Savage Redemption - By Alexis Morgan Page 0,67

have answered for purely selfish reasons.

“You and Joss, have you always been, um...” She hesitated, immediately sorry she’d brought it up. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.”

Conlan leaned back in his chair, his eyes smiling at her over the rim of his coffee cup. “No, that’s okay. Have we always been what?”

“Good friends.” Her face flushed hot. “Close friends.”

“Yeah, we have. She was hired on as an investigative chancellor with the Coalition not long after I was, and we partnered for a while.” He stared up at the ceiling, lost in the memory. “Damn, she was amazing. Blew past us mere mortals in no time at all. I’ve always preferred the investigative end of things, but she liked negotiating disputes between the different factions.”

Then he frowned. “That’s how she met Rafferty. They served on the Council together. Boy, when those two debated an issue, the sparks flew. It was amazing to watch. He was engaged to someone else at the time. Seamus’s sister, as a matter of fact. When Rafferty was convicted of murder, Joss cleared his name. They’ve been inseparable ever since.”

Conlan topped off his coffee and did the same for her. “But to answer your real question, Joss and I have never been anything but friends. Neither of us had much in the way of family, so we sort of adopted each other. Adding sex to the mix would’ve only messed that up.” He shrugged. “Besides, once she met Rafferty, she never saw anybody else that way. He’s an egotistical jerk sometimes, but he’s good to her. That’s all that matters.”

He turned the tables on her. “How about you? Is there anyone in your past you’ve got an interest in hunting up when we get your name cleared?”

She supposed turnabout was only fair. “No, no one. I always hoped I’d meet someone special, but it never worked out that way.”

Maybe it was time to roll the dice. “That is, until I met—”

But he wasn’t paying any attention. What had captured his attention? Then she noticed that the light Dwayne had warned them about had turned amber. It wasn’t blinking, so maybe the situation wasn’t too serious. She held her breath for several seconds, waiting and hoping it would turn back to green.

Conlan must have thought there was little chance of that happening, because he was already on his feet, shoving the sandwiches into their packs. He motioned for her to follow him. She didn’t need to be told to stay quiet.

Conlan crossed to the far corner and knelt down to study the floor. What was he doing? She crept closer, not wanting to get in his way, but she knew they’d have to move quickly if that light changed.

Finally, he pressed the opposite corners on one of the floor tiles. His efforts were rewarded with a soft click and a section of the floor slid back, revealing a steep staircase—more of a ladder, really. She leaned over to see where it led, but it disappeared into the shadows below.

Okay, no wonder Dwayne had asked if Conlan remembered the last way out of the room. She’d have never found it in a million years. “Are we out of here?” she whispered.

Conlan nodded. “Give me a second.”

He quickly gathered up all evidence of their meal and dumped it in the trash. “Finish your coffee. If someone checks in here and finds it’s still hot, they’ll know someone was here.”

She guzzled the last bit while he did the same. One more look around the room. Nothing was out of place or shouted that they’d been there. Conlan had found the switch that cast the staircase in dim light. He had his gun in hand when he motioned for her to go first.

She sat down on the edge of the opening and stepped out onto the ladder, holding on with both hands. Before she descended more than a handful of steps, she heard Conlan let out a string of curse words. She looked up to see that the light had turned to red and was pulsing only slightly slower than her heartbeat.

Rather than dwell on what might be happening in the restaurant, she concentrated on hustling down the ladder so that Conlan could join her. It was a long way down, but she made it safely. Conlan paused halfway down to hit another button. As soon as he did, the opening above slowly disappeared. All they could do was wait and wonder if it would close before someone walked in and noticed