Read Online Risk of Exposure (Alpha Ops Book 6) by Emmy Curtis - Free Book Online Page B

CNN reporters on the ground before they’d stopped for a bathroom break. And with NATO bombs before lunch. The common theory was that they’d use the farmlands to enter the northeastern part of Ukraine. They already had the Crimea. The Russian president wanted the rest. And God only knew where he would stop.
    “How will you know the difference between those ‘pro-Russian fighters’ and the real Russian army?”
    She hated that he knew all the right questions to ask. “You’re assuming that the ‘pro-Russian fighters’ aren’t the Russian army, and I think they are. I just have to be there to prove it. An insignia, a unit with military-issue weapons, uniforms, recognizable military vehicles that we can compare with those bought by the Russian government. That’s what I’m here for. If I can show that they are the Russian army, then the might of the NATO forces will rain down on them before they get to any densely inhabited areas.” She wanted to be there to see that so badly.
    He was silent, barely moving at all. Maybe the dark had made it easier to talk, to basically spill all the secrets she’d held in for so long. She sighed. Maybe he wasn’t such a dick after all.
    As soon as the thought formed in her brain, he jumped up. “Excellent. Well, it seems like you’ve got it all under control, and that means I can tell your father you don’t need any further protection and I can get reassigned. Somewhere less dangerous than your apartment. Like Kabul.”
    She sprang up too. “No. You can’t tell my father. So you’re stuck here. Or I’ll have you arrested.”
    “What are you talking about? Of course you can tell your father.” He checked the safety on the gun. “I’m going to keep this, by the way. It’s the penance you pay for pointing it at me.”
    “Wait.” She put herself between him and the door. “My father does jobs for foreign governments, private corporations based who-knows-where. So I can’t tell him without losing my clearance and my job. If you tell him, you’ll be arrested. And fired.” She got as far as pulling a sad face and bringing her fingers up to her face again, mimicking a phone, before he grabbed her hand.
    “Okay, enough.” He dragged his hand through his hair and sighed. “Jesus. How did this happen? Suddenly watching you from across the street feels like a dream. Fuck .”
    “You were watching me? All the time?” she asked, a cold finger of creepiness poking her in the place were butterflies usually lived.
    “Enough to know you can set soup on fire and inexplicably spill it down your…” He nodded to her breasts. “Not sure how you managed that.”
    “I was startled by a mouse in the kitchen. A big mouse. Anyone would have jumped.” She put her fists on her hips.
    “You have mice in here?”
    She shrugged. “Just one. Boris.” As the words formed, she realized how ridiculous it made her sound.
    “You named the mouse?”
    “Jesus. Russians could be encroaching on the Ukrainian border, World War freaking Three could start tomorrow, and you’re making fun of me? Fine. I decided that instead of being freaked out by it, I’d make him a pet. That way it wasn’t so awful thinking he was around. Besides, I’m beginning to realize that he’s better company than you are.”
    He ignored the last part. “Why didn’t you just shoot it?”
    “I was saving all my rounds for you.” God, he was annoying. She wondered if he was one of those guys who figured everything a woman did was “the wrong way” or just wrong. She wished they could go back to fighting. That felt more real and honest than this verbal smackdown.
    “Well to be fair, who knows what you might have ended up shooting.” He shrugged and went back to the window, peering out into the thick snowfall.
    She fisted her hands, wanting to just punch him. A lot. She wished she had a punching bag with her. “Is it possible that you could stop being a dick for a moment?”
    His eyes remained on the street.