Code Name: Blondie by Christina Skye

Author:Christina Skye
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2007-11-08T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“FIVE TEN. Probably 190 pounds. Brown eyes and a small tattoo of a red scorpion surrounded by three diamonds in the middle of his left wrist.” Max paced the lower deck of the gunboat, talking quietly into his encrypted satellite phone. “See what you can get on this creep, Izzy.”

“I’m on it. Tell me about that pager you found.”

“Some kind of new model, nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s got a big self-contained power source, but I can’t tell what kind without opening the unit. The message was brief. Tango-12-Bravo-97. After that a string of numbers.”

“Read them to me,” Izzy said.

Max recited the number string, which he had already committed to memory. “The same text scrolled through twice.”

“They’ll be expecting an answer. When they don’t get one…” A chair squeaked. “Let me work on it. I’ll check our database on that tattoo while I’m at it, but I’m not too hopeful. What’s his current status?”

“He’ll be out for at least six more hours. I gave him two shots of your special Thorazine cocktail.”

“That’ll do it,” Izzy said dryly. “Anything useful in his pack?”

“Compass, water purification tablets and two more knives. A nice preban silenced AK-47, too,” Max added grimly. “Everything for your well-equipped, garden-variety terrorist. All well maintained and packed in waterproof bags. Our friend was loaded for bear.”

“Would you expect anything less? Cruz doesn’t fool around. We know he makes very few mistakes.”

“Ryker was a good teacher.”

“Any feedback from those motion-activated sensors you buried along the beach?”

“Nothing yet. None of my energy sweeps have revealed any definite signs of Cruz, either.”

“The coordinates we picked up might have been a chip malfunction. Either that or he’s managed some new set of tricks. We know his skills are growing.”

It wasn’t what Max wanted to hear, but he never let his emotions cloud his field planning. You surveyed your terrain, targeted the enemy and set up a defensive net in accordance with the facts, not what you wanted to be true. Good intel and detailed preparation had kept Max alive too often to count, while emotions interfered with capability and tactical response. He had been trained to keep his emotions locked up tight, where they couldn’t cloud his judgment.

All that had changed thanks to one shadowed moment in a cool tunnel with a woman whose body was hot silk. She shot through his control the way no woman ever had, driving him right to the edge. Responsive and hungry, she had stolen right out of his darkest fantasies.

Only now it was over. It had to be over.

Do the job.

Forget the rest.

“Anything on those thermal images I uploaded?” Irritated, Max checked his supplies and tested the blade on his knife.

“No significant anomalies. Nothing to suggest where they could be storing the guidance system. To protect the electronics, they’ll need a top-notch cooling system, but I’ve seen no hint of that. I’ve still got sixty or so images to check. The camera I gave you is almost too sensitive, and I have to rule out thermal bleed from adjacent rocks and solar pooling.

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