HARD CASE (A John Harding Novel - Special Ops, Cage Fighter, CIA Agent) Read Online Free Page A

bit desk softened. Dennis looks a lot like an ex-Marine, crew cut sandy hair, and been around the block. We spent some quality time in Afghanistan together. “You ought to get a phone, buddy.”
    “You call T and I get back to you, just like always. Why all this? I’m not in hiding.”
    “We don’t deal with middle men anymore, Harding,” the other suit informs me. He’s a little taller than Dennis and half again as wide, none of it in his stomach.
    “Calm down, Ben,” Dennis tells his partner. “John, this is Ben Reddig. He’s a CIA liaison from the State Department-”
    “Before you go on,” I interrupted him. “Since when do you use civilians as intermediaries?”
    “John, I-”
    “I’m not talking to you, Tess,” I cut her off without taking my eyes off Dennis and his Igor. I can tell she’s all excited, smiling nervously. Apparently, Dennis charmed her into thinking she was being recruited for some clandestine operation.
    “Mind if we sit down, John?”
    “It’s not my house. Why don’t you answer my question first?”
    “Ms. Connagher’s firm does some contracting for us in a peripheral manner.” Dennis sat down in the chair next to mine.
    Reddig starts walking around behind me. I get up, careful not to kick Midnight, hiding next to my shoe.
    “You want to sit, Ben, go on over next to Dennis.” I smile at him charmingly, while keeping his hands in view. “When you get comfortable, keep your hands up on the table where I can see them.”
    “Do as he says, Ben,” Dennis said, the urgency in his voice making an impression on Ben. “Sit over here and tell John what this meeting’s all about.”
    “I don’t like you,” Ben tells me in what he thinks is a menacing growl.
    “That phrase is on a lot of tombstones,” I reply with an easy grin. I’ve measured him and found ol’ Ben wanting. “If you don’t sit down, I’m leaving. I like Ms. Connagher’s house as it is. I’d rather you didn’t die in it.”
    “Sit down, Ben!” Dennis ordered. “I told you not to make a scene in here, damn it!”
    “We shouldn’t have to take orders from street pugs,” Reddig complains but walks around to his seat.
    I sit down when he does, not taking offense. A lot of government types I’ve dealt with over the years think they can treat me like their own personal hand puppet. I sip my coffee. Tess brings over two more cups and saucers with trembling hands. She then brings over the coffee pot and pours coffee for Dennis and Ben. After meeting Reddig, I understood Dennis’s thinking on setting up a meet here. Our State Department is full of appointed hangers on. Reddig looked younger than Dennis, probably middle to late thirties. He was used to bullying people. Tess sat down again across from me.
    “We want to know everything about Samira Karim, Harding,” Ben tells me.
    “I haven’t seen her since ‘03 when she was eleven. If you know so much about me you ought to know that.”
    “Listen you…” Reddig begins trekking down a trail he may not return from when Dennis cuts him off.
    “What Ben here was getting at, John, is did Karim keep in touch with you after your last time seeing her… a phone call or e-mail?”
    “Not a word.”
    “If that’s true… why the hell is she so hot about getting you to look after her on this trip to the states? What kind of relationship did you have with her when-”
    “There was no relationship, moron,” I break in before I have to make an adjustment in Reddig’s facial features. “When you speak to me, remember something before allowing words to spew out of your pie-hole - if you make stupid comments like linking me with an eleven-year-old girl I’m going to break some important parts on your body.”
    “Are…are you threatening me?” Reddig is aghast. He looks over at a very uncomfortable Dennis. “You better get your boy in line, Strobert.”
    “He’s not my boy, Ben,” Dennis tells him. “If you ignore his warning there aren’t enough