Maybe it was time for that to change.
    Two shelves down
was a photo of Bobby with Dani draped over his back, both laughing with the
carefree zest of youth. The memories of the day it was taken popped into her
mind. Labor Day, about a month before Bobby’s sixteenth birthday. The whole
town had come out for the annual national holiday and made a day of it with
races and contests and food and fun. It had been a wonderful day, though she
likely wouldn’t remember it as brightly if her life hadn’t changed so completely
not long after, immortal memory or not.
    She stroked a
finger over the picture, oddly disquieted at the joy in his young face, and the
hardness that had grown into it since.
    Because of her.
    Indigo inhaled
deeply and pushed the guilt away as Bobby opened the door to his office.
    “Sorry about
that,” he said. “I don’t know what’s gotten into Laura. She’s usually so good
with people.”
    Indigo moved out
of the way as Bobby came around the desk, and took a seat on the sofa beside
the door while he leaned over his desk and made notes on the large calendar
there.
    “Really?” she
said.
    “Really, what?”
    His expression
was blank, his body relaxed and loose except for a slight tightening around his
eyes. Indigo considered him and couldn’t quite tamp down the smug amusement. He
really had no clue why Laura had acted the way she had. Whatever feelings Laura
had for him, they weren’t returned, not in the same measure.
    “Nothing,”
Indigo said.
    He speared her
with an intense gaze that left her needier than it should’ve, then shrugged. “I’ll
give you a key so you can come in and work.”
    “I haven’t
agreed to help you yet.”
    “But you will.”
    “You have a lot
of confidence in your ability to persuade me.”
    “Mmm.
Persuasion, charm, bribery. Whatever it takes.”
    He jotted down a
few more notes, checked his watch, and threw his pen onto the desk. His eyes
slid down her body so briefly she would’ve missed it if she weren’t paying
attention. A frisson of heated awareness shivered through her at the glint of
approval in his gaze.
    “So, where are
we going?”
    “Wherever