Read Online Solemn Duty (1997) by Leonard B Scott - Free Book Online

the crowd for Mr. Macho Rambo, but there was something about the cheetah that intrigued her. He had a definite presence about him. Perhaps it was the unusual premature gray hair that contrasted so starkly with his tanned face. No, that wasn't it, she thought. It undeniably had something to do with his looks, but it was much more, it was his elegance. Yes, she thought, the word was unusual to describe a man, but it matched him perfectly. It was the way he held his head and moved with no wasted motion, and the way his eyes were always steady and focused. He was a man who was in complete control of himself, she thought. Turning, she spoke to the elderly woman seated beside her. "Excuse me, do you know the score?"
    The woman motioned to the tall player. "Rod Perkins is up four to two in the first set."
    "Thank you," Ashley said, feeling angry at herself. Hearing herself speak had been like being hit with cold water. She hadn't come to watch a tennis match. She had a job to do, and that was find Rambo, give him the envelope, and tell him he'd been assigned to the resident position. As if he didn't know already, she thought. His good ol' boy brother and he would act surprised for her benefit, but they knew. The sound of the blond hitting his serve drew her attention involuntarily back to the court. The ball was just a blur, but the cheetah pounced on it with a blistering forehand that swished by the shocked blond before he could even get his racket back. An attractive middle age woman five chairs down and a row back rose up and shouted, "Yes!"
    The crowd applauded again, this time even more loudly.
    The onlookers began shifting toward the edge of their seats; the momentum of the match had changed. Ashley, too, felt the intangible air of excitement building, and despite her good intentions, found her eyes glued to the tall player as he hit another blinding serve to the cheetah's back hand. Cheetah chipped the ball back, barely clearing the net and the blond had to sprint to try to return it. In a dead run, he just got to the ball and popped it up, but the cheetah was waiting and smashed it in an overhead that hit the alley line.
    The blond shouted, "Out!"
    The crowd murmured and the attractive woman stood and hollered, "No way! It was on the line!"
    The court judge seated in the elevated chair leaned over his mike. "The ball was in, Mr. Perkins. The score is thirty, love."
    The crowd erupted in applause, and the blond tossed down his racket and shouted angrily, "That was out, damnit! Are you blind?"
    Again the judge leaned over the mike and spoke in a monotone. "Thirty love, continue play, please, Mr. Perkins."
    Ashley forced herself to look over her shoulder and begin to search the intense faces. She heard the sound of the serve, but didn't flinch; she had her control back, she told herself. A pinging sound told her the cheetah had returned the blast, but again she kept up the search. The crowd applauded and the voice of the attractive woman five chairs down called, "yes!"
    Where are you, Agent Tanner? Ashley asked herself. Come on, I know you're here somewhere sitting by that good ol' boy brother of yours. You're forty-seven-years old and Jerome is at least fifty. Where are you, damnit?
    "Forty, love," the court judge said.
    Unable to concentrate, Ashley spun around just as the blond served another bullet, but the cheetah attacked the yellow blur and smacked it back toward his opponent. Too surprised even to move, the ball hit the blond's right shin with a resounding smack.
    The crowd erupted in applause and the attractive woman rose again, her raised fist clenched. "That away, baby!"
    The elderly woman seated beside Ashley chuckled and leaned over. "Millie sure is enjoying this. I must say I am, too.
    Her brother-in-law is quite good, isn't he?"
    Ashley nodded and' glanced at the woman, who was still standing. "The way she was yelling, I thought she was his wife."
    "No, that's just Millie, she's a dear girl who doesn't