Read Online Never Say Die by Tess Gerritsen - Free Book Online Page A

home."
    His words, uttered so quietly, so confidently, made Willy fall still. Guy could tell she was trying to read his face, trying to figure out what be wasn't telling her. And he wasn't telling her a lot.
    "What do you get out of this?" she asked.
    "You mean besides the pleasure of your company?"
    "You said there was money involved. Since I'm not paying you, I assume someone else is. The Ariel Group? Are they offering you more than just expenses?"
    "Move to the head of the class."
    "How much?"
    "For an honest to God live one? Two million."
    "Two million
dollars?"
    He squeezed her hand, hard. "Keep it down, will you? This isn't exactly public information."
    She dropped her voice to a whisper. "You're serious? Two million?"
    "Thafs their offer. Now you think about
my
offer. Work with me, and we could both come out ahead. You'd get your father back. I'd pick up a nice little retirement fund. A win-win situation." He grinned, knowing he had her now. She'd be stupid to refuse. And Willy Maitland was definitely not stupid. "I think you'll agree," he said. "It's a match made in heaven."
    "Or hell," she muttered darkly. She sat back and gave him a look of pure cast iron. "You're nothing but a bounty hunter."
    "If that's what you want to call me."
    "I could call you quite a few things. None of them flattering."
    "Before you start calling me names, maybe you should think about your options. Which happen to be pretty limited. The way I see it, you can go it alone, which so far hasn't gotten you a helluva lot of mileage. Or—" he leaned forward and beamed her his most convincing smile "—you could work with me."
    Her mouth tightened. "I don't work with mercenaries."
    "What've you got against mercenaries?"
    "Just a minor matter—principle."
    "It's the money that bothers you, isn't it? The fact that I'm doing it for cash and not out of the goodness of my heart."
    "This isn't some big-game hunt! We're talking about
men.
Men whose families have wiped out their savings to pay worthless little Rambos like you! I know those families. Some of them are still hanging in, twisting around on that one shred of hope. And you know as well as I do that those soldiers aren't sitting around in some POW camp, waiting to be rescued. They're
dead."
    "You think
your
old man's alive."
    "He's a different story."
    "Right. And every one of those five hundred other MIAs could be another 'different story.'"
    "J happen to have evidence!"
    "But you don't have the smarts it takes to find him." Guy leaned forward, his gaze hard on hers. In the last light of sunset, her face seemed alight with fire, her cheeks glowing a beautiful dusky red. "If he's alive, you can't afford to screw up this chance. And you may get only one chance to find him. Because I'll tell you now, the Vietnamese won't let you back in the country for another deluxe tour. Admit it, Willy. You need me."
    "No," she shot back. "You need
me.
Without my help, how are you going to cash in on your 'live one'?"
    "How're.you going to find him?"
    She was the one leaning forward now, so close, he almost pulled back in surprise. "Don't underestimate me, sleazeball," she muttered.
    "And don't overestimate yourself, Junior. It's not easy finding answers in this country. No one, nothing's ever what it seems here. A flicker in the eye, a break in the voice can mean all the difference in the world. You
need
a partner. And, hey, I'm not unreasonable. I'll even think about splitting the reward with you. Say, ten percent. That's money you never expected, just to let me—"
    "I don't give a damn about the money!" She rose sharply to her feet. "Go get rich off someone else's old man." She spun around and walked away.
    "Won't you even think about it?" he yelled.
    She just kept marching away across the rooftop garden, oblivious to the curious glances aimed her way.
    "Take it from me, Willy! You need me!"
    A trio of Russian tourists, their faces ruddy from a few rounds of vodka, glanced up as she passed. One of the men