A Question of Honor by Lindsay McKenna Read Free Book Online Page A

rest. She’s not anywhere close to being ready to step into this damn snake pit of an operation!”
    Cordeman glared up at him. “I think you’d better calm down!”
    “You really don’t care if Kit Anderson can survive this bust, do you?” Noah asked angrily.
    Cordeman shot out of his chair and leaned across the dilapidated desk. “Now just one damn minute, Trayhern! Who the hell do you think you are, coming in here with accusations like that?”
    “I’m responsible for Kit Anderson,” Noah countered. “She’s officially part of my team, Cordeman. And I do care what happens to my people. Particularly when so much is at stake.” His eyes narrowed to slits of fury. “You knew Kit was broken emotionally before you sent her to us, didn’t you? You knew it, and sent her, anyway. Why did you do it, Cordeman?”
    Cordeman’s jaw jutted outward, and his face turned red. “Kit is a damn good agent!” he breathed. “The best! The captain wanted her on this operation because she’s the only one who can identify Garcia. She’s the only one to come back alive from his fortress. That’s why she’s been assigned to you, Trayhern. Is that clear enough?”
    Noah dug his fingers into the desk, his knuckles whitening. “A lot of good her knowledge is going to serve if she’s mentally and physically on the edge. You know that and so do I!”
    Cordeman reared back, glowering at Noah. His raspy breathing heated up the silence lengthening between them. “Okay,” he muttered. “So she’s almost washed up. Kit will hold together for you. She’s tough. She’s got what it takes.”
    “She bought it less than a year ago, Cordeman! Kit’s been running on raw nerves and ulcer medicine since then. Who the hell are you trying to fool?”
    The narc supervisor’s shoulders dropped. “Okay, okay,” he groused, “so Kit’s been going downhill for a while.”
    Noah straightened, his eyes blazing. “Kit lost her partner, Pete Collins. And you didn’t even have the humanity to give her time to recover. You just pushed her back into the trenches, hoping she’d forget about it.”
    Cordeman’s gaze moved to the floor. “Look, I feel badly about this…. Kit’s like a daughter to me.”
    “No father in his right mind would have done what you did,” Trayhern snarled. “She looked to you for support, Cordeman, and you ignored all the warning signs. I don’t buy the father figure routine.”
    The older man sat heavily on his chair, not meeting Noah’s eyes. “Kit was hysterical after Pete’s death.”
    “Did you know he was hooked on drugs?”
    Cordeman studied him harshly. “At the time, no. And if I had, I’d have hauled him off duty, taken his badge and sent him into rehabilitation. Kit kept that knowledge to herself and tried to help him, but she failed. What she did was wrong. She should have come to me. But she was too young and too loyal to Pete.”
    “So you found out after he died?”
    “Yeah. I went over to the hospital and that’s where she spilled the whole ugly story.” He shook his head. “They had a special relationship, Trayhern. It wasn’t love, but it was a commitment to each other to be the best at what they did. They were one hell of a team. Ever since Kit lost him, she’s been sliding.”
    “So after Collins’s death you sent her right back out there?”
    Cordeman glared at him. “What else could I do?”
    “You could have gotten her some therapy, for God’s sake!” Noah spit out. “Emotionally, she was never cut out for narc duty, but she was trying to please her father, Collins and you.” Noah grimaced, fury racing through him. “Kit Anderson shouldn’t have been a cop. She hasn’t got what it takes to deal with the brutality of it all. You’ve used up her strength, her spirit and her will to live. Right now, she’s close to an emotional breakdown.”
    “So what the hell do you want me to do about it?”
    “You side with me against IOIC and get Kit three more weeks of