Obsession Read Online Free PDF Page A

like a sleepy turtle. Then, with deliberate movements that she couldn’t miss, he reached into his pocket and drew out a knife. A silver knife, slim and innocuous-looking, about six inches long. No sharp edges visible, but she knew what it was at a glance: a switchblade.
    Horror filled her. Her throat tightened as her gaze stayed glued to the knife. He had only to push a button....
    “You’re leaving me no choice, Katharine, so this is on your own head. If you don’t tell me where that safe is, I’m going to start carving that pretty face of yours up like a jack-o’-lantern.”
    Fearing what would happen next, Katharine’s body tensed. Her mouth went dry. Her heart knocked against her rib cage. But there was only one answer she could give: the same one she’d been giving all along.
    She shook her head in despair, indicating wordlessly what she then said aloud, “There . . . is . . . no . . . safe. Please, please believe that. Like I keep telling you, you’re making a mistake.”
    There was a heartbeat’s worth of dead silence.
    “Stupid bitch,” he said, and the very absence of emotion in his voice made it all the more terrifying.
    “I’m telling the truth.” Desperation made her voice shake. “I really am. This is just an ordinary rented town house. Why would there be a hidden safe?”
    She heard the tiny click of the knife a fraction of a second before she saw the blade spring free of its casing. Light from the recessed fixtures overhead caused its honed edge to glint with wicked menace. It was, she could see, surgically sharp. Eyes glued to it, she drew in a deep, ragged breath.
    “Using that won’t help,” she said. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
    He leaned closer. His face was just inches above hers now, so close that she could see that his eyes were bloodshot and smell the faint scent of garlic on his breath. Then he smiled. A small, evil, terrifying smile. Suddenly light-headed, she was conscious of a strange rushing sound and realized that what she was hearing was her own blood roaring like a waterfall in her ears.
    “There’s a hidden safe here because your boyfriend put it here,” he said.

2
    Her boyfriend. Edward Barnes. A fit, distinguished-looking, soon-to-be-divorced forty-seven-year-old, who was in Amsterdam until Tuesday. They’d been seeing each other for the past thirteen months. He’d been her boss for the last four years. And—oh, yeah—he’d been the DDO—Deputy Director of Operations—of the CIA for two of those, taking her, his executive assistant, right up through the ranks with him, until now, when to all intents and purposes she, Katharine Marie Lawrence, former notorious party girl, was one of the most powerful people in the CIA.
    Because she had Ed’s ear. And now that his wife of twenty years, Sharon, had moved out of their Embassy Row mansion in the wake of that damned Washington Post photo, she had pretty much most of the rest of him, too.
    Given that Ed owned the town house in which she lived—rent-free, a perk of their relationship—a hidden safe suddenly seemed no longer completely beyond the realm of possibility.
    Katharine’s blood ran cold at the thought.
    “I don’t know anything about that. I just live here.”
    “Yeah.” Sarcasm dripped from the syllable.
    Almost gently, he pressed the blade to her cheek. As she felt the cold metal against her face, Katharine’s breathing suspended. Her heart lurched. For a frozen instant horror paralyzed her. Then she realized that what she was feeling was just the smallest degree of pressure, no sting, no pain at all, and it hit her: only the dull edge touched her skin. He wasn’t cutting her—yet.
    “Please,” she said. Her throat was so tight, it was difficult to get even that much out. Her heart thudded. Her stomach knotted. She could feel Lisa watching, see the frightened glint of her wide eyes. Her friend’s horror was almost palpable. Then, despairingly because she knew it was useless,