No Woman Left Behind by Julie Moffett Read Free Book Online Page A

that were we permitted to pass.
    “I’m surprised they didn’t do a rectal exam,” I joked. Slash looked straight ahead, pressing his badge to the elevator pad and not even cracking a smile.
    We went to the ninth floor and I followed him down a hallway to a conference room. I counted six men in suits sitting at a long, rectangular table. They had laptops and papers spread out in front of them and were talking animatedly when we walked in. As soon as they saw us, they fell silent. After a moment, a large man with brown hair and glasses, wearing a black suit, stood up and came to greet us.
    “Hello, Ms. Carmichael. I’m Dex Woodward, Director of Cybersecurity Operations at the CIA. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
    I didn’t know what was so pleasurable about meeting me under these circumstances, but he stuck out a hand, so I shook it. No one else in the room made a move to introduce themselves, so I sat without saying a word in the chair Woodward pulled out for me. For some reason, Slash didn’t sit next to me, but moved to stand in the back of the room, still not meeting my gaze. He knew something I didn’t, and whatever it was, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like it.
    “We appreciate your cooperation in coming,” Woodward said. “We have identified the man who shot at you from the blood sample we were able to obtain at your parents’ house.”
    “Who is he?”
    “His name is Abri Pentz.” Woodward paused. He and everyone else in the room stared at me.
    I looked around the room and then back at Woodward. “Okay. Is that name supposed to mean something to me?”
    “I don’t know. That’s why I asked.”
    “I’ve never heard of him.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “I have a photographic memory. I’m sure.”
    “Well, Abri Pentz is one of the world’s best snipers. He had one hundred and seventy-seven official confirmed kills in various Middle Eastern conflicts while serving in the British army. But the number is probably higher.”
    “Snipers keep count of their kills?” It seemed a bit gruesome, but what did I know about the military?
    “They do. I assure you, he is a sniper of extraordinary skill. However, at some point during his military service, he lost it. Mowed down a bunch of innocents and was served with a dishonorable discharge. Now he kills for hire. He’s currently a suspect in twelve high-profile political assassinations around the world.”
    “He sounds like bad news.”
    “He is.”
    Woodward stopped talking and just looked at me. I glanced over at Slash, who had started pacing and hadn’t stopped the entire time Woodward was talking.
    I folded my hands on the table. “I think it’s painfully clear I don’t have a clue who this guy is or why he was shooting up my parents’ house. But for one of the world’s best snipers, he has pretty lousy aim. If he were aiming at me, he would have had a perfectly clear target. The house was lit up like a Christmas tree and the drapes were wide open. But he missed. Now that I think about it, when he came inside the house, instead of shooting at any of us, he shot at the chandelier. How odd is that?”
    “Not odd at all. He didn’t miss. He didn’t hit you on purpose.”
    “You’re implying I was the intended target.”
    It was a statement, not a question, but Woodward glanced at a man who sat two chairs down. The man nodded and Woodward looked back at me. “Yes. You were the intended target.”
    “Me? Why? If this guy is an experienced sniper, why even shoot at me in the first place if he never intended to hit me? You aren’t making sense. None of this is making sense.”
    Slash spoke for the first time since we’d entered the room. “He wanted you alive.”
    “Why would he even want me dead? I don’t know who he is.”
    Woodward leaned forward. “He wants you alive for a game of cat and mouse.”
    “What game of cat and mouse? Look, I’ve never even heard of Abri Pentz. What is going on? Slash?”
    Slash walked over to