Enemy Mine Read Online Free PDF Page B

slightly, Kathy waited. “How’s this? Can you hear me better now?”
    “Yeah, a little. What’s up? You’ve still got four days on your R and R.”
    Hearing his chuckle, Kathy smiled slightly and pressed the cell phone to her ear. “I’m counting them, trust me. Listen, I really need to give you a heads-up on our mission. My father is giving me the fish eye, which means he intends to find out about what we’re doing.”
    “Don’t worry, Kathy, I’ve got that covered. There’s no way he can get to it. Relax, okay?”
    Relief sheeted through her. Kathy closed her eyes for a moment and felt her stomach begin to relax. “Good…good.”
    “Listen, the ops has changed. I was going to call you, so you musta been reading my mind.”
    “Oh?” Her heart pounded.
    “Yeah, we just got a KNR—a kidnapping and ransom call—from the State Department. Carlos Garcia just kidnapped Sophie, a little girl from an oil executive down in Lima, Peru. She’s an American citizen. The kid is only seven years old, blond-haired, blue-eyed, and was abducted from her parents’ apartment in the Mira Flores district, the wealthy area in that city. They probably kidnapped her for either political gain or for a ransom. This isn’t the first time Garcia has kidnapped. It’s part of his profile.”
    “You’re kidding me.”
    “No, I’m not. So that doubles the ante on getting youin place, in Garcia’s good graces. You’re going to be looking for that little girl while you’re insinuating yourself into his command structure. She becomes our top priority now. And this lends credence to your mission. Before, we were standing on shaky ground, trying to snatch the child of a drug lord. Now, with this girl being kidnapped, we’re a bona fide mission.”
    Rubbing her brow, Kathy stared at the darkening woods surrounding her. “This complicates things, Pat.” She was counting on hurting the Garcias just as much as they’d hurt her family, by kidnapping Carlos’s only child, a little girl named Tiki Garcia, age six. If the American girl was there, the mission would involve two children, not one. That made it even more tricky to carry off. And Pat was telling her that if she had to make a choice between the children, Sophie, the American child, would have to be the one she spirited away. After all, the U.S. wasn’t in the kidnapping business—at least not officially—and Kathy knew her mission would put Patrick into a lot of hot water if it was discovered by higher-ups. For him, this mission had just gotten a blessing. For her, it had become more complex.
    “Yeah, it does complicate things. But you knew from the get-go that this ops was an evolving one, like a pissed-off snake twisting around, trying to bite.”
    Grimacing, Kathy nodded. “You’re right. Okay, no problem. Then the time frame is the same?”
    “Yeah, stay where you are. There’s no sense in changing the schedule. If you dropped in on Garcia early, he might suspect something. This way, it’ll be at least four to five days after the KNR.”
    “Right.” That made sense. Patrick O’Conner was one of the oldest SEALs in the business, but one of the smartest and foxiest when it came to strat and tact—strategy and tactics. That’s why Kathy had gone to him in the first place. It would take a mastermind to draw up a mission that Carlos Garcia wouldn’t suspect. “Okay, then I’ll be there as scheduled.”
    “You bet, Kat. See you soon. Out.”
    Standing there, watching the apricot sky deepening to gold overhead, Kathy pushed the cell phone back into her pocket.
    Damn. Not one child to steal from beneath Garcia’s nose, but two. An innocent American child was now part of the mix. Already Kathy felt dread. She shook it off, and the thirst for revenge that had lived liked a good friend in her all these years resurfaced. She allowed her rage to burn off whatever doubts she had. Anger, if directed and focused properly, could become a powerful ally, and that was