HardWind by Charlotte Boyett-Compo Read Free Book Online Page A

I’ll terminate you here and
    now.”
    For a long moment the two stared at one another and it was Dáire who finally
    looked away. He didn’t like the glint in her sharp eyes and the set of her mouth filled
    him with unease.
    “All right,” Gentry said, settling back in her chair. “Now that we have that out of
    the way, I want you to take a few weeks off and reassess this obsession you have with
    the Kiernan woman. Either get it out of your system or work it out with her. I don’t
    believe I have to tell you which of those choices I would prefer you make.”
    Dáire reached up to rub at the pain lacing through his temples. “No, you don’t.”
    Gentry sat forward and took up the phone receiver, punched in a two-digit number
    then asked whoever was on the other end of the line to come to her office. She replaced
    the receiver, steepled her fingers and sat there observing her employee until the door
    quietly opened and someone came in.
    Dáire looked up as a petite blonde woman came to stand beside him. She held a
    glass of lavender-colored liquid, which she extended toward him.
    “Drink it,” Gentry ordered.
    Hurting too bad to balk at the command, Dáire took the glass, tipped it back and
    drained the contents, swallowing quickly, though when he lowered the glass he was
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    Charlotte Boyett-Compo
    pleasantly surprised to find no horrid aftertaste. He wordlessly handed the glass back
    to the blonde and the woman turned and left the room.
    “What was that?” he asked.
    “Nothing you can acquire on your own,” Gentry told him. “How is your head
    now?”
    Dáire realized the discomfort was receding at a rapid rate and the thick coat of
    spiky fur on his tongue appeared to have disappeared. The nausea, the spinning
    sensation, the pounding were drifting away on a calming sea.
    “The pain is going away.”
    “Good,” Gentry said. “Now get the hell out of my office and don’t come back until
    you’ve settled things with Kiernan.”
    Dáire frowned. “What about Jackson? Is he—?”
    “He will be working with someone else until I deem you fit to return to duty. Don’t
    concern yourself with Jackson. He’s the least of your worries at the moment.”
    It was a dismissal with which he could not argue. He got up and started for the
    door.
    “Cronin?”
    Dáire looked back around at the white-haired sixty-something woman he had once
    labeled The Piranha.
    “Don’t make it necessary for me to handle the matter of Kiernan on my own. I
    promise you might not like how I will resolve things.”
    An ice-cold finger of fear scraped down Dáire’s back. He nodded without speaking.
    The man who was Gentry’s bodyguard narrowed his eyes at Dáire but remained
    silent as the younger man left the office.
    Jackson was nowhere in sight when Dáire climbed to the upper deck, but the copilot of the helo was waiting. The man informed his passenger the chopper was ready
    to return to the airfield.
    Feeling far better than he had when he had arrived, Dáire followed the co-pilot back
    to the Agusta. The last sight he had of the HardWind was the giant motorboat’s wake as
    it headed farther out to sea.
    30
    HardWind
    Chapter Four
    The Corinth opened for business at eleven o’clock six days a week and Star liked to
    be there to greet the lunch crowd every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday for an hour
    or two unless something came up to prevent her. On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
    evenings, she was at the hostess kiosk to welcome the dinner guests from eight until
    nine p.m. and to circulate among the tables to speak to her guests. The restaurant
    always closed on Sundays.
    It was a fifteen-minute drive from the Farraige to the Corinth and Star was running
    a bit late. She came hurrying out her door and stopped, blinking at the sight that
    greeted her.
    Dáire was sitting on the floor beside his front door, his legs drawn up, shirt sleeves
    rolled up, forearms resting on his knees, his back against the wall, sunglasses