Read Volcano for Free Online

doubled
her over and pressed her into the backseat of the car.
    “They’ll find me,” Ana said, casting a sideways glance at
the second man already seated inside who quickly drew a pistol and pressed it
to her temple.
    “Precisely what we’re counting on,” the older dark-eyed
Asian said with a smile. He left the pistol in place and, with his other hand,
gently sifted her hair. “Ah, Ms. Kane, so much more than I expected.”
    “You can’t keep me here,” Ana said, quivering as a security
guard paraded right by the car on the other side of its tinted glass. “There
are cameras all around. You’ll be on tape.”
    The man beside her grinned at the younger
man who now sat behind the driver’s wheel. “Our film debut, Hay Long.”
    The driver’s taut forearm, branded with a black dragon
tattoo, rippled with his laugh. “So, Sun-tzu, it would seem!”

 
    ***

 
    Albert Kane was huddled up in the hall with Assistant Chief
of DOS Building Security Jason Meade, when he got the call from the guard house .
    “Good God,” he said, punching the disconnect button.
“There’s been a fault in one of our camera tapes. Something’s gone the hell
awry downstairs!”
    “Jason,” he commanded fiercely, “Code red. Get an armed team
down to the basement- now!”
    But, by the time a winded Albert Kane sprinted down six
flights of stairs and burst into the parking garage, weapon drawn, the place
was quiet as a tomb.

 
 
 

CHAPTER 5

 
    Mark kissed Isa one last time and rethanked Major Walker.
      “Carolyn...” he
said, with a shaky smile.
    “Go, sir!” she said, pressing him toward the door. “With the
security system, this place is like Fort Knox.”
    “If you don’t hear from me-”
    “Not going to consider that, sir. If I don’t hear from you,
it means you’re working on getting things under control. I know you, sir.
You’re the best. The best of the best. ”
    Mark only wished he had so much confidence. He took another
look at the baby, her head drooping dreamily against Maria’s shoulder. The
sitter’s eyes were wide with fear, but she forced a brave smile. “ No te
preocupas, senor... Dios te bendiga.”
    “God bless you too, Maria. All of you,” he said with a
parting glance around the room. “I’ll be back, Carolyn,” he said to Major
Walker. “Hell or high water, I’ll be back.”
    “Yes sir,” Carolyn said, the cool mist in her eye defeating
her hard stare. “We’re going to count on it.”

 
    ***

 
    Ana turned toward Sun-tzu as the car sped
onto the highway, puzzling at the man. Puzzling at the name that struck
a chord somewhere in a distant region of her brain.
    Sun-tzu said something in rapid Chinese to the man behind
the wheel. And the other, Hay Long, smiled into the rearview mirror in return.
    “This is ridiculous,” Ana said to
the two of them. “You know you’ll be found out.”
    Sun-tzu turned his dangerously expressionless face toward
hers. “There are many people, Miss Kane. Many, many people who’d like to see
you alive.”
    And Ana was betting that an even higher number wanted
Sun-tzu dead.
    “You have nothing to fear from us.” A slow, insidious smile
worked its way across the Oriental’s face. “We only deliver the package.”
    Ana thought suddenly of Isabel and cold fear gripped her heart.
“I’m sure if there’s a message to deliver, you and I could work something out,
Sun-tzu.”
    “Don’t--” the old man said, grabbing her furiously by the
hair. He lifted the pistol that had been resting lazily on his knee with his
right hand and swung it in her direction. “... you ever address me by that name!   Is that
quite clear?”
    “Quite,” Ana said with a grimace. “But, I’m still very flexible-”
    “Silence!”   Sun-tzu pressed the pistol to her temple. “ I’m the one to decide
how flexible you are, Miss Kane. Me and only me.”
    The man behind the front wheel belly hooted.
    “If it’s information you want-” Ana began,