Read Online The Betrayal by Jerry B. Jenkins - Free Book Online Page B

you.”
    â€œShe works, and time off counts against her.”
    â€œLike you wouldn’t do the same for Max.”
    Haeley nodded. “I’ve got to go to bed.”
    She carried Max into her bedroom and lay next to him, the door cracked an inch. “I should be asleep within twenty minutes.”
    â€œDon’t rush on my account.”
    For the first time that day he saw a hint of a smile.
    Boone sat in the living room, whispering on his cell phone, arranging where he and Keller would meet. “And can you tell the coppers at the 11th that you’ll take over watching me?”
    â€œThey’re still going to need to know when you leave me and head home, Boones.”
    â€œNo, they aren’t. Come on.”
    â€œDon’t be naive. I wouldn’t want it any other way. Unless you want to stay at the safe house with PC and his mom, let these guys do their jobs.”
    Boone and Jack agreed to meet at the 11th at 10 p.m. The tail squad would pass off responsibility to Jack, and Boone would leave his car there while riding with Keller to the safe house.
    â€œYou sure you’re up to this?” Jack said. “It’s got to be way past your bedtime. You’re supposed to still be in the hospital. And rest is the best thing for—”
    â€œThanks, Mom, but I can handle my own energy level from here. Okay?”
    â€œHang a guy for tryin’. Just get to the 11th, will you?”
    Boone tiptoed to the bedroom and pushed the door a couple of inches further open. Haeley lay cradling Max, and both were clearly gone. He was tempted to kiss her on the cheek, but he didn’t want to wake her—or worse, scare her. He pulled the door shut, killed all the lights in the living room, and quietly made his way down to the street.
    The squad sat idling as his protectors drank coffee. The driver rolled down his window when Boone approached.
    â€œGot the call from 11,” Ferguson said from the passenger seat. “Once you’re in Deputy Chief Keller’s car, we’re out of your hair.”

9
    The Offer
    Boone found Jack Keller behind the wheel in an idling, unmarked squad parked at the rear of the 11th precinct station house. Jack leaned over and pushed open the passenger-side door, but it took Boone a while to extricate himself from his own car.
    As Boone made his way to the squad, he felt Jack’s eyes on him and tried to add energy to his gait, anything to hide his exhaustion and pain. This little outing was a bad idea, but he wanted to see it through. He poked his head in the car and said, “Got any water? Behind on my meds again, but I didn’t want to drive under the influence.”
    â€œHalf a bottle, if you’re not afraid of my germs.”
    Boone thought about using the water fountain in the station, but the thirty-foot walk looked like a mile. “You don’t have cooties, do you?”
    Keller flashed an obscene gesture as Boone slipped into the car. It was a lot easier with his good arm on the door side. He fished for his pills, popped them into his mouth, then took the bottle, which Jack had cleaned with a shirtsleeve.
    â€œThis is an eighteen-mile ride,” Keller said. “You still gonna be with me when we get there?”
    â€œI’ll be with you, but will I remember? That’s the mystery.”
    â€œThose drugs make this the best injury you’ve ever had, eh? Maybe it’s better you don’t remember tonight.”
    â€œYou want to put a bag over my head so I can never tell anyone where this is?”
    Jack pulled out. “I don’t care who knows; they’ll never get in. But no one does know.”
    About ten miles into the ride, the combination of the heater, Boone’s thick coat, and the pills made him logy. “How cold is it?” he slurred.
    â€œSingle digits. Hey, don’t leave me, Boones. We’ve got to talk.”
    â€œI’m okay. What’s up?”
    â€œI want