Never Say Spy Read Online Free PDF

down into my face.  “Are you all right?  Do you need to sit down?”
    I shook my head.  “I’m fine,” I lied.
    A tremulous voice floated from the vicinity of the doorway.  “I think... I might need to sit down.”
    We turned to see Webb propped against the wall.   His pale face had taken on an unflattering greenish cast, tastefully highlighted with a sheen of sweat.
    Kane let go of me and grabbed a handful of Spider’s shirt, lifting and swivelling him into a chair.  He shoved Webb’s head down between his bony knees and held him in place with a hand on the back of the young man’s neck.
    “Breathe,” Kane said.  “Slow and easy.  That’s it.”
    I turned to the medical examiner, who had by now mercifully covered the damaged face on the gurney.  “Could we get him a glass of water?”
    He nodded and wheeled the gurney out of the room.  By the time he returned a minute or two later, Webb was sitting up again, and he sipped shakily at the water.
    “Are you going to be okay now?” I asked, and he nodded and rose tentatively from the chair.  I noticed Kane didn’t put a hand out to steady him.  I guessed it was a guy thing.  Besides, Kane had moved remarkably fast for such a big man.  He could probably catch Webb before he hit the ground if necessary.
    It seemed Spider was sufficiently recovered, though, and we proceeded uneventfully back to the reception area.  When we arrived, Kane sprawled into one of the chairs in the deserted room, indicating with a wave of his hand that we should do the same.  Webb and I sank into chairs of our own.
    “Let’s talk this back,” Kane said, and I wondered if he was being considerate, tactfully allowing us to recover without fuss, or whether this was just for his own convenience.
    Kane turned to me.  “You’re reasonably sure this is the same man you saw in Silverside.”
    “Yes.”
    “How could you... How could you just look at him like that?” Spider burst out, apparently still reliving the grisly vision.  “Like he was a... a... piece of meat in the supermarket.”
    “He is just a piece of meat now,” I replied as gently as I could.  “There’s nobody left inside.  Whoever he was, he isn’t in there anymore.  Besides,” I added, mostly to myself, “It’s not the worst thing I ever saw.”
    The memory of tortured screams echoed again in my mind.  I shook my head slightly and banished the ghost with the competence of long practice.
    Returning to the present, I realized something must have shown on my face.  Webb was staring at me, and Kane was frowning subtly.  Why the hell had I said that out loud?
    Kane apparently decided to let it go.  “So when you saw Ramos in Silverside, was that the first time you’d ever seen him?”
    “Yes.”
    “So Ramos sees you, once, in Silverside, on Thursday.  Instead of tracking you down in Silverside, where he saw you, he travels two hours to Calgary to stake out an empty house with a For Sale sign on it.”
    I shrugged.  “I don’t get it either.  First, how would he know who I was, and second, if he did know who I was, why would he come to Calgary instead of Silverside, and third, why the heck would he want to find me anyway?”
    I could think of one reason, but I was pretty sure that hadn’t been lust in his eyes.
    “Oh, and fourth,” I added.  “How did he know I was going to show up at an empty house at all?”
    “That one’s easy,” Kane replied.  “See a For Sale sign, call a realtor.”
    “That makes sense.”  I sat up straighter.  “My realtor called me and said she had a hot prospect who wanted to meet me in person.  We both thought it was unusual, but she set up the appointment – and then the guy never showed.”
    “He showed, all right,” Kane said.  “You just didn’t see him until it was too late.”
    Webb chimed in, “But it still doesn’t make sense to lure you down here.  Unless... he was planning to kidnap you and take you somewhere in