Midnight Special Coming on Strong - By Tawny Weber Page 0,1

giving Hunter a doleful once-over. “This is the second time in as many weeks I’ve answered a call with you on the other end. Running out of exploding buildings, high-speed car chases... You might want to sit behind your desk once in a while. Push those papers. Give your body time to recover.”

“Desks are for wimps,” he said with a dismissive smirk. Desk jockeys meandered up the ladder. Hunter planned to vault his way up. Eight years on the job and he was a special agent in charge. So far, he was doing pretty damned good, about two years ahead of where his old man had been at his age. Not surprising, since his father had wasted time and energy on marriage and a kid. Of course, as the kid in question, Hunter figured the old man’s choice had worked out fine. But losing his wife when his kid was six had unquestionably put yet another crimp in the career climb. So, while Hunter was more than willing to follow his father’s footsteps as far as his career was concerned, that was as far as it went.

No wife.

No kid.

Just the job.

It’d be nice to quit getting blown up or set on fire, though.

He lifted his hand to the wet patch on his cheek, noted the blood and sighed. Yeah. A break wouldn’t be a bad thing.

“Aren’t you, like, a boss?” Ferris matched his steps to Hunter’s limping stride as they made their way toward the EMTs. “You don’t have to have the crap trashed out of you on a regular basis, right? You could opt out once in a while.”

Well, that was one way of looking at it. Hunter glanced down, saw his new jeans were ripped at the knee, and cussed a mental streak. Dammit. The deputy director wasn’t gonna spring to pay for two pairs of pants in a single month. And the shoes were toast, too.

Behind them, a huge explosion was followed by a gust of fiery air. Bits of metal flew through the air, followed by the sound of the firefighters rushing to contain the conflagration.

There went his car.

“Holy shit.” Ferris turned to watch the blaze.

Hunter didn’t bother looking back.

Not that he’d admit it to anyone, but suddenly the idea of cozying up to a desk for a few days was sounding pretty damned good right this second.

1

A SMART WOMAN KNEW WHAT she wanted, and how to get it.

Marni Clare considered herself damned smart.

Every step she’d taken up the career ladder had been weighed, calculated and carefully thought through. From starting her first newspaper in second grade, to choosing to work as a reporter at smaller papers instead of larger for a chance to build a stronger criminal-reporting portfolio. Right up to her move last year to shift from papers to Optimum, a renowned national magazine that’d give her a stronger gravitas.

Everything she wanted always boiled down to her career. And what she wanted right now was information on a patient who’d been admitted here a week ago. The huge explosion of a derelict warehouse owned by reputed mobster and current FBI prisoner Charles Burns had been all over the news.

What hadn’t been on the news, but Marni had managed to ferret out using her super-reporter insider info, was that someone had been injured, requiring an ambulance ride to this very emergency room.

She wanted to know who that someone was. Everyone was focused on Burns. On the trial, on the odds of a conviction. Marni had the feeling that whatever had gone down in that explosion, whoever had been involved, was the bigger story, though.

And she wanted it.

But sneaking patient information out of a very ethical nurse wasn’t an easy task. It required stealth. A gift with reading people. A little bit of finesse.

And, of course, a bribe.

“I brought you cupcakes. Your favorite, chocolate with raspberry frosting,” Marni said, setting a cute little purple basket on the counter and giving her cousin a bright smile.

“You brought me cupcakes?” Sammi Clare-Warren gave Marni a suspicious look. “Why?”

“Why would I bring my favorite cousin cupcakes?”

“You’re up to something,” Sammi declared knowingly. Still, she did slide the basket closer and sniff at the cupcakes. She gave a hungry little sound, as if she was sniffing at pure temptation, then pushed them back and gave her cousin a narrow look. “What do you want?”

Marni debated. She could tell the truth, that Meghan, Sammi’s sister, said her twin had come home eight days ago raving about the drool-worthy, too-sexy-for-words FBI guy