Read Online SPY IN THE SADDLE by Dana Marton - Free Book Online

bar for a while and talk to Shorty and the waitresses if she got a chance. But Shep came after her. They came out of the hallway into the main area.
    “How big is the basement?” he asked right next to her, so only she would hear.
    “I didn’t get far enough to see.”
    “I’ll try to get down there later.”
    “They keep the door locked.”
    “If you managed, so can I.”
    Of course, because he would have to do everything, Mr. Hot Stuff Commando. She couldn’t possibly be enough. He was never going to forget what a screwup she’d been. She pressed her lips together and turned away from him, just in time to see Doug Wagner head for the door up front.
    He must have come up from the basement and gone around the stage the other way.
    Keith was about six yards behind him.
    She gave a double take. Keith? Were they all here? Lilly scanned the tables but didn’t see the rest of the team.
    He nodded to Shep, then toward Wagner, who pushed through the front door and was out of sight the next second. Keith followed.
    “You stay,” Shep told her under his breath. “We need to grab him before he disappears.” Then he took off after them.
    * * *
    S HEP STEPPED OUTSIDE just in time to see Wagner walk to a white sedan parked at the end of the street and drive off. Keith was already at the beat-up pickup they used as their undercover car, on his cell phone, probably calling in the development. Shep caught up with him and jumped behind the wheel, then took off after Wagner.
    Keith stayed in phone contact with the others. “Suspect heading south. We’re two cars behind.” He muted the phone before he turned to Shep. “How did it go with Lilly?”
    “Fine.”
    “She’s hot. I mean, like—man, did you see the way she moved up there? Those curves...”
    Shep gave an annoyed grunt. Not only had he seen them, they’d been pressed against him in the alley, a sensation he wasn’t about to forget anytime soon, unfortunately. But just because he couldn’t forget the incident, it didn’t mean he was going to share his feelings about it.
    Keith made some more appreciative noises, keeping the phone on mute. “You sure you’re not going to hook up with her?”
    “Absolutely not.”
    “I wouldn’t mind asking her out for a drink,” the idiot went on. “She’s here to work with us. No sense being rude to her.”
    Shep’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel. He hated the idea of anyone asking Lilly anywhere. But she was a grown woman, entitled to her own decisions, so he stayed quiet.
    Wagner turned off the main road and they followed. He stopped his sedan in front of an apartment building and got out.
    The building had four levels, maybe a hundred apartments. Looked like a fairly new place, the siding clean and trim, the windows double paned. Pebble Creek was growing, adding some housing around the edges. The complex was one of a dozen like it that Shep had seen while driving around.
    What was Wagner doing here? His official address was a trailer park across town. Who was he visiting? With a little luck, it would be a connection to the Coyote.
    The man turned back to the sedan, reached into the back and pulled out a rifle. He left his car running as he walked away from it.
    Shep watched as the man hurried into the building. “I don’t like it.”
    “Definitely not a good sign,” Keith said, then called in the address to the rest of the team, who were on their way.
    Still, it’d be at least twenty minutes before they got here. He had no time to wait for reinforcements. They had to take Wagner into custody before he killed anybody else, or got himself killed.
    Shep checked his weapon. “I take the front, you take the back.”
    They got out and ran toward the building, then separated when they reached the steps. Keith went around to see if there was a back entrance. Shep pushed through the front door, weapon in hand but down at his side, in case he ran into civilians.
    The main lobby stood empty—Mexican tile floor,