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Max forced himself to remember every detail of Eva’s murder. How he’d been unable to save his lover, his CIA dive partner. How he’d held her on the beach while she bled out. Taking their unborn child with her. All because some faceless traitor had been turning over American agents in the Pacific.
No way would Max lose this chance to put a name to that traitor. Finally he’d found the link when the military reported intercepted communications. Agency intel analysis pointed to a leak in Guam, most likely a tap on one of the military’s oceanic communications cables.
Time was critical now with missions being flown in the Cantou conflict. Intercepted flight-planning data could allow the enemy to shoot down U.S. aircraft at will.
Deactivating all underwater cables out of the island wasn’t an option. But once he identified the tapped cable with the help of his trained dolphins, a few tantalizing nuggets of transmitted misinformation would bait the trap. Then the CIA would tighten the net around the whole enemy spy ring. Tighten around one double agent in particular, and Max wouldn’t let anything distract him from being the one to reel that traitor in.
A flash from the projector jarred Max back to the present. The Navy officer dimmed the lights to half power. “All set. Dr. Keagan, are you ready to begin?”
“Of course.” Max shoved out of his chair, ready to lose himself in work.
Turning from the lure of siren eyes, Max focused on his graphs projected onto the screen. He worked better as a loner anyway, always had. The less a man had, the less he had to lose.
* * *
This time, Max Keagan would lose it all.
The operative known as Robin stood on a rocky outcropping and scanned the Pacific skyline. Soon Max would be in Guam. A fitting place to finish it since the South Pacific island carried so much history for both of them.
The rest of the world might buy that sappy cover story about freeing a couple of dolphins, but Robin knew better. Sure they would be set free. Eventually. But first the trained government dolphins would perform one last mission with CIA Officer Maxwell Keagan.
Together they would locate the tap the Cantou government had placed on a U.S. military underwater communications cable. A mission Keagan could not be allowed to accomplish. Too much valuable information filtered through that line.
The phone vibrated in Robin’s hand with an incoming call. Encrypted cell phones made this too easy. “Yeah?”
“We expected an update yesterday.”
“I’m on it. Keagan takes off before sunrise.” Waves crashed against the rocky cliff. Salty spray stung the skin, the eyes, rasping against every sense and demanding remembrance of another time.
“Do you need more support?”
“Negative.” Definitely not. No one else would get a shot at Max. Personal debts demanded payment face-to-face. “Give me time to monitor his underwater search pattern.”
“Good point. With any luck he’ll be miles off. As long as he and his dolphins aren’t close to the transmitter, there’s no need to risk riling the Agency by eliminating him.”
Robin stifled the urge to argue. Not a chance would Keagan walk away. Max would die this time, even if it meant feeding him enough information to put him and his flamboyant wet suits on top of that line tap. If only it were as simple as just popping him. But without the payoff, there would be no plush retirement.
No. Better to make Keagan’s death palatable to the other side. “I’ll check back when I have more.”
Robin disconnected. Anticipation stung with as much power as the exploding surf. Only a few weeks at the most until the easy life in Switzerland, thanks to money saved from years of bartering secrets to other countries. Ensuring the security on that tap of the U.S. military’s oceanic communications cable out of Guam would rake in the final jackpot. Not to mention an added bonus in the sweetest payoff of all—finally delivering lethal revenge to Maxwell Keagan.
And heaven help anyone who stood in the way.
CHAPTERTWO
“Wouldyoupleaseget out of my way?” Darcy elbowed aside Crusty’s arm before he could swipe her sunflower seeds from the C-17’s control panel. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to fly an airplane.”
“Show some respect for your elders.” Crusty’s chuckling voice echoed through the headset from his seat behind her.
“Yeah, yeah.” She pitched the bag over her shoulder while keeping her other hand steady on the stick.
The night sky swam before her windscreen. Stars dotted the panorama as if dropped there, like in a child’s pop-up book. Bronco sprawled in the aircraft commander’s seat beside her, reading a book and periodically checking her controls. All in all, a great night for flying.
She glanced at the HUD, Heads-Up Display. The plexiglass screen at eye level mirrored the instrument panel so she never had to take her eyes off the sky. Not that there was much to see in the inky darkness, but a night flight had been crucial for temperature control for the dolphins.
Dolphins.
Max Keagan.
