Silent Warrior: A Loveswept Classic Romance Read Online Free Page B

is—or was—as dead and buried as it’s creator.”
    She flinched. He may have well earned his super-spy reputation. However, his status as a sensitive human being was still up for discussion.
    He didn’t apologize, though she had no doubt he noticed her reaction. He noticed everything. She worked not to shift in her seat as he continued to stare at her.
    “Why are you so sure the insurance payoff ties in with the Blue Circle project?”
    “When I found out the policy had been paid for with a direct deposit, I traced the payments with my computer to the bank where he’d set up the account. It was on Grand Cayman. As private as a Swiss account and all the transfers done by wire. Luckily my name was on it as well, or I’d have never cracked it.”
    He lifted an eyebrow.
    “Okay, so maybe I could have. But not legally.” When he simply continued to look at her, she sighed and went on. “Anyway, there were two automatic payments on the account. One to the insurance policy and a second one for a safety-deposit box in the same bank.”
    “The policy papers you mentioned already. Was the program work in there too?”
    She shook her head. “But along with the paperwork, there was a diskette. It contained his preliminary notes, the ones for which he’d been paid. I’m assuming he expected to continue putting up-to-date work in there for safekeeping, only he never got any further. Regardless, that ties the insurance policy and the program together.”
    “There wasn’t anything else? Personal notes to you?”
    Cali glanced down for a second, then met his even gaze. “There was one other thing. A copy of the picture I sent to you.”
    “No note on the back?”
    She shook her head.
    He was silent for a few seconds. She watched him scratch out a few more notes. “How did the feds get involved?” he asked without looking up.
    So he was going to ignore the photo. For now, anyway.
    “My initial reaction, once I got past the shock of it all, was the same as yours. What good was ten-year-old technology?”
    He looked at her. “You tracked down his Circle contact?”
    She frowned. “I tried. I stupidly assumed after all this time it was a moot point. But I had information about a program they had contracted and paid for. Given the top security clearance involved, they had the right to know about the existence of more material on the assignment. Technically it was their property.”
    “Who did you talk to?”
    “Well, as you probably know, there is no Blue Circle any longer. It was phased out a few years ago. But since Nathan’s commander was retired from the CIA, I figured I could track him down. He had no idea who Nathan’s contact might have been. But he gave me the name of a Blue Circle muck-a-muck who was still active in the CIA.”
    “Is that who took the call, then?”
    “Initially, yes. Then I was rerouted to another office. I spoke with a man named Gerald Grimshaw. Deputy director of research technology.”
    “Never heard of that department.”
    “Me neither. But I wasn’t put off by that. I mean, Idon’t think there is any one person, including the director himself, who knows all the offices and personnel that run that monster.”
    “Did Grimshaw show any undue interest in your news?”
    “Actually, no. Not at first anyway. He asked what the program was for. I told him it was classified and that, accordingly, I hadn’t looked at it.”
    “Had you?”
    “No, McShane,” she said evenly. “I hadn’t. I was just going by the written note on the envelope the diskette was in.”
    “Continue.”
    She swallowed her irritation at his abrupt manner. He’d come halfway around the world to help her. She could hardly quibble over his rude, less-than-sensitive methods.
    “He grilled me on who I was, my background, and so forth,” she continued. “I explained everything and told him that I was just trying to get the program to its rightful owner.”
    “Do you still have the disk?”
    “I mailed all of it