Identity Unknown (A Parker & Coe, Love and Bullets Thriller Book 1) by Alana Matthews Page A

toward me. "He told you that?"
    "He likes to talk almost as much as he likes to kill. How did you know where to find us?"
    "He's as predictable as I am. He's used that warehouse a time or two and since it was close by, I figured that's where he'd take you. He thought I was dead, so why not stick with what's familiar? I knew he wasn't in this alone."
    I nodded. "That's twice now."
    "Twice what?"
    "That you've saved my life."
    He shrugged. "It's probably closer to three or four, but who's counting? I need that bounty."
    "I told you, I'm not— "
    "Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah—just be happy I didn't put the cuffs back on you." He checked his rearview mirror. "And if you think this is the last we've seen of Sean Taggart and his buddies in the SUV, think again. They'll keep looking for us."
    "So what do we do?"
    "The first order of business is to ditch this truck."
    "Where did you get it?"
    "It was parked near the motel office. I think it may have belonged to the desk clerk. But we can't go back there. We'll have to dump it somewhere else and head out on foot."
    "And then what?"
    "Same as before. Find a place to hole up until morning."
    "Another motel from hell?"
    Parker shook his head. "They'll be checking all the motels. We'll have to camp out in an alleyway or something."
    "An alleyway?"
    "Don't worry, I'll find you a couple cardboard boxes to sleep on."
    "I see getting shot hasn't made you any less of a jerk. I hope you realize that while you're wasting all this time on me, the real Mia Duncan is out there somewhere, getting away with murder."
    "Jesus, do you ever give up?"
    "No, because it's the truth. And you must be starting to believe me. You just don't want to admit it."
    He frowned. "Believe you?"
    "You said it yourself—I'm lucky you haven't cuffed me. So why haven't you? Taggart took your gun and I'm within neck snapping distance. Why doesn't that make you nervous?"
    He jerked his gaze in my direction. "Don't get any ideas, because you will regret it."
    "The reason you haven't is because some small part of you is figuring it out. You've spent enough time with me now to know that I'm not a killer. It's not part of my DNA. I'm not like Taggart and those men he's working for. The closest I've ever come to a gun before this is bad movie night at the campus student center."
    "Like I said, tell it to the judge."
    "I'm telling it to you . And if you think hauling me into a courthouse is gonna get you that reward, I hope you don't need the money too badly, because you're about to be disappointed."
    He was looking at me again and I saw the doubt in his eyes.
    "Emily Finn set me up," I said. "She made friends with me, borrowed my car and deliberately left it near the crime scene, all because we look like sisters. She must've known she'd have the Ukrainian mafia after her, and I'm her escape clause."
    "Look," he said. "The tip I got led me straight to you, not some fantasy figure named Emily Finn."
    "And who gave you that tip?"
    "A detective at the Houston PD."
    "Man or woman?"
    "A woman. I worked a case with her a couple years back."
    "And did she give you this tip in person or on the phone?"
    "The phone," he said.
    "So how can you be sure it was even her? Especially after two years? What if it was Mia Duncan pretending to be her? And what if she didn't call just you, but Taggart and the FBI and everyone else who might be looking for her? Don't you get it? I'm a diversion. A delaying tactic."
    "Oh, come on, that's pretty farfetched. And even if what you're saying is true, and the real Duncan is out there somewhere, what difference does it make? Except for that surveillance photo, nobody even knows what she looks like."
    "Nobody?"
    "She's a phantom. Uses intermediaries to arrange all her hits."
    "I think you're forgetting something," I said.
    "Yeah? And what's that?"
    " I know what she looks like. And so will you, if we can find a computer."

SEVENTEEN

    "This would be a lot easier," I said, "if one of us had a phone."
    Parker