Read Online From the Ashes by Jeremy Burns - Free Book Online Page A

salt-and pepper at the temples and the sun-weathered wrinkles around his eyes the only indications of his age. His body was that of a weightlifter, tugging at the seams of his gray suit.
    “Ramirez,” Greer said as he placed the file on the desk and stood, extending his full six-foot-three frame. Ramirez, being five inches shorter, had long fostered the joke, privately of course, that Greer was someone he ‘looked up to.’ “Have a seat.”
    Ramirez eased himself into the chair opposite the desk while Greer walked over to the filing cabinets and extracted another folder. Returning to his chair, the Director adjusted the folder on his desk, folded his hands, and fixed Ramirez with a stare.
    “Ramirez, last night’s mission...” Greer pursed his lips, as if the next words held an acrid distastefulness. “It may have been premature.”
    Ramirez raised an eyebrow but remained silent, his hands folded in his lap.
    “I don’t want to say anything else until I know more, but that’s where I need you again.” Greer took a deep breath, and shook his head once, like he were shooing away an obtrusive thought. “Apparently Rickner had a laptop that he kept at home. He may have kept his most sensitive discoveries there.”
    “I didn’t see a laptop when I was there, or I would have grabbed it then.” Ramirez made a face. “Why didn’t Recon pick up on this before?”
    “Apparently he never connected it to the Internet. Cautious, I suppose, especially after he realized what he’d stumbled across. We found his student account, and thought that was it. He must’ve paid cash for the laptop and forgone any warranties. No record of the laptop, until this morning when... well, never mind the particulars. The fact of the matter is I need you to get that laptop. It should be at his apartment. Perhaps hidden somewhere. Find it and bring it back.”
    Ramirez waited. Greer was silent, his eyes locked back on the contents of the manila folder. “Anything else, sir?” Ramirez asked.
    Greer swallowed, looked up. “Sorry. No. Not yet. Just report back as soon as you have that laptop. It is paramount that we get the laptop and the information it contains immediately.”
    “Yes, sir.” Ramirez stood to leave, conscious of the fact that Greer was distracted by something he wasn’t telling him. “Sir, permission to speak freely?”
    “Granted.”
    “Are you okay?” Ramirez tilted his head to the side. “I mean, you seem a little-”
    “Distracted?”
    Ramirez nodded. “Perhaps.”
    Greer leaned forward over his desk. “You know the feeling you get when your ticket matches the first five numbers in the Mega Lottery? You’re incredulous at your luck and tingling with anticipation, waiting for that last number, the Powerball, to come up?”
    “Not personally, but I can imagine.”
    “We may have a winning lottery ticket on our hands, Ramirez.” Greer jabbed a meaty finger at the intel lying on his desk, still locking eyes with Enrique. “And this laptop may be our Powerball. Go get it.”

Chapter 7
    Washington, D.C.
    Some things in life never seemed to change. Vacations were planned and canceled; engagements made and terminated; brothers and fiances killed. But the omnipresent golden arches of McDonald’s were always around. During his travels around the world with his brother, Michael had often joked that, if the world were plunged into nuclear holocaust, cockroaches and McDonald’s – along with the odd Starbucks – would be all that survived. And in this spirit of constancy and familiarity, Jon and Mara approached the restaurant that remained the same despite the tumultuous state of their own lives.
    Jon was now free of his luggage – he and Mara had dropped his bags off at her apartment, then walked the five blocks to the nearest of the ubiquitous restaurants in the Washington Metro area. The pair was walking close, Jon at times sliding his arm around Mara’s shoulder and squeezing her side against his in an