Italian Deception. Michelle Reid

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СКАЧАТЬ and should’ves were candy and gold, yeah, yeah, yeah.” She dug her fingers into the brown leather of her purse.

      “You didn’t even stay in the army.”

      That one was below the belt. “I chose to leave.”

      “Because you’re too damn hardheaded to follow orders.”

      “That’s not the reason I left.” Lucy squeezed her purse into her chest, seeing the whole tragedy unfold in her mind. It tore at her insides. She had never told anyone why she left the army.

      “So, enlighten me.” He’d raised his voice, his face bloodred.

      She blurted out, “I saw a friend get his head blown off, all right?”

      The silence of stunned disclosure settled in between them.

      Finally her father said, his tone softer, “I’m sorry, but you knew when you joined the army it wasn’t going to be all peaches and cream.”

      She and Jack Kane had been good friends. One night in a bar, Jack had come clean about his attraction to her. They had decided to start dating. Two days after their first date, she’d had to watch a forensic team pick up pieces of him off a field. She wrung her hands in the strap of her purse. Her voice shook as she said, “Peaches and cream, Dad? How callous can you be?”

      “That’s not callous, that’s practical. He shouldn’t have been in demolitions if he didn’t know what he was doing.”

      “He was following orders, going by the book.”

      “There’s a right way to do things. Casualties happen. You join a man’s world, you have to take it like a man. I thought I taught you that.”

      Lucy’s brows narrowed at her father. She had just poured out the nightmare that had changed her life forever and all he had to say was, “…take it like a man.”

      It made her lose control and raise her voice. “Yeah, Dad, there’s the take-it-like-a-man, by-the-book, blow-your-guts-out-way, or the logical way.” The Athena way, she thought. “So you’re right. A soldier’s life may be dispensable to a general sitting two hundred miles away giving orders from some secure command room, but every life in the field counts with me. And if too damn much red tape gets in my way and I see a better way to go about a mission, you better believe I’m taking it.”

      “That’s your trouble. You’ve taken your own road your whole life. And look at you, floundering around with a group of mercenaries. The only worthwhile thing you ever did was that Athena Academy. I thought it would turn your life around.”

      Lucy wanted to tell him that it had turned her life around, and the irony was she still felt closer to her instructors and Athena classmates than she did to her own father.

      She couldn’t stand another moment of this so-called bonding, so she grabbed the door handle. “Let me out. Now.”

      Her father jammed his foot on the brake. The Hummer skidded to a halt. He stared straight ahead.

      Lucy flung open the door, rolled out of the seat and slammed the door. Trembling all over, she stood firm as the Hummer’s spinning wheels spewed dirt and dust all over her. She watched the white vehicle dripping and running into gray behind her tears. Why was it always like this between them? Why couldn’t he just accept her and be proud of her? Maybe by the time she reached her mother’s home, they both would have calmed down and been able to stay in the same room together. Maybe.

      She blinked back the tears, slung her purse over her shoulder and strode down the road. The red clay soil felt like spongy crust beneath her sandals. Afternoon sun beat down on her head. She took off the white scarf from around her neck and tied it around her head. Thank goodness she’d worn a long white linen peasant dress. At least she wouldn’t be so hot.

      The morning heat swirled up the inside of her legs as she walked. Her shoulder bag thumped against her right hip, her .45 adding to the weight. Over the years, the sensation of a weapon close at hand made her feel secure. At the moment, it didn’t give her any refuge, her father’s words still smarting.

      She grew aware of her lucky charm thumping against her sternum. She pulled out the .25 caliber casing. The small empty brass cylinder dangled from a gold chain. When she was little, her father would take her to the range. When they were done shooting, they always picked up the spent casings and reloaded them with gunpowder. This was the first casing her father had taught her to reload. She hadn’t been able to part with it. It made a lump form in her throat and she dropped it back inside her dress.

      One of her two cell phones rang. One connected to the team only. The other was a secure line, chipped for international use and connected to AA.gov, an Athena Academy network overseen by the Department of Defense. She had done courier assignments for AA.gov in the past, and if this was another assignment it would be a welcome interruption to her dad hell.

      She reached in her purse, found the phone and popped it open. An encrypted text message scrolled across the LCD screen. She hit a button and the encryption scrambled into English:

      Lucy,

      A contact named “Delphi” wishes to hire you and your team to go after a target in Cape Town, South Africa.

      She narrowed her eyes at the moniker Delphi and typed back:

      I’ve never worked for a contact named Delphi before.

      The response:

      This is a legitimate assignment. It’s tied to recent threats against the Athena Academy, including the kidnapping of two students. Athena alums have been targeted, as well. You could be in danger, so if you accept this assignment keep your own Athena alum status on the QT. Do you accept?

      Lucy read the message again, intrigued by what she was told and what she was not. Like who had been kidnapped, and was this target in South Africa behind these threats. She typed:

      Will accept.

      Another line appeared:

      Stand by for verbal briefing with Delphi in two minutes.

      She slapped the phone closed and waited for the briefing. Thoughts of breaking the news of her shortened visit to her mom made her grimace. She hated disappointing her, but she’d make up for it later. Maybe ask her to vacation at her ranch. Her father, well, he’d probably wish her gone. What about Val? She was to arrive at the end of the week. Lucy truly missed her friend. They’d just have to reschedule.

      Lucy watched two women, balancing full laundry baskets on their heads, stride past her as the phone rang again.

      She answered, eager to speak to this Delphi. If she was going to risk her life and the team’s lives, she wanted to directly communicate with this person. And she wondered how Delphi was tied to the AA.gov network.

      Cape Town, Africa

      Nolan Taylor followed the red line that led to the porter’s booth on the walk of Cape Town International Airport. When he reached the end, he paused, the toe of his black wingtips an inch from the end of the line. He set down his suitcase and glanced behind him.

      The big bloke was still following him. He had СКАЧАТЬ