Operation: Midnight Guardian Read Online Free Page A

made them marginally more comfortable.
    He rose and helped her to her feet. “If you have a beef with the verdict, you’ve got to handle it through the courts. Not out here. There’s a dangerous storm on the way and four killers who will stop at nothing to get whatever secrets you have locked inside your head. Do you understand?”
    “What I understand,” she said in a trembling voice, “is that neither justice nor my life means anything to you.”
    He studied her as if she were a puzzle missing a vital piece, then he motioned toward the trail. “When we get to the chopper I’ll clean up that cut on your temple.”
    The cut was so inconsequential when her life was destroyed that Mattie choked back a hysterical laugh. “Like that’s going to make everything all better.”
    “Lady, I’m just doing my job the best way I know how. If you’re as smart as your file claims you are, you’ll make it easier on both of us and cooperate.”
    “I will play no role in the ruination of my life.”
    “You should have thought about that before you got involved with those thugs.” He jammed his thumb in the direction from which they’d come. “If those bastards get their hands on you, you will find out the true meaning of brutality.”
    “I’d rather die than spend the rest of my life in prison.”
    “Keep it up and you’ll get your wish.” He looked at his watch. “Now let’s move out.”
    He set a grueling pace as they trekked toward the pick-up location. Mattie felt as if she were walking toward the firing squad. She couldn’t believe she’d blown her only chance of escape.
    Within minutes, the Whop! Whop! Whop! of the chopper’s rotor blades rent the air. Through the trees she spotted the large craft perched ona rocky ridge in a clearing. The fuselage was yellow with black lettering.
    They were twenty yards away when a man in khaki pants and a parka opened the chopper’s hatch and stepped out. “About damn time,” he said, his eyes going from her captor to her and lingering.
    Mattie looked away, wondering if this would be the last time she saw trees, the last time she breathed in mountain air and freedom.
    “She give you any problems?” the man asked.
    Her captor gave her a measuring look. “None I couldn’t handle.”
    “Get her in the chopper. Pilot’s RTG. Let’s see if we can beat this cold front.”
    Her captor took her arm and led her toward the chopper. She was about to step inside when a gunshot stopped her dead in her tracks. She spun to see the man in khakis crumple to the ground.
    “Holy hell! Rusty!”
    Her captor went for his weapon, but he wasn’t fast enough. A third man in a flight suit emerged from the chopper leveling a deadly looking weapon at her captor’s chest.
    “Drop the gun, Cutter, or I swear you’ll join him.”
     
    THERE WAS NOTHING Sean Cutter hated more than a traitor. That deep-seated hatred boiled inside him as he stared at the CIA chopper pilot he’d known and trusted for the better part of his professional life.
    “What the hell are you doing, Meeks?”
    “What do you think?” Grimacing, the pilot jumped from the chopper to the ground, his eyes flashing from Cutter to Mattie.
    “I think you’re selling your soul,” Cutter said.
    “What can I say? They pay better than Uncle Sam.” Meeks crossed to Mattie and licked his lips. She cringed when he ran a fingertip from her chin, down her neck to her shoulder. “I don’t know why The Jaguar wants you so badly, but he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
    “How much?” Cutter asked.
    “A million and change.”
    “Generous.”
    “I thought so. A hell of a lot more than a CIA pilot will ever see in his lifetime.”
    “Too bad you won’t live to spend it.” Cutter edged closer, but Meeks smiled and set his finger against the trigger. “Don’t get any closer, Sean. You know I’ll put a bullet in you.”
    Cutter glanced down at the man lying on the ground in a widening pool of blood. “Evidentlyyou