Read Girl Takes The Oath (An Emily Kane Adventure Book 5) for Free Online Page B

wondered if she was officer material when we first met her?”
    “Yeah, I remember,” Jefferies said. “And when McDonough and Talib hurled her to the top of Herndon like she was a damn rag doll, you remember what you said?”
    “You mean once I could breathe again? I thought she was absolutely fearless. That was like twenty feet straight up.”
    “Yeah, but you said she took too many risks for an officer.”
    Crichton let out a long breath at the reminder. He did remember saying something like that. “Maybe I did. It looks like I was wrong. I’m sure you’ve seen how those guys follow her around the yard, keeping an eye on her, making sure nobody hassles her. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
    “What are you trying to say, Jim, that we should tell SECNAV about the camaraderie she inspires?”
    “No, I just mean if they think they can isolate her with this assignment, they are likely to be disappointed. She develops that kind of loyalty wherever she goes.
    “Well, she may need it,” Jefferies said. “Maybe more now than ever.”
    “And we’re still sending her back down to Quantico over break?” Crichton asked.
    “If she wants Leatherneck, SECNAV’s willing, but he wants her to have an extra turn down there.”
    “I don’t like it when the upper echelons start paying so much attention to our business here. What are they planning for her?”
    “Nothing they’ve explained to me, Jim. But she’s sure to cross paths with Durant this time.”
    “Maybe we should make a point of happening on by,” Crichton said with a chuckle.
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Chapter Five
    Theo Brings a Warning
    Yuki’s eyes gave everything away, the gnawing terror hiding behind her otherwise stoic visage. And her hand trembled when Emily reached across the table to touch her. The commotion of a large party of what must have been college students leaving the restaurant had given her some little bit of cover, but now they were gone, the return of the quiet left her exposed.
    “What do you mean they’re looking for me?” Emily asked, after the waitress left them alone.
    “That’s all Michael knows,” Theo said. “They made a formal request through State and he got wind of it.”
    “And they’ve got the wrong name?”
    “Yeah. Apparently an old passport of yours.”
    “I never used Emily Hsiang for anything, as far as I can remember.”
    “Michael thinks you may have used it to enter New Zealand. He’s looking into it, but quietly. If the wrong people hear of his interest, it won’t be hard to connect the dots right back to you.”
    “What do the Chinese say I did?”
    “Well, they claim Emily Hsiang killed three of their nationals in Kathmandu a coupla years back,” Theo said in a low voice.
    “That’s the part that makes no sense,” Yuki said. “There’s no way it’s true. But then why make an accusation they can’t substantiate?”
    “And you weren’t using that passport then anyway,” Theo said. “I mean, why connect the accusation to that name?”
    “When you went to Nepal after high school, you went as Michiko Tenno, right?” Yuki asked.
    Emily said nothing, biting her lip as she tried not to remember too much about that trip. She’d never told anyone the full story of what happened in Kathmandu, not even her mother.
    “Chi-chan, what’s wrong?”
    “Nothing, Mom… nothing’s wrong.”
    “You didn’t use that passport there, did you?”
    “No.”
    “Not even at your hotel?”
    “No. I destroyed all the extra passports after New Zealand. I’m officially Michiko Tenno everywhere I go.”
    “Then what is it, sweetheart?” When Emily didn’t answer, Yuki’s eyes teared up and her voice quaked. “Nothing happened over there… did it?”
    While the waitress refilled water glasses at the next table, Emily said nothing, keeping her eyes focused on the ice cubes melting in her glass. The vinyl upholstery and high back of the booth in which they sat probably provided some protection against