Double Vision Read Online Free PDF Page B

you,” she said, then heaved on his boots.
    He started to radio for a medic, but Kate stopped him.
    “Ma’am,” he protested. “You need help. You’re dehydrated and your head is bleeding.”
    “I’m fine. I can take care of myself.” She sighed and dragged a hand through her sand-crusted hair. “I’m sorry about your boots.”
    “No problem. It’s not the first time,” he said, being really good-natured about it. “But I should get a medic to look at your head.”
    “No, just drop it.”
    “But, ma’am—”
    “Drop it! That’s an order, Private,” she said, noting his rank sewn to his sleeve.
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    Because he’d tried to do her a good turn and he looked genuinely concerned, she softened her voice. “But thank you.”
    His pinched lips spread into an easy grin, though worry still shone in his eyes. “You’re welcome, ma’am.”
    She moved on through the row of tents to the mess hall, where she snagged two liters of water and then two more and a packet of salt. She added the salt to one of the bottles, wary of drinking too much too fast and depleting the salt from her body.
    She’d seen that happen once on a field maneuver and the guy had suffered seizures. Wanting no part of that, she stepped around a sandbag barrier and headed to her tent, weary to the bone.
    What country she was in, she didn’t have a clue. Could be Iraq or Iran or any of several other Middle Eastern countries. The outpost’s location was classified and she’d been flown in blindfolded, which wasn’t an unusual event since the start of the war on terror, but it never failed to give her the willies. It gave everyone in the field attached to Black World operations the willies. But some of their allies didn’t want it advertised that they were allies. So the U.S. accommodated them.
    She downed another liter of water, snagged some clothes and crossed the post to the showers. Until she got cleaned up, she’d never revive.
    Stepping into the drab-green fiberglass stall, she cranked the spigot and washed off the grit and salt. Reveling in the water sluicing over her body, she thought about the sheer joy of feeling clean. Only once before had she felt as joyful. The day she’d successfully stopped a chemical attack on the White House.
    “Hey, you gonna be in there all night?”
    Kate looked over and saw half a dozen men lined up, waiting to use the shower. The fiberglass shielded from their view a swath between her shoulders and thighs. “Give me a minute. I spent half the damn day buried in sand.”
    That they understood. And for the next ten minutes, until she finished her shower, not one of them said a word or showed the least sign of impatience.
    Kate wrapped herself in a towel and departed. “Thanks,” she said, walking past them.
    “Any time, ma’am.”
    Amazingly, none leered. But then, for that small segment of time, they’d forgotten rivalry and seen the “Outsider” as one who endured. As one of them.
    She returned to her tent, switched the towel for a T-shirtand panties, then broke down her headgear. Pulling the throat mike into position, she collapsed onto her cot with yet another bottle of water. Her legs felt like limp noodles. Her arms weren’t much better. If she didn’t get hydrated quickly, she was in for a wicked night of muscle cramps and spasms that would have her bent double.
    Staring at the dim, bare bulb hanging from the center of the tent, she tried Maggie again. “Home Base?” Kate said. “Home Base, do you copy?”
    “Identify.”
    A voice. Not Maggie’s. Male. “I need a satellite link to Colonel Drake at S.A.S.S. headquarters.” Blood trickled down her face. The damn cut on her forehead was bleeding again.
    She was going to have to get up. Not giving into a sigh was just more than she could manage, so she let one out with gusto and rolled off the cot, then stretched for her gear.
    “Code and authorization number?” the guy asked.
    She riffled through her stuff. No