dark ops 3 - Renegade by Catherine Mann Read Free Book Online Page A

torturing military secrets out of service members. He faced a long road to recovery, but thank God he was still alive to recover.
    Doctors couldn’t predict how much mobility he would regain. This could be it for him, but he was alive, and he had all his limbs and his brain, when too many others weren’t as lucky. Still, standing here seeing one of his people suffer, feeling like he’d failed this young man, Rex didn’t much see the luck.
    Tanaka looked up sharply, then smiled. “Hello, sir, come on in. You remember Livia.”
    Livia? Livia Cicero? No way in hell.
    She turned from the edge of the bed to smile.
    Oh shit. It most certainly was.
    “Well, hello, Colonel.”
    There was no mistaking her sultry beauty, made all the more striking by her dusky Italian complexion. Her shoulder-length black hair, sleek and straight, brushed her shoulders. But her mouth, that he remembered most. Who could forget her temperamental, diva, pain-in-the-ass mouth?
    He stepped deeper into the private room. “I hadn’t realized that you two know each other.” Tanaka had been a captive when Livia started the tour. “Italy is a long way from Las Vegas.”
    He’d met the Italian pop star when he’d been transporting USO performers overseas. The diva had been a regular thorn in his side the whole time, although no amount of prima donna behavior warranted being caught in the crossfire of an attack launched on the USO group. All that aside, what the hell was she doing here, dolled up in her low-cut spangly tank top and overlong peasant skirt belted with some kind of absurd wrestling champion-style knockoff?
    Her smile flashed as bright as the rhinestones cinching around her waist. “Nowhere is too far away to visit this special hero.”
    Tanaka elbowed up higher, his sweatsuit rather than pj’s attesting to how the hospital had become a home for him. “After Livia recovered from her injuries from the attack on the USO group, she stopped by to see me in one of those ‘rock star visits the troops’ moments.”
    Rex felt a stab of guilt at the mention of that explosion in Turkey where people like Livia had been injured. “That’s nice of Ms. Cicero to take time out of her busy career.”
    Her glistening red mouth curved into a practiced smile, lips that had blown a pouty kiss for her first album cover. “I did not get to finish my tour with the USO troupe, so I am here to spread goodwill,” she said, her voice throatier than he remembered. She adjusted the flow of her skirt over her legs. “I was actually already coming to this area next week with a British general.”
    Next week’s gathering of foreign ally military leaders? The general should have notified them of his Italian “guest.” Bringing someone from a country not on the list raised a red flag in his head. “You’re dating a British general?”
    She shrugged. “He’s a friend of the family. It’s nice publicity for both of us to be seen together. And the visit gave me the perfect opportunity to look in on another dear friend while I am at a loose end—”
    “Loose ends,” Rex corrected automatically, even though she possessed an overall fluency in English. Only through idioms and her sexy accent did her nationality show.
    “Yes, yes, loose ends.” She nodded, fluttering her perfectly manicured nails through the air.
    Tanaka scratched his knee just above his cast. “She’s looking into performance options in Las Vegas.”
    “Shhhh.” She tapped her full lips. “My agent says that is a secret.”
    Laughing, he winked at her. “Sorry about that, but if it’s such a secret, why did you tell me?”
    Her face went somber. “You’re obviously a very good secret keeper.”
    Tanaka had proven that during his weeks in captivity. The air went darker and thicker than the antiseptic smell coating the air.
    Rex moved closer, stopping at the foot of the bed, where crutches rested. “Ms. Cicero, how are you doing since the accident?”
    “I am well.” She sat