A Darker Shade of Dead Read Online Free Page A

get.”
    The I.D. process was relatively painless. There was the dreaded photo, of course. And then a short wait for security to produce the card that contained a coded microchip. The chip would grant her access to specific areas of the base. With it, she would be able to come and go as she pleased in the areas she had been cleared to enter.
    Matt drove her to the base hospital and stopped the car, but didn’t park it. “I have to get back to work,” he explained. “Call this number”—he gave her a slip of paper with a number scrawled on it—“when you’re ready to leave. One of the guys will come over and drive you back to your quarters.”
    â€œThanks for taking me around, Commander.” She hopped down from the jeep.
    â€œIt was my pleasure, doctor.” He looked like he wanted to say more but seemed to think better of the impulse. She shut the door and he tipped his fingers to her in a casual salute as he drove off.
    Sandra turned toward the door and realized he’d placed her at the perfect entrance to the base hospital. The first thing she saw when she crossed the threshold was the personnel office. She’d have to check in with them before she could start roaming the halls and seeing her patient.
    A few minutes later, with a shiny new sticker on her new I.D. card, she went to find Sam.
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    Across the base, another new member of the team was placing a difficult phone call.
    â€œHi, Dad. It’s me, Sarah.”
    Sarah Petit, former Suffolk County police officer and newly hired military consultant, tried to break the news of her new job to her father. She hadn’t been looking forward to this phone call. Her father was a retired NYPD detective who’d never understood why his little girl would want to be a cop.
    â€œSarah, honey, what’s this I hear about you quitting the force?”
    Crap. He’d already heard. “I was offered a really excellent opportunity with the government, Dad. I took it and I’m already on my way to start my first assignment.”
    The grim silence on the other end of the line didn’t bode well. Finally, her father spoke.
    â€œDoes this have something to do with the matter of national security you stumbled into?” He emphasized the words letting her know he’d heard all about the cover story the military had fed to the local authorities about her involvement.
    â€œHow did you hear about that?” She realized as soon as the words were out of her mouth what a stupid question that was. Big John Petit was still connected, no matter how long he’d been retired from the force.
    â€œDid you know your Chief O’Hara was an old acquaintance of mine?”
    â€œDad! Have you been spying on me the whole time I’ve been a county cop?” She thought she knew the answer to that one already, too.
    â€œIt wasn’t spying, Sarah. O’Hara and I talked from time to time. It’s only natural your name came up. He was really pleased with your work, sweetheart. I was so proud. But he called me last week saying you’d been in the hospital and now were working for the feds.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you ask me directly? I would’ve told you what I could.”
    â€œThe phone works both ways, Sarah. Why didn’t you even tell me you’d been in the hospital? You know I would’ve been right there with you if I’d known my only daughter had been hurt on the job. Attacked by two thugs in an abandoned building, and I had to hear it a week later from your chief!”
    Okay, so she’d screwed up on that score. She should’ve called her dad, but she’d been afraid of just such a reaction. He’d have called her brothers, and they would have enveloped her in a layer of virtual bubble wrap for her own protection. Meaning they would have closed ranks around her, and all the work she’d done with Xavier—her new fiancé—would never have