The Medici Dagger
Chapter One
I sank into the black leather sofa in my father's spacious office, leaning
against a pillow that looked like a big, silky Chiclet. Tension rippled through
the room. I glanced up at my dad, who was slumped forward in his chair, elbows
on his leather-topped desk, forehead in one hand. His face was six inches from
the speakerphone - a boxy thing, separate from the telephone, that sounded
even worse than they do today. Wedged between the fingers of his other hand was
a number-two pencil that he nervously wiggled back and forth.
The voice coming out of the phone belonged to Ensign Hector Camacho, a
representative from the Coast Guard. "I'm very sorry, sir," Camacho said with
professional dispassion.
My dad winced as if he'd stepped on a thumbtack. "You're saying he could have
gone down anywhere within a hundred-mile radius?"
"I'm saying that -"
"Can't you find that plane? You cannot fathom the importance of this, the
devastating consequences!" Sweat glistened on my father's upper lip.
"Try to calm down, Dr. Barnett," Camacho said. "I know how difficult this must
be for you, losing, uh, ... read full excerpt from The Medici Dagger ebook
