Unmasking the Mercenary Read Online Free PDF Page A

town.
    “Is this where you live?” he asked.
    She didn’t answer.
    He clicked on an old news story about Cullen McQueen and Sabine O’Clery. Haley gritted her teeth as he read about the ex-Delta soldier who’d rescued Sabine from Afghanistan, and, even more damaging, about the exposure of his supersecret company after someone attacked Sabine at her Roaring Creek, Colorado, bookstore.
    Before he finished reading, Haley pivoted and marched out of the room. At the kitchen counter, she lifted the bottle of wine and a corkscrew next to it, more for something to do while her mind spun with implication. She finished uncorking the bottle when Rem emerged, his eyes far less threatening now. In fact, he looked a little smug.
    She poured wine into one glass and put the bottle down. He stopped beside her and lifted the bottle, pouring wine into his own glass. She turned her back and peered through the window at the dimly lit pool.
    “So you’re into counterterror operations, is that it? Ex-Delta soldier…supersecret company…it doesn’t take much of a leap.” She slid her gaze to him when he spoke. He’d put his glass down and went to the oven, removing a pan of lasagna. He put it on a hot pad beside the plates. Next, he went to the refrigerator and removed a bowl of salad. Setting that down, he extended her a plate.
    The idea of a man like him cooking was almost comical. Taking the plate, she dished a small amount of food.
    “Lasagna?” She couldn’t resist the teasing tone that made its way into her voice.
    “A guy has to eat.”
    “Frozen pizza seems more appropriate.”
    “All out.”
    She smiled a little and went to sit at the table. Rem sat across from her. She picked at her food, waiting for him to start in again. Because, of course, he would.
    “I take it Cullen McQueen restructured his secret company,” Rem said. “Who is he working for?”
    As if she’d ever tell him. She didn’t know, anyway.
    “I’m surprised a thug like you can cook,” she commented.
    He didn’t look happy with her moniker.
    She cut a bite with her fork and ate a sample. Her brow rose when the flavor burst in her mouth. “Mmm. Good.” She ate another bite.
    “Why were you casing Habib Maalouf?” Rem asked. He hadn’t touched his food yet.
    Haley leaned back in her chair with her wineglass and sipped, eyeing him over the rim. “You won’t find that on the Internet.”
    “What clued you to check into Habib?” He sounded more demanding now. “What clued you? ”
    “If you answer my question, I’ll answer yours.”
    So they were back to that. “What will you do once I tell you?”
    “What do you think I’d do?” he countered.
    She put her wineglass down and stared at him. He wasn’t going to give an inch. She had no doubt he’d used violence to his advantage in the past. It surrounded him, his aura, his energy. This man had a dangerous streak she did not want to explore.
    “I don’t know,” she answered honestly.
    “I wouldn’t hurt you.”
    The raspy sound of his voice lured her to trust him while suspicion kept her cautious. “Why? Because I’m a woman?”
    “No. Because there’s a certain frailty about you.”
    A frailty he could break if he wanted. Was her experience in Iraq so transparent?
    “I’m asking you to tell me what you know about Habib,” he said. “I’m asking.”
    He wasn’t going to force her. That did something to her, cracked her defenses. He was leaving the choice up to her. She had a feeling she didn’t know enough to do any damage, anyway.
    “We got a tip that Habib has been contacted by someone in Lebanon a few weeks ago,” she began. “A senior operative for Hezbollah we later discovered had been shot and killed. We had no way of knowing if Habib would be in contact with anyone else, but we suspected he would. Travis and I were sent to Monrovia to watch him. He’s a diamond merchant who uses his market as a front. We’re afraid he’ll help finance a merger of splinter cells