Force of Fire (The Kane Legacy) Read Online Free PDF

and no one to listen.
    'Who is she?' Camille demanded,
feigning indignation.
    'There is no other she. You
know that.'

    'Well all right, if you say so.
But, hey, you get to sounding so defensive, makes a girl wonder if she's not
half on track.'

    'I know I should have phoned.
Promise I’ll make it up to you as soon as I get back.'

    'Traveling again? Mark, what
about Mexico? We're booked for the end of the month!'
    'I know, I know.' He felt the
exhaustion showed in his voice.
    'Look, once this thing’s
over...'
The line fell silent between them .
 Mark
could hear the coffee percolating in the next room. It was his third pot
tonight.
    She finally spoke, sounding
resigned. 'I'll talk to the travel agent, see what she can do about Mexico.'

    'Thanks for understanding,' he
said, doubting she did .

    'So, still coming by
later?'

    Mark rechecked his watch and
looked back down at the files littering his desk. His paperwork had arrived in
record time and Jarvis had pulled together all the necessary research
materials. The Intelweb checks would be nonproductive
at this hour. Jarvis would just have to transmit any information those produced
to him in Costa Negra . In reality, he’d accomplished
all he could here and he’d already packed. Still, it was pushing twenty-four
hundred.
    'Camille, it’s getting late. I
don’t think it’s fair –'

    'Screw fair! You’ll wreck my
girlish figure if you leave me alone with all this food.'

    Mark did a rapid-fire scan of
his mental checklist. There were still some division files he needed to secure
and it was against DOS 'clean desk' policy to leave your office looking like a
tornado had hit it. 'All right. Give me another hour
or so to wrap things up. I’ll give a call when I’m out the door.'
    'You know where to find me.'
    He always did. That was the
problem.

 
    'Listen to me, you putamadre ,' the short one said, bringing serrated
steel to Ana’s jugular. 'I have a lot of money at stake here. Comprende ? Mucho dinero ! Your witch of a mother has already died.'
    'No!' she shouted. She couldn't
stop herself. Liars. These bastards were liars. They would say anything to get
her to talk. Anything. Even that bullcrap about having been in her mother's home and in her father's files.
    He let the knife sag and looked
up at Carnova .
 'I'd
kill her now if I didn't think she has what we want.'
    ' Paciencia , Dedito .' There was a terrifying musicality to his
voice. ' Es posible que no sepa nada – dejame ver .. .'
 He
approached her face-on, pressing his oily palms to her temples, bringing his
lips even with hers, saliva flying as he spoke. 'Come now, buena chica , tell Fidelito everything.'
    Ana
stiffened. The wolf eyes were burning now. Dry ice. He fitted his palms
more tightly around her skull until she thought the brittle bones there would
cave in.
    'No manners, princesa . Such a pity.'
He
gestured with his chin. A dark shadow rolled over her, then the flash of an
arm, followed by the blistering fire of flesh being torn from flesh. Her
searing lip gaped open.
    Water was running down her
face, warm salty water rushing in rapid streams to the bloodstained cotton
shift she had chosen to wear into the jungle that morning.
    'Perhaps tomorrow,' Carnova said, taking the knife from El Dedo and scraping its reddened blade against the soiled heel of his boot, 'Senorita
Kane will feel more like conversation.'

 
    Mark flipped shut the lid of
his briefcase and closed down his secured computer. Batten down the hatches.
File cabinets locked, desk cleared, wastebasket emptied. Only the door lock
remained.
    Sealed tight like sardines, all
of them.
    It was called a 'secure'
environment. Even the cleaning personnel had top-secret clearances. Nothing was
allowed in that hadn’t been scanned and nothing was allowed out that hadn’t
passed the litmus test of security. Professional papers, articles, any written
documentation could not escape without a green light from the