Out of Sight by Cherry Adair Read Free Book Online Page A

else's very existence…
    He was good at a number of things. But keeping his teammates alive wasn't one of them.
    Which is why he'd worked alone for the past two years.
    He swore viciously under his breath. Angry at himself for giving in to the order to bring her. Angry at Cooper for being the rookie that she was… Hell, angry at God for putting up another roadblock to his sanity.
    Never again. Never a-fucking-gain.
    And never with a rookie in this lifetime. No matter how good they said she was. No matter how many sniping and sharpshooting medals she'd won. No matter how hard up he was for a sniper.
    Damn it. He needed her.
    Which just went to prove how fucked up this operation had become.
    He glanced down to see a scorpion, tail curved to strike, walking across the hand he had braced in the dirt beside him. He flicked it off before it struck, and again lifted the sealed bottle to his mouth, watching the jail through narrowed eyes.
    Jesus, it was hot. His scalp itched under the wig. The skin on his face, neck, and chest pulled under the heavy makeup. He ignored the discomfort and concentrated on the task at hand. The same task he'd managed a few hours ago. Getting AJ Cooper out of trouble.
    The two guards across the way came out for a smoke. They ignored the old drunk slumped across the alley as they hunkered down on their haunches and lit up. The smoke curled lazily in the still air as they relived the torture they'd just perpetrated on two of their prisoners. Hell, they were practically whistling.
    The two prisoners were low on the food chain of Raazaq's army. They hadn't seen the earlier attack out at the ruins, hadn't been prepared for it, and had generally screwed up. They were being used as an example to everyone else in the terrorist's organization of what would happen when an order was not obeyed. Raazaq's first-in-command would be there in the morning to take the bodies back to camp as an example. These two yahoos had a free reign of terror until then.
    Was this smoke break just a brief respite before they went back in and started in on Cooper? His insides bunched. He'd been tortured himself. Knew just what they'd be planning for Cooper. And when the beatings were over, he figured the raping would begin. He knew how fond these dirtbags were of beating and raping, but he was not about to let them destroy his best shot at getting Raazaq.
    Kane relaxed against the wall. Patient. Waiting. Watching for just the right moment as he listened to the men. He wondered if Cooper was listening, and understanding just what was in store for her.
    She had a photographic memory, but how much Arabic did she understand? She'd claimed at least a cursory knowledge of the language. Kane suspected that was an exaggeration. She'd been too eager to please, too damn bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about the prospect of her first field op. Her need to prove she was ready meant she'd probably said anything to get this assignment. But her linguistic skills, or lack thereof, weren't why T-FLAC had sent her—ready or not—in with them.
    They'd needed a beautiful woman who was a crack shot. Savage hadn't been available. Plain and simple, Cooper was second choice, and here because she had a great body, a beautiful face, and could put a bullet through a keyhole at three hundred feet.
    He'd worked with Savage before. She was good. She was reliable. She was seasoned. But Savage was banged up and not due out of the hospital for months. And they'd needed someone now.
    Cooper was it. Lucky him.
    Kane hoped to hell the rookie couldn't hear or understand the conversation going on right now. These guys were practically salivating at the prospect of interrogating their witness at daybreak. What they had planned for her was enough to chill the sweat on his skin and raise the hair on the back of his neck under the scraggly wig.
    "Hey!" he shouted in slurred Arabic. "Gimme a smoke."
    The men laughed as they got to their feet. All that alcohol would cause an old