US Marshall 01 - Cold Ridge by Carla Neggers Read Free Book Online Page A

off, giving a little hiss between clenched teeth. "Ty, don't tell me-did Manny send you? Is that why you're here?"
    "Sorry, Dr. Callahan, I'm in the dark as much as you are." He thought that was a diplomatic way to stonewall her. "You looked like you were in a hurry a minute ago."
    "I am. I have a plane to catch-damn, I hate this. She says she's fine. You know Carine. She's resilient, but she's also proud and stubborn, sensitive about being sensitive. Ty, I swear to you, if you do anything, and I mean
anything,
to make matters worse for her, I will find you and inject you with something that'll sting parts that you don't want stinging. Do I make myself clear?"
    He leaned back in his seat. "You bet, Doc."
    She hissed again, disgusted with him. "The jackass fairy must have visited you every night when you were a kid," she snapped. "Some days I don't know how you stand yourself."
    "I'm a disciplined military man."
    She straightened, glancing back at her sister's apartment. No foldout turkeys. No Pilgrim hats. Carine's life here seemed temporary, something she was trying on for size. An escape. When Antonia turned back to him, Ty thought she looked strained and worried. "Promise me," she said seriously, in an exhausted near whisper. "You'll be good?"
    "Relax, Antonia. "He smiled at her. "I'll be very good."
    "You're not going in there tonight, are you?"
    He shook his head. "I'll give her some time. Besides, I hate barf."
    "Yeah, right, with all you've seen in your career?" She started to say something, then just heaved a long sigh. "I'm trusting you."
    It was progress, Ty thought. A Winter hadn't trusted him in months.
    Antonia climbed into a taxi that had been idling farther down the street, and Ty watched it negotiate the crooked street, the oversize cars parked in too-small spaces, the potholes, the kids on skateboards.
    He'd never had a thing for Antonia. It was always Carine.
    Always and forever.

Four
    Val Carrera learned about Louis Sanborn's murder when she flipped through the
Washington Post
over her morning coffee, and it pissed her off. A man was dead, and her husband hadn't bothered to tell her he was involved. He was in Boston. It wasn't like he was on a secret military mission. He could have called her.
    But here she was, once again, on a need-to-know basis, with Manny Carrera deciding what she needed to know and her having to live with it.
    Bastard.
    The details in the article were sketchy. It said photographer Carine Winter found the body when she got back from her lunch break. It said the Rancourts had hired Manny to analyze their personal security needs and make recommendations, and, most important, to train them and their employees-of which Louis San-born was one-in the basics of emergency medicine and survival in various types of environments and conditions. After their scare in the White Mountains last fall, the Rancourts said, they wanted to be more self-reliant.
    "What a crock," Val muttered over her paper. "Damn phonies."
    She hadn't liked the Rancourts since Manny had pulled them off Cold Ridge on a weekend he was supposed to be resting, having a good time. Sterling-who'd name a kid Sterling?-and Jodie Rancourt had donned expensive parkas and boots and trekked up the ridge, never mind that they didn't know what in hell they were doing. They got a dose of high winds, cold temperatures and slippery rocks and damn near died up there.
    "They should be Popsicles," Val grumbled.
    Instead it was Hank Callahan and the PJs to the rescue, although Val was of the opinion that someone else could have done the job. But that wasn't the way it was with Manny, North or Callahan, not when they were right there and could do something.
    Now the Rancourts were returning the favor, helping Manny establish his credentials in their world. And the big dope fell for it. He didn't see that they were ingratiating themselves-he didn't see that he should have stayed in the air force, teaching a new generation of young men how to be