Read Online 2 A Month of Mondays by Robert Michael - Free Book Online Page A

and flashed another smile.
    “I cannot divulge answers to someone who can potentially
work for my enemy,” Giselle threatened.
    Jake looked away. Staring at her was like looking at a
bright light. If he was not careful, she would draw him in. He needed to
distance himself from her sexuality, he needed to block out the thoughts going
through his head.
    He needed to do this as a means of survival as much as
respect for his wife. The wife he had forgotten. But had he really? 
    “So you want to blackmail me with information. You want to
trade your information for my skills. That hardly seems like an even trade,”
Jake offered.
    Giselle pursed her lips.
    “What do you want to know, Jake?”
    “I don’t know where to start,” Jake said. He rubbed his
cheeks with is hand, feeling the stubble there. He stared at her, and it came
to him. “You are Eilif’s daughter,” he said.
    “I thought you had questions,” she said. Her eyes betrayed
her anger.
    “What does he have to do with all this?”
    “He has nothing to do with you. Except that he would perhaps
like to exact a revenge on you for what you did in Ventura.”
    “You won’t allow him?”
    She shrugged.
    “I don’t have that much control over my father. He can be
manipulated, he can be used. He is much like you in that regard. I cannot
control you, but I can use you.”
    Jake looked at her in a different light. He had never seen
Giselle as dangerous before.
    “So, Atlanta?  What was that?”
    “A poor attempt to trap a government agent, murder an
important man, and implicate you in the process. It was sloppy, ill-conceived, poor
timing, and overly ambitious. It was doomed to fail,” Giselle explained. Her
voice was dripping with venom.
    “I take it that this was not your idea.”
    “Not entirely, no. Suffice it to say that we live in a
dangerous time. No one is safe. No one can be trusted,” Giselle said. She finished
her beer and set the empty bottle on the table with a loud clack.
    “Not even you?”
    Her grin was mischievous.
    “Especially me, Jake. Even my father does not know of my
machinations, or my motives.”
    “You in a sharing mood?”  Jake wanted information. He craved
it. It was his only chance at redemption.
    “You were the one behind the operation in Ventura,” Jake
guessed.
    “Yes. Do not ask me why, Mr. Monday. You will insult me.”
    “Then why am I involved in this?  What is my role?”
    She shrugged.
    “You are another player is all. The only difference is that
you are a piece to be played.”
    “What if I don’t want to play anymore?”
    Giselle turned her head and put her hand up for the waiter. He
hustled over. She turned back to him.
    “Then, go home to your wife and child. Go back to work and
lead a good American life. An honest life. But live it well, Mr. Monday because
your days will be numbered. No one leaves Galbraith without repercussions.”
    The waiter arrived. She looked up at him and batted her
eyes.
    “Shawn, can you bring me another Orkney?”
    “Of course,” Shawn said. He was more cheery than he needed
to be. It was just a beer, after all.
    “And, bring my friend here another…what is that?”
    “He has milk. I will bring him another,” Shawn said. His
eyes never left Giselle.
    He turned and went back to the bar.
    “Is that a threat?” Jake asked.
    Giselle chuckled and reached into her purse.
    “I am merely stating the obvious, Jake. Galbraith will do
what it wants. Even though I have pull there, I in no way control all that goes
on.”
    “So, you can manipulate, but not control. That must bother
you, not being in control,” Jake accused.
    She waved the thought away and sat back in her chair.
    “I don’t trouble myself with things or people I can’t
control. Control is often merely an illusion, anyway. Things happen for a
reason, people harbor their own motivations. Real power comes not from direct
control but from setting up the board so that the pieces move in