Deep Rising (An Outside the Lines Novel) (Entangled Select) Read Free Page B

paperwork’s in good order. And I have it on the authority of my superiors and yours that you’ll cooperate. Now, if you don’t mind, can we please speak English, or Española, if you’d prefer. No capisco Italiano. ”
    The second officer, a middle-aged man, cocked his head to the side and regarded Jared for an uncomfortable length of time. The stitching on the man’s uniform read “Giuseppe Ancorra.”
    “You don’t speak Italian?” Ancorra asked, although it was more of a statement than a question.
    “Not a lick.”
    The man’s eyes narrowed. He turned to his comrade and said, “ L’Americano è molto stupido e brutto.”
    Jared’s expression didn’t waver but inside he smiled. It wasn’t everyday someone dared to call him stupid and ugly.
    Officer Ancorra stared at him for another moment before switching to English. “Plastic explosives were utilized. Several hundred pounds. We have not been able to determine what the blasting cap was composed of.”
    “A pallet of C-4 isn’t exactly easy to transport,” Jared said. “And our intelligence suggests the explosives would have had to be detonated in a very specific manner in order to generate the type of landslide we’re talking about.”
    “You are correct,” the third officer agreed. He appeared young, perhaps in his early thirties. His eyes and skin bore the pallor of extreme stress or prolonged sleep deprivation.

    Jared recognized the signs. Previous missions had forced him to go days without rest.
    “They meticulously selected the location,” the officer said.
    “Can you show me?”
    The three men exchanged a glance. Officer Ancorra nodded.
    “Come with me,” the younger man said. “It is perhaps a mile up the coast.” He extended his hand. “I’m Giovanni Pisani.”
    “Nice to meet you,” Jared responded.
    He followed the two investigators along the coastline to a set of stairs. At the top of the cliffs, they ducked beneath a glaring blockade.
    Masses of people crowded the barricades. Reporters and news crews competed to portray the carnage.
    A pretty child with tangled blond hair clenched an eight-by-ten photo of her mother. A steady stream of tears coursed down her fair cheeks. An elderly woman, her grandmother by the look of her, pressed the girl against her hip.
    Officer Pisani squatted beside the child and lifted her into his arms. He whispered something to the old woman.
    After a few seconds, he rejoined Jared and Ancorra.
    “She is my daughter.” He opened the door to a white van and gestured for Jared to precede him. “My wife traveled to Capri for her cousin’s thirtieth birthday.” He frowned. “She didn’t want to go. It was the first vacation apart from myself and my daughter. I…insisted. I wanted her to have fun. She works so hard and is very busy with our child.” His voice broke. “She was on the beach…”
    From the man’s glassy eyes, Jared knew the answer before he asked, “Has your wife been found?”
    “No.”
    The reports and the satellite pics had shown nothing but devastation. The massive wave had slammed into the tiny coastal beach on the northern coast of Capri and swallowed everything in its path. He doubted her body would ever be found. What the wave didn’t destroy, the ocean predators had. “I’m sorry.”
    Officer Pisani looked away. “Not as sorry as I.”
    Ancorra caught Jared’s attention in the rearview mirror. “Buckle up,” he advised, slamming the gas pedal to the floorboard.
    The van coursed along the roadway.
    In some areas, the ground heaved into spires. In others, the road plunged away completely. Living thirty miles from the mainland, the people of Ischia would face another exigent obstacle in obtaining the necessary provisions for repairs. It would take months, perhaps years, to fix the damages.
    Armed men, the Italian version of the National Guard, directed traffic away from the blast zone. Ancorra parked the van in a narrow alley. “The explosion wiped out three city