The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents 6)

Her fingers curled around the drive, concealing it completely.

He pulled away. This time his smile was real. It reached his eyes. “You know I can’t turn away from a good story,” he said.

No, he couldn’t.

“I’ll be back.”

He strode toward the door. Cooper started to slide out of his path, but Hugh stopped him. Hugh slapped a hand down on Cooper’s shoulder. “If Gabrielle gets so much as a bruise...”

Gabrielle slipped the flash drive into her back pocket.

“...you’ll answer to me.”

Then Hugh was gone.

Cooper glanced her way. “What the hell was that about?”

It was about Hugh not trusting him. About Hugh being forced out of D.C., but by whom?

Her money was on the EOD. She needed to access that flash drive, but Hugh had concealed it from Cooper for a reason, and she didn’t want his eyes on it, not until she’d seen for herself just what material it contained.

“He’s gone!” Penelope poked her pretty head in the doorway. “Actually gone—with a serial killer loose in the city! Am I crazy? Or is he?”

Gabrielle’s heartbeat drummed so loudly she was sure that Cooper and Penelope had to hear it.

“And there’s someone here,” Penelope continued as she smoothed back her hair. “Some woman who said she’s from the FBI.” Her perfectly manicured index finger pointed to Gabrielle. “She keeps asking to see you.”

The situation was going from bad to worse.

Cooper was frowning now as he glanced through the doorway.

Penelope smiled at him and she batted her lashes. “The FBI lady is right down the hall, second door on the left.”

Cooper hurried out.

Gabrielle crept toward Penelope.

Penelope’s smile vanished. “What is going on?”

“I’m not sure.” She didn’t want to mention the EOD to Penelope. Until she figured out more about what was happening, Gabrielle didn’t want to risk the other woman’s life.

Sure, Penelope was flighty, she was flirty, but she was also one of the few people that Gabrielle counted as a friend.

“What can I do?” Penelope asked. “Hugh’s worried, I can tell, and when he worries...I worry.”

Gabrielle eased out a slow breath. “I need to use your computer, and I need you to keep both Cooper and that FBI agent busy while I do it.”

Penelope nodded. “Done.” She started to walk away, but then stopped. “When this is all over, you’d better share your byline with me.”

“I will,” Gabrielle promised. She would have promised just about anything right then.

Penelope bustled away. “Oh, Cooper, the agent is this way, in the conference room...”

They only had one conference room. It was down the hall, in a location a good thirty feet away from Penelope’s desk.

Perfect.

Gabrielle all but ran for the empty desk.