Lady Liberty Read Online Free

fixed in their crosshairs. He couldn’t afford to botch this up, too.
    A bull of a man dressed all in black stepped out from behind the van. He was in his forties, and his most remarkablefeature was having a face people would forget in ten seconds or less. Cramer envied him that. Average looks were a hell of an asset to an agent working in the field. The tip of his cigarette glowed red and, supposing smoking would be banned inside the van, Cramer nodded.
    “Only lab personnel allowed inside.” The man exhaled a stream of smoke that fogged the night air and opened his fist, palm up. A second penny gleamed in a streak of light.
    Verified. Their van, their man.
Cramer showed the agent the penny he had lifted off the walk. “No problem.” He passed the evidence bags, and, as Westford had suggested, he prayed the Band-Aid tested clean.

    In her salon, Sybil dialed Gabby’s number and then glanced down at her freshly bandaged finger, hoping she hadn’t made a mistake that would cost her her life.
    Gabby answered with a gruff, “What is it, Lisa?”
    “It’s not Lisa, but if I had the misfortune to be your assistant, and you talked to me in that tone, I’d quit.”
    “She does. At least once a week. Usually on the days I haven’t fired her.”
    Sybil smiled. Those two would be going at it when they died of old age. “You sound riled.” That concerned Sybil. Gabby didn’t do riled. She always had been passionate about her work, but she usually kept exasperation private.
    “You on a secure line?”
    “Yes.” Not an uncommon question. Gabby had been a covert operative for years.
    “It’s this mission, Sybil. It’s making me crazy”
    “Do you need to pull out?”
    “I can’t. We have too much invested. It'd take a year to get back to where we are now.”
    Gabby’s “where” was deeply entrenched in a corporateespionage ring that had hooked into the judicial system and was suspected of selling reduced or suspended sentences to North Korean spies.
    “So what are you going to do?” Sybil asked.
    “The same thing you do when your work makes you nuts. Suck it up, and press on.” She heaved a sigh Sybil felt down to her bones. “But I swear it’ll be a cold day in hell before I go deep cover again.”
    “Of course.” Gabby had sworn that same thing on her last five missions.
    “I mean it. I’m burned out.”
    Sybil sat down on a lush sage-silk sofa and stared at a painting of magnolias hanging on the wall. “I know.” She did, and she resented that.
    “Is Jonathan behaving?”
    Here she goes again. The self-appointed matchmaker from hell.
“Agent Westford always behaves.”
    “Too bad.” Gabby’s deep breath crackled static through the receiver. “You could fix that with a little encouragement. It wouldn’t take much.”
    “I’ll pass.” Sybil crossed an arm over her chest. “When it comes to men, my judgment leaves a lot to be desired.”
    “Austin doesn’t count.”
    At least Gabby hadn’t called him by her usual pet name. Sybil supposed she should be grateful for that small mercy. “I was married to the man for fifteen years. He counted.” She swiped an irritated hand over her forehead. “Is there anything else, or did you just call to bitch about work and butt into my love life?”
    “You don’t have a love life.”
    “And I’m happier than I’ve been in years.” She’d loved Austin, had given him everything she’d had to give, including the money to fund Secure Environet, and he had become her Achilles’ heel. The
last
thing she needed was another love in her life. “Leave it alone, Gabby. Please.”
    “All right, but you’re letting a winner slip through—”
    “I said
please,”
Sybil insisted. “If there’s nothing else, I’d better get back.” With no one running interference, the premiers were apt to kill each other.
    “There is one thing,” Gabby said, sounding hesitant. “It’s the reason I called.”
    “Yes?”
    “Be careful, okay? I woke up this