Read Mackenzie's Mission for Free Online

spoilsport started calling me Daffy, and Petunia, and I got stuck with it."
     
      Mackenzie smiled. Caroline glimpsed it from the comer of her eye, and the reaction she had been trying to ignore was back in full force. She felt simultaneously hot and cold. Shivers ran up her back, but her skin felt flushed.
     
      "Could you see me in my office in half an hour, Dr. Evans?" the colonel asked now. She hated the way he phrased something as a question when the underlying tone made it an order.
     
      She turned and smiled brightly at him. "If you insist, Colonel."
     
      His eyes gleamed with recognition of the way she had forced him to make it an outright order, but he didn't hesitate. "I do."
     
      "Half an hour, then."
     
      As she and the others walked back to their own offices, Adrian paused beside her. "Smart move," he said, his hostility plain. "Snuggle up to the head man and it doesn't matter if you screw up on the job."
     
      She kept her eyes straight ahead. "I don't screw up on the job." There wasn't any point in denying that she had any sort of relationship with Mackenzie, so she didn't waste the effort.
     
      Cal glanced back, saw Adrian walking beside her, and slowed his steps to allow them to come even with him. "The complicated stuff starts with the moving targets, but so far there haven't been many problems with the program. It's almost scary how well the tests have gone."
     
      Adrian walked on ahead without speaking, and Cal whistled softly through his teeth. "He's not the president of your fan club, is he? When we heard you were going to be the replacement he made some snide remarks, but I didn't figure it was open warfare. What's the deal?"
     
      "Personality conflict," Caroline replied. Trying to place the blame was another pointless exercise.
     
      He looked worried. "We have to function well as a team, or Colonel Mackenzie will have us all replaced, and that won't look good on our records. They're under a deadline with these tests. They want something good to show Congress and the media when the vote for funding comes up, and that's in a few weeks, I think."
     
      "I can ignore Adrian," she assured him.
     
      "I hope so. I'll try to be a buffer when I can, but at some point the two of you will have to work together."
     
      "When it comes to work, I think both of us are professional enough to put our differences aside. But thanks for the thought."
     
      Cal nodded, then grinned at her. "So, the good colonel's interested. He made it pretty plain, didn't he?"
     
      "Without reason," she said grimly.
     
      "Maybe from your way of thinking, but not from his."
     
      It was foolish of her, but she began to look forward to meeting Colonel Mackenzie in the privacy of his office. Project manager be damned, she was going to tell him a few things. At the appointed time, she got directions to the appropriate Quonset hut and marched across the tarmac with anger propelling every stride.
     
      The outer desk was occupied by Sergeant Vrska , a burly young man who looked better suited to a pro-football team than a desk, but he greeted Caroline pleasantly and ushered her into the colonel's private office.
     
      Mackenzie had showered and changed into his summer service uniform; the blue of the material only intensified the pale blue of his irises. He leaned back in his chair and watched her calmly, as if waiting for her explosion.
     
      Caroline considered exploding, even though he was obviously expecting it. For one thing, it would release a great deal of tension. Losing her temper, however, would only give the advantage to him. There was no invitation to take a seat, but she did so anyway, then crossed her legs and leaned back, her manner making it plain that the opening gambit was his.
     
      "I read your file," he said. "Impressive credentials. You were always ahead of your age group in school, began college at sixteen, B.S. degree at eighteen, master's at nineteen, got your