Double Vision Read Online Free Page B

caught a hint of motion from the arrhythmic ripple in the water. Snarling, he snagged the rubber-tube casing looped around her neck and jerked it tight. Her dog tags jangled. “Don’t even think about it.”
    Was this the opening she’d awaited? So close she couldsmell the sweat on his skin, Kate looked him right in the eye and nodded.
    He relaxed and loosened his hold.
    In a flash, she laid out a flurry of moves: knocked his hand with the gun, delivered a debilitating blow to his neck, slashed through his mike, severing his communications with the Kunz sound-alike, and then drove the knife into his stomach up to its hilt.
    A direct hit.
    Moss howled, deep and loud. The sound reverberated, echoing through the cave in waves. Kate spun out of his grip, turned and fled.
    “Home Base? Home Base, do you copy?” Tugging on her headgear, Kate dove and swam hard and fast. “Home Base?”
    No response from Maggie.
    Terrific. Finally, Kate reached the mouth of the cave. She followed the markings she’d put down on entering, swam until she’d cleared the rocky protrusions, then surfaced.
    Water streamed down her face. “Home Base?” She tried again, scanned the rocks for the C-273 black box.
    It was gone.
    Damn it. Moss? Another GRID member? The water action? It was high tide, totally possible. Pulling a fast visual, she saw no one. “Base?” Kate tried Maggie again.
    Still no answer.
    The last thing they needed was the C-273 communications device in GRID hands. Kunz would sell it to every hostile on the planet.
    Her boat rocked on gentle waves about twenty yards to her left. Safer under water, she dove and swam toward it; the salt water burning her scrapes and cuts. Seeing thebottom of the hull above her, she stroked to the boat’s far side, again surfaced, then climbed aboard.
    An engine’s roar split the silence. She darted her gaze toward the sound as she started her own engine. A boat rounded the tip of the finger of land and headed in her direction. She slapped the throttle in gear and hauled out.
    Kate glanced back to see the other boat cutting across the whitecaps, spraying a wide arc and leaving a huge wake. Its sudden appearance hadn’t been a coincidence; it was clearly following her. From the size of its wake, that boat was a hell of a lot faster than hers. But who manned it? Iranian authorities or GRID?
    She couldn’t tell, but either was equally bad. Her orders were to remain undetected, and she’d failed to do so. She sped up, opening the throttle until the engines screamed, and targeted the shore, determined not to end up captured and held prisoner. If the authorities took her into custody, it would create an international incident, she’d be tried for treason against Iran, and executed. If GRID caught her, she’d be tortured and killed or just killed. Either way, she’d end up dead.
    The little boat shuddered with effort, but it was just too small. There was no way she could outrun the larger boat all the way to port. She’d have to create a diversion and hope like hell they fell for it.
    Kate darted a quick look behind her. The boat was gaining. Two men—no, three—rode in it. They were wearing black wet suits, not uniforms. Did that mean anything?
    Wishing she knew, she scanned the shoreline for a safe place and spotted a clump of trees and sandy beach. A couple of large rocks littered the water. It wasn’t a great place to hide out, but it was her best shot.
    Cutting off her dog tags, she looped half the tubing between the throttle and a hitch on the dash to keep the engine running wide-open. Stuffing the other half of the tubing and her dog tags into her pocket, she twisted the steering wheel to take a swing behind the rocks. GRID would think she’d hidden near them. For that reason, she would not.
    Behind the cover of the rocks, her boat’s bow hit an angle that would track to the open gulf. She jammed the steering wheel with the emergency paddle, then dove off and swam under water toward