Reckoning Read Online Free Page B

Air Force base had been a stroke of genius, particularly as even the road leading to the perimeter fence was restricted.
    Leland felt the same obligation to the citizens of this country as Raines. He wasn’t about to let the godless liberals and pantywaists put his country at risk. This country, his country, would not be subject to terrorism again. Not while he still breathed.

3
    TAMARA’S GASP WOKE NATE from the first sleep he’d had in twenty-two hours, but he was instantly alert. He turned on the bedside lamp to find her eyes were wide open, her mouth, too, and she looked as panicked as a person could be and live through it.
    He grabbed her by the shoulders and raised her to a sitting position. When she still didn’t look at him, he shook her gently, then not so gently. Finally, she focused, recognized him. Fell completely apart.
    It killed him to hear her sobs. In all the time he’d known her, in all the horrendous situations she’d been in, she’d never wept, not like this. It was as if he were listening to a heart shatter, to a world come apart at the seams. Which, of course, it was.
    She’d worked so goddamn hard on the dispersal system for the antidote to the gas. When it hadn’t worked, something had broken inside her. Although he’d tried to get her to talk about it, she wouldn’t. All he knew for sure was that she blamed herself for the failure. Shit, it would have been a miracle if it had worked.
    He took her into his arms and comforted her the only way he knew how. He wasn’t accustomed to this role, well, not unless he was trying to get laid. Then he had no trouble offering up a shoulder to cry on. This was different.
    As far as he was concerned, she was a soldier under his command. He didn’t take the responsibility lightly. He’d have given anything to have kept her safe. If there was anyone in the room who’d failed, it was him. He hadn’t been at the lab to protect her. His precautions weren’t sufficient. “How did they know?”
    She pushed away from his shoulder to look at him through tear-filled eyes. “What?”
    “Nothing. It’s not important.”
    She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, then sniffed again. “I had a bad dream.”
    “I could tell,” he said, wanting to touch her, but painfully aware that she was naked and that the comforter had fallen to her waist. “Want to talk about it?”
    “Not really,” she said, “but I probably should.” She gazed around the room, stopping at the window. He’d made sure the blackout curtains were closed, knowing how badly she needed to sleep. “What time is it?”
    He looked at his watch. “Almost eleven.”
    “In the morning, right?”
    “Yeah.”
    When she was settled, she pulled the comforter up, covering her breasts. He dragged his gaze up to her face. He tended to think of her as delicate because she was so petite. Though her long hair was black and straight and her eyes were darkly Asian, her skin was creamy pale, as if she’d never been in the sun. But he knew she was tough, stronger than she even realized.
    “I heard someone coming down the stairs, but you hadn’t called. So I got the gun and the flash drive and I hid, you know, in that fake closet.”
    The previous tenants had thought of everything, including false walls and trick doors.
    “They searched the place for a long time. I heard them breaking things and cursing. I just stayed as quiet as I could.”
    The words were so easily spoken, but he could just imagine how terrified she must have been. He should have been there. “When did you call me?”
    She looked at him quizzically. “I didn’t have the phone. I was so busy thinking about the data, I forgot it.”
    “But I got a call. From your cell.”
    “Who was it?”
    “That was just it. No one spoke. I answered, then I heard a gunshot.”
    “There was a fire. I couldn’t stay hidden or I would have burned to death and taken the data with me. When I pushed out the wall, the man was standing