Match Play by Merline Lovelace Read Free Book Online

the cup, the gallery exploded. When her amateur partner chipped over the green and into the water, Wu looked as though she was going to explode. Her face a thundercloud, the North Korean stalked onto the green and holed out.
    Mutters rolled around the lounge but none of the pros would dish a fellow golfer out loud. Dayna was too busy scanning the gallery for Wu’s father to pay any attention to the buzz. She spotted the scientist standing at the ropes, shoulder to shoulder with two burly North Koreans. Hawk was also in the crowd just a few yards away.
    Anxious to hear whether he’d made contact with the father, Dayna waited with mounting impatience for an opportunity to approach the daughter. It finally came an hour later, after Kim Li had finished her round and postured for the media. When she and her partner entered the lounge, the flame-haired Irish neurosurgeon peeled away from Wu and aimed for the bar. She didn’t exude the air of someone who’d enjoyed her first pairing with a pro.
    Dayna used that as her cue to head for the locker room. The intel OMEGA had provided indicated Kim Li held to a rigid post-game ritual that included a sauna, a shower and a massage to loosen the tension kinks. Her personal masseuse traveled with her as part of the support team.
    The woman—yes, Dayna was sure she was female—had already set up her portable massage table and array of scented oils. Looking like a sumo wrestler in white polyester, she sported bulging muscles and a bulldog neck. Her knuckles rested gorilla-like on the table as she followed Dayna’s progress through the locker area to the steam room.
    Stripping, Dayna tucked a Turkish towel around her but delayed entering the sauna until she heard Kim Li come into the locker room and exchange a few words in Korean with the masseuse. Luckily, the only other occupant of the steam room exited just as Dayna went in. She had the lung-sucking heat all to herself until Kim Li joined her.
    The girl nodded a greeting and dropped onto the opposite bench. Her towel puddled on the bench, baring her above the waist as she leaned back on her elbows. Her exhibitionist sprawl indicated a total lack of self-consciousness. It also let Dayna see the teen wasn’t sporting any hidden listening or recording devices.
    â€œYou played good game,” the Korean said after she’d settled herself comfortably.
    The compliment was grudging at best. Dayna returned it with a smile. “So did you and Dr. Kilkenny.”
    â€œThat one! Pah! Her swing is good, but short game needs practice. Much practice.”
    â€œThat would require quite a trade-off, wouldn’t it?”
    â€œHow do you mean, trade-off?”
    â€œIf she practiced as much as you suggest, she’d have to cut back on saving people’s lives.”
    The sarcasm went right over Wu’s head.
    â€œMe, I give up much. You, too, I think, for your sport. Kilkenny want to play better, she must practice.”
    Good Lord! No wonder the neurosurgeon had aimed straight for the bar.
    Deciding she’d better cut to the chase before they were interrupted, Dayna eased into the sensitive subject of defection. “I saw you play at Cypress Point.”
    â€œYou watch me on TV?”
    â€œYes.”
    Several times. The videotape of the brief exchange on the eighteenth green was burned into Dayna’s brain.
    â€œYou said something on the last green.”
    Kim Li didn’t alter her unselfconscious sprawl, but a sudden, subtle tension infused the damp heat.
    â€œYou said you’d be here at St. Andrews,” Dayna said. “You asked your partner to…”
    The girl’s sudden shift in focus cut her off. Dayna glanced left and saw the sumo wrestler’s flat, broad face at the glass insert in the sauna’s door. Her eyes narrowed to slits, the masseuse peered through the swirling steam.
    She couldn’t hear their conversation through the thick glass…unless