In Her Sights Read Online Free PDF Page A

always reverted
back to the scared girl, afraid she was next to be stabbed in the dark. It was
the only explanation she could come up with for why she couldn’t sleep every
year when the time came around. That’s what had happened then. For months after
finding them, she had not slept at night, too afraid of the dark and the killer
that was still on the loose.
    Lexie swallowed, stepped on the balcony off her bedroom, and
stared out at the starlit sky, willing the memory of what was behind that door to
go away before it all flashed. She counted to fifty. Recited her alphabet forward
and backward.
    The cool air brought a nice breeze. The scent of early
spring flowers in the night dried the thin sheet of sweat dampening her face.
The park in the distance was dark, with only bursts of golden street lamps
shining here and there. In a few weeks, there would be kite flying in the
mornings by kids out for spring break. Laughter and cheers would echo in the
wind. Dogs would bark. Runners would start their paths. Things she didn’t
really know much about.
    Somewhere near a car door shut, the sound echoed. She leaned
forward and listened. The engines were close as they cranked and faded away. The
police were gone. And no arrests that she was aware of. That thought should
ease the tension in her shoulders, but it didn’t. Lexie pushed away from the
smooth, stone balcony railing and headed for her hidden office.
    She keyed the number on the pad and slipped in, pushing the
wall back in place and flicked on lights. Florescent overhead brightened her
stash of weapons and the office for her assassin life.
    The box sat on top of her desk where she’d left it. Her
gloves were on the corner of a shelf and she grabbed them before opening the
box. Inside was an item bound in newspapers with masking tape. It was about a
foot in length and surrounded by more newspapers padding it.
    She cut the tape and unwrapped papers until the dagger
rolled out and landed heavy in her lap. Sparkling silver caught the light. The
handle was white. Bone? Or maybe ivory? The hilt was gold, and at the base, a
rope of gold that tied in a knot.
    Even more impressive was the carving on the white handle.
Like a maze of ninety-degree angles cutting this way and that. She turned it
over, and two interlocked circles were carved on top of the intricate maze. The
silver sheath was just as elegantly crafted. Instead of a matching set of
entwined circles, there were flowers at the base that trailed over the
continued pattern to the end of the cover. She pulled the sheath loose, and it
slid with ease to reveal a simple, silver single-edged blade that tapered off
to a tip.
    She snapped a picture, gently put the dagger back in the
holder, and placed it on top of the discarded newspapers in the box out of the
way.
    It took a second to transfer the picture to her computer and
send it, along with a quick message out to her contract agent. See what you
can get on this for me. -Artemis
    Artemis was a Greek goddess. She swore never to marry and
took up the role of protecting young women. She was a hunter with fifty dogs
and a bow with a bundle of painless silver arrows. She was a woman who knew her
own strength and how to use it to the best of her abilities.
    Lexie had a lot in common with her, which was why she used the
name as her alias. She pulled the gloves loose and set them on the corner of
her desk just as her computer beeped with a return message from Kyle.
    Give me a second.
    Halfway through a game of Free Cell, her computer dinged
again.
    She switched screens and read the message. Where did you
get this?
    Her fingers clicked across the keys. Belongs to my
neighbor. He brought it to me today and left.
    It’s rare, and it’s hot. Get rid of it.
    What’s special about it? she typed back, requesting
more.
    It’s an ancient Crete Dagger. What are you doing with it?
    I don’t know. My neighbor dropped it off this afternoon
in a box.
    Dump it off on someone else.
    His urgency