Double Vision Read Online Free Page A

apparently GRID only had audio capability. Otherwise the man wouldn’t have had to ask about her.
    “I’d say professional, sir. She moves like she’s military.” Beefy nicked his lip with his teeth. “That’s an unverified assumption. No specific branch is evident or identified.”
    The disembodied voice sounded again, its echo vibrating in her bones. “Is it Amanda West, Moss?”
    Moss. Kate rocked against the tug of the water. So Beefy’s real name was Moss. And that he’d revealed it signaled, in his mind, Kate wouldn’t be leaving alive and able to repeat it.
    “No, sir, she’s not. This one is a blonde. Tall and skinny.” Moss raised the nose of the .45 and pointed it at Kate’s face. “She killed Parton, sir.”
    Amanda had been the primary operative on the original mission, investigating GRID. She’d been inserted undercover and had exposed GRID’s black market weaponsales and Kunz’s doubles. And she’d broken Moss’s nose. He wouldn’t likely ever forget her.
    “How?”
    “With a knife, sir,” Moss said. “She cut his throat.”
    So he knew she had a knife. Why hadn’t he taken her weapons? Moss, Kunz, or any of his doubles, would love to kill any S.A.S.S. operative, especially Amanda—and Kunz damn near had. But she had narrowly escaped death and had won that battle, and Kunz had landed in prison for life. So this disembodied voice conversing with Moss couldn’t belong to Thomas Kunz. Yet it certainly sounded like him and, knowing his penchant for torture, that sent chills racing up and down Kate’s back. Soon she’d be added to his “kill on sight” list.
    “Who is she?”
    Moss glared at her, stepped closer. “Who are you?”
    She dragged her lips back from her teeth, praying Maggie was picking up this conversation and had summoned backup from the outpost. But if Tactical was locked down and she’d crossed a national boundary line, odds for help were slim. She almost certainly would be stuck on her own.
    “I asked you a question,” Moss shouted, and backhanded her across the face. “Who are you?”
    Kate reeled on her feet. Her lip split and the entire side of her face stung. Tasting her own blood, she got her balance and glared at Moss. “Your worst nightmare.”
    Moss involuntarily pulled back his hand to hit her again.
    “Do it and you’ll die.”
    He started, caught himself and stilled his arm midair. The gun wobbled, but he didn’t seem to notice; he kept staring into her eyes. Whatever he saw there convinced him. He lowered his hand and reclaimed his lost groundwith a grunt. “She’s a little smart-ass, sir. Definitely a professional, judging by her mouth and her gear.”
    “Well, bring the professional little smart-ass in,” the Kunz sound-alike said, clearly impatient. “Try not to kill her, unless of course she gives you no choice.”
    “Yes, sir.” Moss shoved the throat mike out of his way and then nodded at Kate. “You heard the man. You’ve got two choices. I don’t care which you pick. You can head down the cave and live, or refuse. If you refuse, I’ll shoot you now and spare myself some aggravation.”
    If she went deeper into the cave, she’d never come out alive, and only an idiot wouldn’t know it. If she didn’t go, he’d shoot her here. Buying time, she agreed. “I’ll go, Moss.”
    “Good.” He straightened and rolled his shoulder. “Move.”
    Kate turned and began walking through the water, taking small steps. She needed time to think—and an opening when he was vulnerable to overtake him. But, hanging back, he wasn’t making it easy. She shortened her stride even more, convinced the moving water would conceal her tiny steps. Fortunately the current was swift. That should help give her cover.
    Finally he came alongside her, his gun still raised and aimed at her chest. She inched her fingers down her body and curled them tightly around the handle of her knife. Firming her grip, she eased the blade up and out of its sheath.
    Moss