Read Online Shades of Gray by Maya Banks - Free Book Online Page A

it goes down,” Steele said, snapping everyone’s attention back to
     him. “Donovan and P.J. will arrive together. We’ll be monitoring P.J.’s every move
     as soon as she breaks away.”
    Cole’s eyes narrowed. “Where the hell is her wire and how on earth is it going to
     hide in that getup? It doesn’t even cover
her
, much less anything else.”
    P.J. scowled at him.
    “Don’t mess up that lipstick, darlin’,” he drawled. “It looks too pretty on you.”
    She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
    “Cut it out you two,” Steele barked.
    “P.J. is wearing the latest of my tech toys,” Donovan said with a grin he reserved
     for any time he was talking about his high-tech playthings.
    He lifted her arm and turned it slightly so the inside of her upper arm was visible.
    “What you can’t see is the flesh-colored patch. It’s actually made from human skin
     and blends seamlessly with her own skin. Underneath is the chip that enables us to
     hear everything she hears.”
    “For real?” Dolphin asked.
    He got up and moved closer. He reached out to touch her arm, running his finger up
     and down from her elbow to underneath her armpit. Cole wanted to tell him to keep
     his hands to himself, but that wouldn’t go over well with P.J.
    “I’ll be damned,” Dolphin said. “I can’t tell it’s there.”
    “That’s the point,” Steele said dryly.
    Donovan continued. “I have flesh patches with GPS locators as well, but her bracelet
     has a minicam that displays images in real time in high definition. With a simple
     touch of her cheek or a casual brushing of a piece of her hair behind her ear, she
     can give us a good view of everything around her. And it has a GPS locator in case
     we need to find her fast, so it kills two birds with one stone.”
    Cole’s gut tightened. He didn’t want to think of worst-case scenarios.
    “So let me get this straight,” Cole cut in. “You and P.J. go to this highbrow party.
     She splits off from you, hones in on this Nelson guy and comes on to him, tells him
     where she’s staying and then leaves and waits for him to come to her?”
    The others looked at him oddly.
    “We’ve been over this,” Steele said impatiently.
    “Yeah, well, I just want to make sure.”
    P.J. shrugged. “He may want to leave with me. Either way the result is the same. No
     one can predict what he’ll want or if he’ll even rise to the bait. But adapting to
     a changing situation is what we do and we’re damn good at it.”
    “Hooyah,” Dolphin crowed. “I say we make her an honorary SEAL.”
    Yeah, Cole knew he was being a total wuss about the whole thing. He just couldn’t
     get rid of the knot in his gut. He just wanted the night to be over with and for P.J.
     to be back where she belonged. Safe. With her team. Preferably where he could see
     her at all times.
    “And that’s precisely why we have to stay on our guard,” Steele said. “We don’t know
     how it’s going to go down.”
    He turned to P.J. “If you need out at any time, you know the word. Don’t hesitate
     to use it. At the party, Cole, Dolphin, Baker, Renshaw and I will be outside spread
     out over the perimeter. Once you leave, we’ll tag you and follow you back to the hotel.
     If anything changes, just make sure you’re talking about it so we know what’s going
     on.”
    Donovan touched her arm. “I’ll be inside the entire time until you leave. Any problems,
     I’ll be watching.”
    Then he turned to the others. “There’s a lot riding on this. Aside from the obvious
     need to rid the world of this scumbag and get those girls back to their homes, there
     are three governments offering a huge bounty if we deliver this asshole. Dead or alive,
     they don’t care. Resnick wants him alive because he wants information on his network.
     As much as our resident CIA contact has annoyed the shit out of me in recent times,
     I’m inclined to agree with him on this one. Brumley is just the supplier. There