Read Online Death By Degrees by Harrison Drake - Free Book Online

but in a way that commanded respect and not fear. The looks on the faces of the employees showed that she was a strong person, someone who deserved their respect for the simple reason that she had earned it. Then there were her eyes; they showed confidence as she walked, and honesty as she looked upon her staff.
    “Esther Cho,” she said as she introduced herself to me. Her handshake was firm yet gentle, the eye contact sincere. She introduced herself to Kara, Chen and Eddie in turn before directing us to follow her back toward her office.
    We sat down; the soft leather of the chairs cushioned me better than I would have expected. “Secretary-General Dumas will be back in tomorrow, he had another conference to attend. I am the President of the organization and will be your liaison until then, and in Jean-Pierre’s absence.”
    Her English was perfect, but there was a hint of an accent I couldn’t quite place. Australian? Although we were in the French office of INTERPOL, it was the international headquarters and I could only assume that I would encounter a wide array of accents, many of which I would have difficulty placing.
    “Detective Munroe, you will lead the entirety of the team. Both your members and my agents will ultimately answer to you. I have directed one of my agents to be in charge of the others, although your direction will supersede theirs. They will act in your absence and where it is not feasible to contact you for direction prior to acting.”
    It made sense. If things were to hit the proverbial fan, I needed someone to make the call instead of waiting for my word. Actions often depended upon split-second decisions, decisions that could mean life or death. I wanted people I could trust, but I needed people I could count on.
    Sometimes the right decision meant going against an order. I had never been much of one for orders though… perhaps ‘direction’ would be a better word.
    “I’m sure you have a lot of questions. We will get to that. First, know that all of our resources are yours to use. All field offices and all agents have been briefed as to your secondment with our organization and they have been directed to assist you as if you were one of our members. In fact, you are.”
    She opened a drawer in her desk and removed an envelope. The envelope was sealed with a string that wrapped around two small posts. She opened it and emptied its contents on to her desk. Passports, four of them.
    “Your organization provided the photographs and biometric data we required. It appears that the pictures were all up to date. These are INTERPOL passports and will work in more than half of our member countries. With these you can bypass customs with little more than cursory checks, and being armed will not present an issue to you unless the country has laws against it. The countries which do not recognize these passports will require you to carry your Canadian documents with you as well.”
    I opened the passport and flipped through the thick pages. If there was a licence to kill tucked within the pages, I couldn’t find it. And I was still waiting for my silenced PPK, gadget watch, fancy tuxedo and tricked-out Aston Martin as well. I was certain that those items were on the way; probably just being customized.
    “We have received requests for assistance from Côte d’Ivoire, Lesotho, Finland and Japan. Due to issues such as the location of the body and manpower they have yet to excavate the sites indicated in the e-mails they received. There are only a couple of other sites that have not been excavated at this time, but I have been assured they will be in short order. Some of the locations are quite remote.”
    So there was some traveling to be done. I was fine with that. Each place sounded interesting, even if I knew I wouldn’t have time for sightseeing. We wouldn’t be able to all go to each location; it would take too long. Japan was mine, I had always wanted to go there. And then there was Côte