Forced to Kill by Andrew Peterson Read Free Book Online

certificate.”
    “Major,” Nathan said, pumping his hand. Harvey did the same.
    “Please, call me Bob.”
    “How was your flight?” Nathan asked.
    “Comfortable. It’s a nice ride.” Thorny lowered his voice. “Maybe too comfortable.”
    Harv said, “There’s nothing like a cross-country flight in a herky bird’s jump seat.”
    “Amen to that. Is your vehicle clean?”
    “Yes, we did a sweep of Harv’s Mercedes yesterday. Mine’s in the bat cave as we speak.”
    “The bat cave?”
    “It’s the nickname for our countermeasures garage.”
    Showing no reaction, Thorny said, “Let’s take a drive.”
    Three minutes later, Harv turned right onto Pacific Coast Highway and accelerated into traffic. Seconds from touchdown, a commercial jet roared over their sedan.
    “Harv, how are the wife and kids? Candace, Lucas, and… shit.”
    “It’s Dillon.” Harvey made a left onto Laurel Street. “But ‘shit’ isn’t too far off the mark at times. They’re doing great, thank you for asking. Lucas graduates from high school this year. I think he’s going to enlist. He wants to be a sniper. Army, though.”
    “Army? You’re screwing with me.”
    “Afraid not, General. He likes the Army.”
    “Well, if he must.… I’ll personally follow his career.”
    “He’s a good student, OCS material, but he wants to be a sniper. I haven’t discouraged him from pursuing it.”
    “You have anything to do with that, Nate?”
    “Lucas is a good kid. I had a heart-to-heart talk with him about what it’s really like. For a while, he reconsidered, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to do it.”
    “If he’s anything like his old man, he’ll do fine.”
    “Thank you, sir,” Harv said.
    Nathan looked out the window. Time to change the subject. “I’m going to be frank, General. If Montez is up to his old tricks and operating on U.S. soil, then he needs to be neutralized.”
    “Agreed. I can’t think of a better team. Nobody knows Montez better. On the flight out here I reread your debrief.”
    Harvey crossed Sixth Avenue, heading for the Cabrillo Bridge.
    “I’ll be honest, sir, this is a major skeleton for me. Harv too. I—” Nathan broke off in midsentence. This wasn’t a discussion he wanted to pursue in Major Halliday’s company.
    “Don’t worry about Bob,” Thorny said. “He’s had a complete briefing. I didn’t want him involved in the dynamics of this operation unless he knew everything. Bob’s very resourceful.”
    “Being the personal aide to the commandant of the Marine Corps has its advantages?” Harv asked.
    “Indeed it does,” Halliday replied.
    Thorny rolled his window down a little. “So what’s your plan?”
    “Harv and I talked about this. Whatever we do, it has to be covert. It can’t be leaked that we’re after him. We’ll only get one shot. If we miss, he’ll disappear forever. We’ll start at Lake Powell, where Kramer’s body was dumped. We’re getting some help from the FBI, but there’s a number of things we want to look into. Where Kramer was staying, and why. Where Montez stayed, if anywhere, and the location he used to torture Kramer. We plan to look into every rented, leased, or stolen boat in the area just prior to Kramer’s death. I doubt Montez is doing much himself, it’s not his style. He’ll have mercenaries doing the heavy lifting. They’ll probably be Hispanic. Maybe they were seen. Harv and I are flying out there this afternoon. In the meantime there’s something you could do for us.”
    “Name it.”
    “See what you can dig up on Kramer and Montez with any intelligence agencies you have trusted contacts in. Discreetly, if possible.”
    “In my circles, there’s no such thing as discreet. Harv, you’ve been awfully quiet.”
    “It’s no secret I’d like to see Montez skinned. But we can’t let that compromise our mission, assuming we’ve officially agreed to find him. Have we?”
    “Yes,” Nathan said.
    “Then you should know,”