Claimed by the Secret Agent Read Online Free PDF

fluttering and lip trembling went a long way with him. Pity it had taken her so many years to discover the power of that—she might have saved herself a boatload of angst early on.
    She felt sorry for Tyndal, but he could have cut her a little slack and agreed to let her assist. Despite his periodic gruffness, he had been a real softie and easy to dupe. He seemed an all right guy, at least on the surface, so she hoped he didn’t get into too much trouble for losing her.
    This probably canceled any chance of her working for COMPASS, but so what? She liked the job she had.
    She had been procrastinating on a response to the offer anyway. It would be an excellent move professionally, she was flattered they wanted her and she probably would have accepted. But the European assignment had been really exciting so far and she hated to give it up so soon.
    The Company would reassign her to another post, and she’d carry on, attending parties, searching, listening and mentally recording, playing the featherbrained innocent overawed by the powerful who surrounded her.
    In what seemed no time at all, Marie reached the exit leading to the village where she’d been stashed. When she got to the town, she slowed and parked on the sidewalk in front of a small row of shops.
    She slipped her weapon into the back of her belt, pulled her shirttail down over it and got out to join them.
    The village was a bit larger than she reckoned, and it took a while to locate the building from which she’d escaped.
    The alley adjacent to the building was deserted. Marie walked around to the entrance. The door was unlocked, even standing open a little. She pulled her weapon, hesitated, listened and heard nothing. Quietly, she edged it open a little more and slipped inside.
    It was fairly dark, dank smelling and apparently empty. There was a chair, a bare cot and a table near a door to what she figured must be her former cell. That door, too, was cracked open a few inches.
    Carefully, she approached, gun out and off safety. She kicked it fully open and shouted, “Polizei!”
    “Bang. You’re dead,” a quiet voice declared in English. He sat, hands linked over his stomach, leaning back against the wall in the same straight chair she’d used to break the window.
    “Dammit, Tyndal! I almost shot you!” She lowered her weapon and shook her head. “How’d you get here before I did?”
    “Shortcut,” he drawled. “What took you so long?”
    “What do you mean? I flew!”
    He rocked forward and got up. “Not fast enough, either of us. Our boy’s gone already. I just found this in the other room, though.” He held out a scrap of paper with a few words scribbled on it. “It’s in Dutch, I think.”
    She examined the paper. “Yeah, it’s a supply list. So he’s probably either from the Netherlands or had Dutch parents. That must be his mother tongue. He used it to make a list, and I heard him curse in it. Not much of a clue to his whereabouts now, though.”
    “It’s all we have so far.”
    Marie looked up at him and grinned. “Did you just say we? ”
    He shrugged and nodded, looking resigned.
    “Not your decision, I take it?”
    He shook his head. “Mercier said to watch you. So, show me what you got. If it’s good enough, I guess you get the job.”
    “I have a job right now—getting this guy. One thing bothers me. If he intended for me to escape, maybe he meant for the authorities to find that,” she said, staring at the paper as she spoke.
    “You think he let you go?”
    “Sure made it easy enough. And he let me overhear him speaking in Dutch.”
    “Let you, huh? Maybe he thought you were still out from the drugs. I don’t think we can assume—”
    Marie interrupted. “So what do you think? False leads?”
    “I don’t know. I found the paper right before I heard you coming and haven’t had time to examine it. Give me a minute.” He turned away, holding the scrap between his palms.
    It was a full minute before he answered.