Your Next Breath Read Online Free PDF Page A

Kong.”
    “Okay. Anyone else who would be on Santos’s short list?”
    “I don’t think so. Maybe Kelly Winters, who’s at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. She and Luke are friends, and she spends weekends with us sometimes. Assign someone to keep an eye on her.” She paused. “I thought I was a fairly solitary person, but we touch everyone around us. When I was going over the list of possible victims, I found that out. Someone I might not consider as close, Santos could decide was worth killing.” Her hand tightened on the phone. “I just have to find him soon. Get me phone numbers. Any way to trace him. Start searching, Venable.”
    “What do you think I’m doing? I’ll get back to you when I know something.” He hung up.
    Santos. He still wasn’t a definite, but he was emerging as a clear favorite. Time to go over his history and favorite locations to see if something popped out at her.
    She Googled his name.
    A newspaper article and photograph popped on the screen.
    Slick black hair, Castilian features, sensual mouth. He looked to be in his thirties, but she knew he was forty-four. A rap sheet that was violent and terrifying. He dealt out vengeance with swift and cruel efficiency. He’d risen from the gangs on the streets of Caracas as a child to head the most powerful crime organization in South America. His corruption of the political systems in Bolivia and Venezuela had kept him safe and at the top of the heap.
    Where are you, bastard?
    He’d spent a lot of time on the Riviera. He’d had a home on the coast in Bolivia, but that had been confiscated by the government when he’d been convicted. He’d also invested in a castle in Morocco, where he and Delores had entertained royally. Had that been taken away from him, too? She’d have to check into it. Not that he would be there now. He’d expect her to be on the hunt. Wherever he was hiding out, it wouldn’t be anywhere that was obvious. But he must have had other places that the government hadn’t been able to track down. She doubted if he’d establish himself at any totally new place. He’d want the comfort and protection of his own goons around him.
    But he liked the sun, as demonstrated by the choices he’d made in the houses she knew about. Sun. Sea. Areas where he could control his surroundings. Helicopter pads? More than likely. She’d start checking into that possibility.
    If she had time before Santos started moving against the people she loved.
    “I brought you your tea.” Luke was standing in the doorway with a tray. “Hu Chang said he’d bring it, but I told him it was my job.” He came forward and set the tray on the coffee table in front of her. “ You’re my job, Catherine.”
    “I keep telling you, it should be the other way around.” She poured the tea. “You don’t have a duty toward me. You’ve got our relationship all wrong, Luke.”
    “No, I’m starting to get it right.” Luke sat down across from her, his back straight, his dark eyes holding her own. “It took me awhile after you took me away from Rakovac. I wasn’t used to worrying or caring about anyone. It’s still … hard for me. But I’m learning, Catherine. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I can’t do that.” He grimaced. “Rakovac taught me all kinds of ugly ways that would prevent anyone from hurting you.”
    “I know he did.” She felt the familiar rage soar through her. “That’s why I killed him. And I wanted you to forget that ugliness, not use it for me.”
    “Too late. I’ve tried to tell you. I can’t change, I can’t be a normal kid.” His face was pale, grave. “But I can be your kid. Just don’t try to shut me out. Hu Chang told us about this Santos. I heard Sam on the phone, and he’s trying to build a wall around me.”
    “Good.”
    “But who’s going to build a wall around you?”
    “At the moment, I appear to be last on Santos’s list. Maybe I won’t need a wall.”
    “And maybe you will. But