Flirting with Danger Read Online Free PDF Page A

and then two other agents turned up to bring him back for questioning, and then—”
    Skye cut herself off, hearing the rising tone as her words sped up. Getting a handle on herself, she paused for a second to try to recount everything coherently. A hysterical female would not be any use to Jack or her father.
    “I can safely say neither my father nor I will ever get to try the cuisine at the Golden Mih Goo Wak Restaurant,” she started again. “While Garth, Katherine and Tarek were all arguing, I started to leave, but a group of four men were on the other side of the street and started taking pot shots at us. Garth and the other agents returned fire and the restaurant was pretty shot up. Garth insisted I should make a run for it, and, after a moment, I did.”
    Skye paused there and swallowed. Her voice had thickened and it felt like a lump had lodged in her throat. After a moment she continued.
    “That was when they pulled out a rocket launcher and… Well, you can imagine how it went from there.”
    “So the others are dead?” Jack replied, his voice grim.
    Skye shook her head.
    “I don’t think so. I went back, called out a warning. I know Garth was escaping as the building was decimated, so I’d like to think they got away, though I can’t be sure and I don’t know how hurt they were. If they ran for it they might have got out relatively unscathed, but I was busy fleeing in the opposite direction at the time.” They were both silent for a moment. “The reason I called you, that I’m coming to you like this, is I don’t know who to trust. If my father has been kidnapped, if he’s being held hostage for something, we need to find him.”
    “I’m sure the Agency—” Jack began, but Skye cut him off.
    “Of course they’re looking, but they’re not solely focused on it, like I want to be. They’re bogged down in chasing after Garth and probably covering everything up like mad. I don’t care about anything except getting my dad back. Garth said… Garth said these assailants were only laying down suppressing fire. They might have been trying to flush me out before they decided a rocket launcher was a better option. Garth warned me they might try and use me as leverage against my father. If they have him, if they’re…if they’re trying to get information out of him, I would be used against him. I need to get him back, safely.”
    “Tracking someone like your father down will be bloody difficult,” Jack warned her. “Though, if he’s being held against his will, at least he will use any opportunity to help us—or anyone else—looking for him. Do you know anything about the mission your father just returned from?”
    “No. He did say that it was something personal, something he needed to do himself. He made it clear he wasn’t missing my birthday lightly.” Skye leant back on the couch and searched her memory for anything that might be helpful.
    “I didn’t get the impression he went because he was ordered to. Dad sounded like he felt he needed to be the one to do it, whatever it was,” she finished.
    “Okay,” Jack replied. His eyes glanced at the wall behind her as he appeared lost in thought. “We need to make a few assumptions to begin with. Let’s assume it’s not chance or coincidence that now is when he’s missing. This isn’t random or a fluke. It’s possible this is in relation to a long-term plan being put into place, but it doesn’t strike me as being the case.”
    Skye frowned and shook her head, not following his reasoning.
    “If those four men, presumably acting on behalf of your father’s current nemesis, had been given a cohesive plan which was the result of a long-term greater strategy, it would have been more convoluted—and likely more successful—than simply laying down suppressive gunshots, then when you seemingly escaped, using a rocket launcher to obliterate the restaurant and any witnesses. That’s not a finely tuned plan, that’s a by the seat of