Read Online EDGE OF SHADOWS: The Shadow Ops Finale (Shadow Ops, Book # 3) by C.J. Lyons, Cynthia Cooke - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: C.J. Lyons, Cynthia Cooke
Tags: FICTION/Romance/Suspense
Ads: Link
like a man, he hunched his backpack higher up his shoulder and strode toward the red-brick chapel with its arched doorways and windows.
Suddenly, a dark-haired woman ran around the corner of the chapel. She stopped at the sight of Rose, and they moved into the entrance of the chapel, heads bent together. Jay stopped, confused. Why would Chase’s boss be here, on the campus of Georgetown, if it wasn’t to watch over him?
He glanced around the courtyard. It would make a good place to meet someone: out of the way, private, yet also the kind of spot where you could innocently meet someone by “accident” without it looking suspicious. He ducked back behind a row of trees. Was Rose meeting another spy? Maybe one of Chase and KC’s colleagues?
It was kind of cool—Rose was supposed to be like Mrs. 007 when it came to spies, at least from the way Chase and KC talked about her, but she hadn’t even noticed Jay. True, he’d been across the courtyard, beyond the fountain, and she’d been facing the other way, but still…Just went to show that he wasn’t bad at this spy stuff himself.
The two women emerged, Rose handing the younger one something and giving her a quick hug. Top-secret plans? Whatever it was, it was small, the size of a key or thumb drive or maybe a bug hidden inside a tube of lipstick. His mind conjured every spy movie he’d ever seen, and before he could look twice, both women had vanished.
Jay continued his stroll through campus to where he’d stashed his car—nowhere near his usual spot—feeling more confident. This spy stuff wasn’t so hard after all. Chase and KC were just overreacting.
No way would the Preacher’s people ever get him. He could take care of himself.
<><><>
EZ, the Team’s resident computer genius and former NSA whiz kid, had sounded hesitant about meeting with Rose outside the STR offices when she called. “What’s this all about?” he asked. “The special project you and Billy have me working on?”
From his tone, she knew he resented hiding his work on the Preacher’s hard drive from the rest of the Team. But after the attack on Lucky today, EZ could be a target as well—especially if he’d found anything hidden behind the layers of encryption on the hard drive.
“Yes. Meet me at our regular spot.” She and Billy had taken to debriefing EZ at a parking garage attached to a nearby mall. The concrete and steel made outside surveillance next to impossible, and a quick run to the mall’s food court made for an easy cover story.
He sighed. “Okay. I’ll be there in twenty.”
“Take your time.” Rose had driven straight there from Georgetown and was already waiting. She liked to arrive to any meet first, scout it beforehand. Not that that prep work had helped this morning.
It was twenty-two minutes before EZ opened the door to Rose’s Subaru and hopped into the passenger seat, computer bag on his lap. “I hate this hush-hush shit,” he said as she began to drive up the corkscrew path to the roof. “You know the FBI’s lab is examining the drive, probably the NSA as well. So why all the secrecy from our own people?”
He’d asked the question before, and Rose had always deflected it. This time she held nothing back. “Because there’s a traitor on the Team. Someone working with the Preacher.”
He physically recoiled, banging his knee against the door. “The Preacher’s dead.”
“His organization isn’t. And they clearly have a lot more planned that we know nothing about.” They’d reached the roof. She turned the Subaru around so it faced the exit and put it in park. The anemic sun barely made a dent in the clouds. “This morning they tried to kill Lucky and blew up a school bus.”
“That was them? Lucky was there? Is he okay? Of course he’s okay, you would never let anything happen to him, and they said on the news no casualties, but—” EZ’s words flowed faster than his thoughts—he had a habit of thinking out loud like
Suddenly, a dark-haired woman ran around the corner of the chapel. She stopped at the sight of Rose, and they moved into the entrance of the chapel, heads bent together. Jay stopped, confused. Why would Chase’s boss be here, on the campus of Georgetown, if it wasn’t to watch over him?
He glanced around the courtyard. It would make a good place to meet someone: out of the way, private, yet also the kind of spot where you could innocently meet someone by “accident” without it looking suspicious. He ducked back behind a row of trees. Was Rose meeting another spy? Maybe one of Chase and KC’s colleagues?
It was kind of cool—Rose was supposed to be like Mrs. 007 when it came to spies, at least from the way Chase and KC talked about her, but she hadn’t even noticed Jay. True, he’d been across the courtyard, beyond the fountain, and she’d been facing the other way, but still…Just went to show that he wasn’t bad at this spy stuff himself.
The two women emerged, Rose handing the younger one something and giving her a quick hug. Top-secret plans? Whatever it was, it was small, the size of a key or thumb drive or maybe a bug hidden inside a tube of lipstick. His mind conjured every spy movie he’d ever seen, and before he could look twice, both women had vanished.
Jay continued his stroll through campus to where he’d stashed his car—nowhere near his usual spot—feeling more confident. This spy stuff wasn’t so hard after all. Chase and KC were just overreacting.
No way would the Preacher’s people ever get him. He could take care of himself.
<><><>
EZ, the Team’s resident computer genius and former NSA whiz kid, had sounded hesitant about meeting with Rose outside the STR offices when she called. “What’s this all about?” he asked. “The special project you and Billy have me working on?”
From his tone, she knew he resented hiding his work on the Preacher’s hard drive from the rest of the Team. But after the attack on Lucky today, EZ could be a target as well—especially if he’d found anything hidden behind the layers of encryption on the hard drive.
“Yes. Meet me at our regular spot.” She and Billy had taken to debriefing EZ at a parking garage attached to a nearby mall. The concrete and steel made outside surveillance next to impossible, and a quick run to the mall’s food court made for an easy cover story.
He sighed. “Okay. I’ll be there in twenty.”
“Take your time.” Rose had driven straight there from Georgetown and was already waiting. She liked to arrive to any meet first, scout it beforehand. Not that that prep work had helped this morning.
It was twenty-two minutes before EZ opened the door to Rose’s Subaru and hopped into the passenger seat, computer bag on his lap. “I hate this hush-hush shit,” he said as she began to drive up the corkscrew path to the roof. “You know the FBI’s lab is examining the drive, probably the NSA as well. So why all the secrecy from our own people?”
He’d asked the question before, and Rose had always deflected it. This time she held nothing back. “Because there’s a traitor on the Team. Someone working with the Preacher.”
He physically recoiled, banging his knee against the door. “The Preacher’s dead.”
“His organization isn’t. And they clearly have a lot more planned that we know nothing about.” They’d reached the roof. She turned the Subaru around so it faced the exit and put it in park. The anemic sun barely made a dent in the clouds. “This morning they tried to kill Lucky and blew up a school bus.”
“That was them? Lucky was there? Is he okay? Of course he’s okay, you would never let anything happen to him, and they said on the news no casualties, but—” EZ’s words flowed faster than his thoughts—he had a habit of thinking out loud like
Similar Books
