Read Online Out of the Shadows by Kay Hooper - Free Book Online Page B

knew he was curious. Even with the threat of Harrison gone, she was wary enough to want to protect secrets she might need again someday.

Always assuming she survived the next few weeks.

She looked across the table at Bishop and suddenly a dark, chilling doubt twisted inside her. He was ruthless, always had been. When it came to doing his job, he believed the end justified the means, and he was perfectly capable of doing whatever it took to accomplish his objectives.

God, how well she knew that.

So what were his objectives now? To persuade her to drop her guard, her shields, so he could use her abilities to track down a vicious killer? To convince her there was no threat to her and Bonnie, no reason for her to protect herself and her sister?

Would he lie to convince her?

Even though he certainly couldn't read her thoughts, Miranda saw a change in his face, as if he realized what she was thinking. "I am not lying," he said evenly.

She conjured a brittle smile. "You'll have to forgive me if I don't take your word for that."

Bishop moved slightly, an unconscious shifting of his weight in protest or denial, but all he said, in that same level voice, was, "I'll make sure you're allowed access to the sealed records concerning Harrison."

"You do that," Miranda said.

FIVE
    It was after noon when Tony Harte stuck his head cautiously into the conference room. He found Bishop alone, still sitting on the table, still staring at the blackboard. He appeared perfectly calm, but the scar on his face stood out whitely from the tanned flesh surrounding it and Harte took due note of a warning sign he had learned to be wary of.

"Um ... the sheriff left a few minutes ago," Harte offered.

"I know."

"I mean, she left the building."

Bishop looked at him briefly. "Yes. I know."

"She seemed to be in an awful hurry. Couldn't wait to get out of here, was my take."

Bishop kept his gaze on the blackboard.

Harte came in and got a fresh pot of coffee brewing. He debated with himself silently, then sighed and ventured where many before him hadn't dared to tread.

"Back when I joined up, the word was you didn't get official approval for the new unit until you threatened to quit. Even after all the stuff you did unofficially, the years of planning and testing and building the program, after all the fieldwork and a growing list of closed cases, the Bureau still didn't want to openly sanction—or appear to sanction—highly unorthodox investigative methods. Even after you gave them results they couldn't deny. But they didn't want to lose one of their top profilers, so they finally gave the unit their official seal of approval—even if it did make them queasy to do it."

"If you get anywhere near a point, Tony, make it."

Harte didn't let that warning voice dissuade him. "I was just thinking that Sheriff Knight probably has no idea that because of her there are a lot of monsters in cages where they belong."

Bishop didn't respond.

"And I was thinking maybe you should tell her."

"If you think it would even the score," Bishop said, "you're wrong."

"Maybe. But she might feel better knowing something positive came out of tragedy."

"You mean she might hate me a little less?" Bishop's smile was hardly worthy of the name. "Don't count on it."

"If you'll excuse me for saying so, boss, letting things go on the way they are between you is just going to slow us down. If we're going to catch this bastard, we'll need every ace we can pull out of our sleeves—and that includes an incredibly gifted psychic with singular abilities who right now is very much shut inside herself."

"She couldn't sense him before we got here," Bishop argued.

"Probably because of her shield. Because she's had to hide what she can do, had to be careful. And ... because she was hiding here herself. Hiding her sister." Harte paused. "I gather she knows she doesn't have to do that anymore."

"She knows what I've told her. Whether she believes I told her the truth is something