Read Online Blowback by Emmy Curtis - Free Book Online

was already sitting up next to her, and she hadn’t noticed. They listened to the CNN anchor’s measured tones explaining that the burning store was a Russian business, and that Moscow had insisted that Athens close down until the authorities found those responsible for what they called “a western-sponsored attack on the people of Russia.”
    Molly whimpered. Literally a whimper came out of her mouth. She stretched her fingers out, trying to get rid of the numb coldness that had settled there in the previous few minutes. They shook.
    David wrapped a warm arm around her and tucked the duvet around her. “Stay there. Keep warm and let me make a few phone calls.” His calm, low voice reassured her.
    Slightly.
      
    David stepped out on to his small balcony and called Mal, because who else? He seemed to always have his ear to the scuttlebutt, no matter where it came from. He called it bullshit filtering.
    “S’up.” Mal answered with.
    “I just saw the news. Is Russia stirring the pot, or is…”
    “Is your country actually plotting the downfall of Russia?”
    David used a visualizing technique he learned in therapy and imagined himself kicking Mal shitless.
    “I just want to know what’s going on, buddy, okay?” He tried and failed to reach for a measured tone.
    “Right you are. Touchy lot, you Yanks. Okay, so all I’ve heard is that the good old US of A is actually waging a covert war against Russia. Literally everyone from any country in the know”—he meant in the espionage business—“says all the chatter points to the CIA.”
    “Shit.” David couldn’t get his head around that. It was so…uncharacteristic. No one used their intelligence agencies to take down a country.
    “Well, shit, or maybe bullshit.”
    “What do you mean?” David felt a glimmer of hope.
    “Everyone had heard the same thing, but no one could tell me who the intel came from with any degree of confidence. Even the hot Russian chick. And I really tried to persuade her to tell. Chatter, nothing firm.”
    “So…smoke and mirrors?”
    “Mate. I know you think it’s good that it might not be true. And it is. But that makes it exponentially worse for you and your girl. If this is a war of misinformation, you two are on the front lines. Not to mention really easy targets.
    David paused. He was right. If his country was really on the warpath, and frankly, most Americans would be totally behind unseating Putin and restoring glasnost to Russia, Molly and David needed to leave. And if this was all smoke and mirrors, and someone was setting the US up to take the fall for the assassination and the bombing, then they needed to get the fuck out of dodge too. “Bottom line is we’re leaving.”
    Mal paused. “That’s a good idea. I’ve been reassigned, and I told Baston about you and Molly. Expect a phone call.”
    Baston was the owner and operator of Barracks Security. The man who had given David his second chance. That settled it. He couldn’t go against Baston’s wishes, and he wasn’t going to leave Molly. So they were out of here.
    Mal must have taken his silence for anger because he continued, “Don’t look at me like that”—David looked at his phone and rolled his eyes—“I can’t be your babysitter if I’m not in the same country as you.”
    “Babysitter, my ass.” David clenched his fist.
    “Enabler maybe. Anyway, got to run. Stay safe, brother.”
    “You too.” The line went dead before he’d finished the last word.
    Tosser . David half-smiled at himself already using Mal’s favorite epithet.
    He let himself back in the room and explained to Molly that they had to leave for the airport. She seemed to have gone from shaking to icy-cold determination in the time he was out on the balcony.
    “Not even remotely acceptable,” she said, even though ten minutes ago she’d been terrified. “I have a speech to give, and I’m not missing it. It’s important to me, and important that the world hears what