The Spy Who Came for Christmas by David Morrell Read Free Book Online

snow was the reason he noticed it. But it seemed impossible. How could a plant grow in this weather? Moreover, it seemed to have flowers, a half- dozen large ones, the white of which was as difficult to distinguish as the trunks of the aspen trees.
    And yet he was sure he saw their blur.
    Flowers in winter? I'm hallucinating, Kagan thought. Some kind of snow mirage.
    Or maybe the blood loss is making me see things.
    Unsteady, he followed the half-filled prints toward the side of the house. Keep going, he thought. I'm almost there. If I can get into the shed or the garage, I can rest for a while. Catch my breath. Try to stop the bleeding.
    He put one boot in front of the other.
    Maybe there'll be a tarpaulin or an old blanket I can crawl under, he hoped. Try to get warm.. Try to warm both of us, he silently promised the baby. He felt more responsible for the child than he'd ever felt for anyone else in the world. Maybe I could wrap you up and put you someplace safe in a corner. That would give me a chance to try to protect us.
    But whatever you do, he mentally pleaded, just don't cry. I'm sure you're hungry. I'll try to find you something to eat. I don't know how, but I'll do my best. Please don't cry. You've been good so far. The greatest. There's only one way you can be better For God's sake, please don't cry.
    He shivered violently, wiping snow from the top of his head. He reached the side of the house. Away from the Christmas lights that stretched above the front door and the ceiling light that shone from the kitchen, he paused in the shadows, trying to let his untrustworthy eyes adjust. In the hiss of the falling snow, everything seemed closer, as if it were condensing around him.
    Sudden movement dissolved the illusion. A figure lunged toward him, and Kagan was absolutely certain the shock from his wound had made him hallucinate--because the figure was a boy, maybe twelve years old, and the boy had a baseball bat. He was about to swing with it, and the intensity of the expression on his face was startling, even if Kagan saw it only for an instant.
    His vision doubled. His knees bent.
    Before the boy could strike him, he dropped. Sickened, feeling his eyes roll up and his mind drift, he did his best to topple onto his side, to keep the weight of his body from crushing the baby.
    Don't cry, he silently pleaded. Whatever you do, don't cry.
    But now the baby did cry. Jolted when Kagan landed, the infant wailed beneath the parka. Its cry went on and on, rising, pausing only when the baby took frantic breaths. Then it swelled again, a cry of helplessness and fear, of pain, hunger, and despair, of all the sorrow and desperation in the world.
    * * *
    "PAUL, YOU shouldn't have risked calling. You're supposed to use the dead drop. Is this an emergency?"
    "I need you to bring me in. You told me it wouldn't last this long. Tonight. . . "
    "I can barely hear you."
    "Tonight, to prove I was part of the team, they forced me to . . . "
    "I still can't hear you. You need to get off the line. You're jeopardizing the mission."
    "If you don't bring me in, I'll walk away."
    "No. You'd make them suspicious. We'd never get another man in there. Give us time to think of a believable reason for you to disappear."
    "Soon. Think of it soon."
    "The quickest we can. Learn as much as possible. There are rumors about a shipment of plastic explosive being smuggled through the Jersey docks. That's Odessa territory. If Semtex is being smuggled in, the Russians are involved."
    "Just bring me home. For God's sake, bring me home."
    *
    Part Two
    The Christmas Rose
    KAGAN HEARD a faint choir singing, "Silent night, holy night ... " It took him a dazed moment to realize that the soft music came from a radio or a CD player, but not in the room where he lay on his back on the floor.
    A woman loomed over him, as did the boy who had nearly struck him with the baseball bat. Kagan's eyes hurt from the glare of the overhead light. Orienting himself in a panic, he saw