Read Arctic Fire for Free Online

Shane. Your Falcons aren’t always right.” His laugh grew louder. “There was that one time fourteen years ago when one of them was wrong.”
    In the twenty years they’d known each other, Carlson had rarely used humor to deflect anything. That wasn’t his style. “Did you really tell the president what could have happened in Boston?” Maddux asked.
    “Of course.”
    Maddux still had his doubts, but he knew he wouldn’t get anything more out of Carlson. Despite how close they were, their relationship had its limits. It had to. “I hope so.”
    Carlson held up a hand. “I have something that’ll take your mind off what you’re hearing.” The older man reached into his suit pocket and pulled out an envelope, then tossed it onto the coffee table in front of Maddux.
    Maddux grabbed the envelope and tore into it like a wolf tearing into a fresh kill. When he’d finished reading what was typed on the single sheet of paper inside, he looked up gratefully. “Thank you.”
    “Enjoy it, Shane. You deserve it.”
    Maddux knew he should have left it at that, but he couldn’t. He’d trained himself to keep his eye on the ultimate objective, but there were still times when he needed to make his peace too. “Be careful of President Dorn. I know you think there’s no problem with him, but my information’s coming from three sources, Roger. When it triangulates like that, there’s an excellent chance it’s accurate. In fact, I’d say the odds are almost a hundred percent at this point.”
    “Don’t worry, Shane, everything’s fine.”
    “Roger, I—”
    “It’s
fine
, Shane. Trust me.”
    Maddux slipped the envelope into his coat pocket and stood up. “I do trust you, Roger. You don’t even have to say that.” He started for the basement stairs and then hesitated. “I’ve never begged you for anything, but I’m begging you for this, Roger. Please look into it one more time.” If Carlson did as Maddux asked, there would still be time to stop the train even though it had already left the station. If not, Maddux would move forward unilaterally. He loved the old man, but he loved the country more. “I’m telling you. President Dorn wants to destroy us.”



CHAPTER 6

    A S QUICKLY as the storm had erupted, it had died. The sleet and snow were gone; seas had settled back to long, gentle swells of eight feet; gusts had calmed to less than thirty knots; and the
Arctic Fire
was cruising steadily toward a big payday in Akutan with only forty nautical miles left to go.
    Troy stood at midship on the starboard side of the vessel, near the crane that pulled the traps back aboard. He shook his head. He still couldn’t believe what had happened. He’d dodged
another
bullet.
    The bridge was only thirty feet behind him, and he could see Sage and Duke up there through the reinforced glass yelling at each other, furious at losing so much expensive equipment to the sea. He couldn’t hear them, but they were doing a lot of finger-pointing and waving, like they always did when things went wrong. Evidently they’d already put the fact that theirnephew and son had cheated death by a yellow thread well into the rearview mirror.
    Troy stared into the darkness shrouding the ocean, thinking again about how Speed Trap had come so close to death—but he hadn’t. How they’d been standing right beside each other when the huge wave had smashed into the ship, but he’d come out of it so much better.
    The same thing had happened before. He’d survived situations like that unscathed or barely bruised while others around him had been badly hurt, even killed. He hated to admit it because it was unnerving, but maybe Red Fox One was right. Maybe he was untouchable; maybe he was the ultimate survivor.
    He leaned on the deck wall next to the crane and glanced toward the stern. Even though the sun had set, he could make out the shadowy shapes of the ever-present seagulls. And hear their sharp cries as they hung a few feet off the