Catch a Shadow Read Online Free

“Terrible thing, what happened outside.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œSomeone said it looked like he was run down on purpose.”
    â€œI didn’t see it.” the bartender said, “so I couldn’t say. But we have some rotten drivers in Atlanta.”
    The man on his left shrugged. “Accidents out there all the time.”
    â€œAnyone know the guy?”
    The bartender shrugged. “I called 911, but I couldn’t leave the bar. Don’t think so, though. Someone would have said something. No one did.”
    Jake doubted he would get any more information. He paid and left the stool, taking his beer with him as he wandered through the establishment. There were several rooms off the main bar area. He went to the one designated in the note.
    While the front areas were packed, this room was empty except for two couples who paid no attention to him. He imagined the room would fill as people left work. He made his way to the table in the left corner and lounged in a chair.
    When he was sure no one was watching, he searched the underside of the table.
    Nothing. Nor did he see anyone else around. He slowly sipped the beer, waiting for the last of the police to leave as he tried to understand what had happened.
    The man he once knew as Del Cox had given the woman paramedic a letter, a letter he suspected was meant for him. Had Gene Adams seen it as well?
    Or was his name Gene Adams? Adams and Cox had been CIA, while the other members of the team had been pulled from the Army Special Forces. Jake had previously worked with the other two Special Forces members—all three were Rangers—but not the CIA guys, and all of them, for security reasons, used false identities. He knew his teammates’ names but not those of the CIA guys.
    He’d liked Cox, but Adams had been a pain in the ass since day one. As a captain in the Rangers, Jake was supposed to be team leader. Adams was along to make the transaction and try to discover who had sold American missiles to Camarro, but Adams kept trying to take charge.
    Had the man who knelt next to Cox really been Adams? So many features were different, but not that cold stare that took everything in, nor the compulsive clenching of his fist when agitated.
    How could Adams have known of the meeting? He’d obviously been anxious to get to the fallen man before anyone else, and yet he hurried off before questions could be asked. And a car had been waiting for him not far from the accident scene. It didn’t take too many coincidences to raise those familiar hackles along Jake’s backbone.
    Ghosts . He’d seen two ghosts tonight. And now he had a lead. No, leads .
    A license number. A face he would not forget.
    And the paramedic who had taken an envelope from Cox.

CHAPTER 3
    Kirke was emotionally and physically exhausted when she returned to her duplex.
    The toddler wouldn’t leave her thoughts. Neither would the insistent request of the hit-and-run victim.
    A sense of failure filled her. Perhaps there had been something more she could have done in both cases.
    Sometimes they were just too late.
    Usually she could turn those feelings off. Think, instead, of the people they’d saved during the past week. Month. Year.
    The fierce demand in Mark Cable’s eyes had left its imprint. She took the envelope from her pocket and weighed it with her hand. Light. Probably no more than a page or two.
    She placed it on the kitchen table, then took off her blood-splattered uniform shirt and threw it into the washing machine. She headed for the shower.
    Merlin . She had to get Merlin. But first she wanted to wash away the remnants of the day. She scrubbed every inch of herself, then washed her hair, thankful she now wore it short.
    No singing in the shower now. She should have turned the envelope in at the hospital. She still could. She could say she forgot about it.
    Do it! Turn it in and forget about it .
    The water turned cold, freezing her. A