Page 59 of Death Wish

“We’ll stop at a restaurant I saw at the edge of town. I asked Joy about it earlier today. She recommended the food.”

“Sold.”

He unlocked the SUV and set Simone in the passenger seat. Jesse leaned over and kissed Simone, slow and sweet. “I’m considering this our first official date,” he murmured.

Simone kissed the hollow behind his ear.

Jesse shivered, goosebumps of pleasure racing over his body. “You’re potent, baby.”

She laughed. “I have the same reaction every time you touch me.” Simone buckled her seatbelt. “Come on. Let’s go eat.”

Jesse climbed behind the wheel, drove to the outskirts of Sayulita, and parked in the lot beside La Cocina de Siempre.

When they entered the restaurant, the scent of the spicy food sent his taste buds into overdrive. At his request, the hostess escorted them to the back table in the corner. He seated Simone and took his own seat with his back against the wall.

He scanned the menu, made his selection, and turned his attention to the other occupants of the restaurant. The place was packed with people eating their meals with gusto, all except for the occupants of one table toward the front of the restaurant. Jesse recognized three members of the Special Projects division. Beckett Francen, Wyatt Hatcher, and Allison Norbert. Allison, obviously upset, was being comforted by Francen. Hatcher kept shoveling in food like he was afraid someone would take away his plate before he finished.

“What’s wrong, Jesse?”

He turned his attention back to Simone. “Francen, Hatcher, and Norbert are sitting at a table near the front. Norbert looks pretty upset.”

“Wonder what’s wrong?”

“Don’t know but she seemed uptight all afternoon. I passed her twice in the hall. The rest of the time she stayed in her office or Francen’s.”

“If they’re still here by the time we leave, we should say hello.”

They gave the server their orders and soon were digging into their own meals. “Joy was right,” Jesse said. “The food here is amazing. I’ll have a hard time eating Tex-Mex food after this.”

“We should get original Mexican recipes and try to make the food ourselves.”

“Might be a lot of work.”

“Worth it if the food tastes this good.”

Near the end of their meal, Allison left her table and headed for the restrooms.

“An opportunity just dropped in my lap,” Simone said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Be careful.”

“Yep.” She rose and followed Allison at a distance to the women’s restroom.

While she was gone, Jesse monitored Allison’s companions. The two men immediately got involved in a heated argument.

Five minutes later, Allison returned to the table and Francen and Hatcher left the restaurant with her.

Simone dropped into her seat.

“How did it go?” Jesse asked.

“Interesting. Allison is feeling the pressure of not being able to find a solution to a programming issue at work, one she can’t talk about. I offered to help, but she said the program was top secret and she couldn’t accept any help.”

“I’m wondering if she’s been getting help from Francen off the books.”

“Same. Whatever the problem is, Allison is afraid she’ll get fired if she can’t come up with a solution.”

He hoped that was the least of her worries. Allison was a security risk. She knew too much about the project, whatever it was. If the person who commissioned her to write this program felt the risk was too great to leave her still breathing, Allison could be in big trouble.

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