Enemy Mine by Karin Harlow Read Free Book Online Page B

table, “what the hell happened to you out there?”
    Nikko shook his head and looked straight into his commander’s irritated scowl. “I was blown to hell. I woke up healed and superhuman.”
    “I read your report. Tell me again about the woman.”
    Nikko looked around at his team. Only a few of them were there, the others being off on missions. He let out a long breath. As soon as he said her name, Godfather would have him pulled from the field and thrown into the psych ward. With the exception of Cassidy, each person in the room knew how broken he had been when they dragged him through the very same doors he had just walked through. Beaten, angry, and wanting to destroy himself. It had taken almost a year before Godfather was sure Cruz could function in the field as a L.O.S.T. operative. His first mission was to slip inside an Iranian compound and extract the kidnapped daughter of a prominent American political family. In some ways, he felt as if he’d saved his own daughter. It was the exact mission he needed. He’d never looked back. Now he felt as if his emotional seams were about to rupture. He gritted his teeth, frustrated that after all these years, despite how much he fought it, she could still hurt him. He sat up straight. She could go back to Hell where she belonged! He’d be damned if he’d let a ghost screw up his life now.
    “Who was the woman?” Godfather asked again.
    Nikko looked straight at his commander. “Selena Guerrero.”
    A collective round of gasps shivered through the room.
    “Impossible,” Godfather said.
    Nikko shook his head and swiped his hand across his face. “I know she’s dead. I killed her!” He shook his head again, doubting his own instincts, which screamed it was she. “Maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me. Whoever it was, was the spitting image of Selena.” Grinding his jaw, Nikko could not ignore one vital fact. “Whoever it was saved my life. She injected me with something, directly into my heart. I want to know what and why.”
    Godfather pressed a button and a state-of-the-art touch screen popped up before them. He tapped several apps; then a phone chirped. “Fulton County Coroner,” a brisk female voice answered.
    “I’d like to speak to Dr. Meade,” Godfather said.
    “Who may I say is calling?”
    “Mr. Black.”
    “One moment please.”
    Several seconds ticked by. “Mr. Black,” a deep, authoritative voice said.
    “Doctor, I need a report for one Selena Guerrero, DOD June first, ’03. I’ll wait while you pull it up.”
    “One moment.”
    Godfather looked down at Nikko, who suddenly felt warm and not so sure of anything. A heavy sense of dread coursed through him as he waited for the coroner. Had he imagined her? Believing he’d seen her had pumped him up almost as much as whatever had rejuvenated him. If she was alive, she’d saved him—why? Did it matter? She had killed more than their daughter the day she aborted her. She’d killed the fire in his heart, and he in turn had extinguished hers. Or had he? He felt as if he were going to puke. His daughter, she was almost seven months! Viable! What Selena had done was morally and legally wrong. She had murdered her! He squeezed his eyes shut, unable to bear the images his mind conjured.
    The ME came back on the line. “Guerrero, Selena Honorea, twenty-five-and-a-half-year-old Latina female, DOA, cause of death, asphyxia due to strangulation. Do you want the autopsy details?”
    “Who performed the autopsy?”
    “Dr. Elena Mira.”
    “Who identified the body? And who was the body released to?”
    “Roberto Montoya-Balderama on both counts.”
    Who the hell was that? Nikko wondered. Selena had never mentioned him. In fact, with the exception of himself, she’d shied away from the opposite sex.
    “I’d like to speak with Dr. Mira,” Godfather said.
    “That’s not possible. She passed away, almost eight years ago.”
    “How?”
    “She seized on the way to work, lost control of her