Read Online Breaking Point by Dana Haynes - Free Book Online Page B

download.”
    Calendar turned back to his laptop. Sure enough, a pdf file appeared on the desktop.
    â€œConfirmed.”
    â€œThis is the site. It has to happen here.”
    â€œUnderstood.”
    He folded the phone, set it down, then double-clicked on the pdf file.
    A map of Montana popped open.
    Calendar sipped his room-temperature tea. Montana. Close to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
    It would be an ideal time to visit home.
    SOCORRO, TEXAS
    Daria Gibron poured Fortaleza Tequila Blanco into a chipped coffee cup and took her BlackBerry out to the balcón of the hotel. She’d showered and slipped into a red sheath dress that tied behind her neck. She was barefoot and sat on the railing.
    J. T. Laney, enjoying the cool breeze on the balcony, three rooms down, saw her. He sipped from a can of Coors and smiled. “Nice night,” he called out.
    Daria looked up from the BlackBerry. She raised her coffee cup in his direction, nodded. She was showing five inches of tanned thigh. She’d been pinged by a Web cloud frequented by mercenaries. She typed in the thirty-two-key password as J. T. moseyed her way. The breeze was soft, the bougainvillea fragrant. “Can’t sleep?” he asked.
    She shrugged, eyes on her screen. “Not after a job. Keyed up, you Americans say?”
    J. T. sipped his beer. “Yeah. Me, too. “ She was looking down, so he took the opportunity to study her breasts. They were worth studying. “Things went good this week. We got the War Dog where we want him.”
    It was bullshit, obviously. The entire mission was blown and all they had to show were three high-level soldiers and a cadaver. But Daria kept her opinion to herself and her eyes on the smart phone.
    Two days, she noted. Collateral damage. She recognized the coded ID as the man she’d run into twice before. The last time in Helsinki. She’d been Shin Bet at the time. He’d been U.S. Military Intelligence. Genus and family unknown, but allies nonetheless, and the Powers That Be in Tel Aviv and Washington had needed an arms merchant dead. The man had seven bodyguards. Getting to the arms dealer meant going through his men. No other way to play it.
    The American worked under the name Calendar. Daria was not tempted to take his offer today. He was decidedly good but a bit mental. She saw it in his lack of emotions in the heat of battle. And when taking a life.
    J. T. had walked over and now stood next to her. He ran the backs of two fingers along her bare, muscled shoulder. “One surefire way to blow off steam…” He smiled.
    â€œAgent Laney?” She began erasing the message.
    â€œIt’s J. T., darlin’.”
    She reached for the coffee cup she’d set on the railing, took a sip. She smiled up at him. “Remove your hand.”
    He rolled his eyes. “Moon-filled night. You, me, hours to kill. Keyed up . We could make this memorable.”
    He grinned.
    Daria did, too.
    â€œRemove your hand,” she said. “Or I will. And when I say remove …”

9
    ONE DAY TO GO
    Susan Tanaka slid her Prada sunglasses up into her straight, black hair and stared at the Michelin Motoring Atlas. She pursed her lips. “It doesn’t look like two hours.”
    Her husband, Kirk Tanaka, stood on the other side of the rented Nissan SUV. “MapQuest says Varenna is a two-hour drive.”
    Susan studied her map. “I can get us there in an hour. Hour-fifteen.” She turned to him. “Can you handle that?”
    â€œStanding on my head,” he said and winked.
    She wasn’t fooled.
    Kirk Tanaka hadn’t sat still for ninety minutes straight since he’d undergone low-back surgery to repair a ruptured disc. It was the kind of injury, and the kind of surgery, that could have ended his career as a lead pilot for United. But the surgeons told him there was a high likelihood of a full recovery. Given time.
    Meanwhile, Kirk couldn’t sit for