Battle Road by Frank Gerry Read Free Book Online Page A

morning.”
    Goodman wasn't surprised with the news of the promotion. He expected the job after the failures of the previous counter terrorism chief. He knew his experience made him the best person for the position. Political infighting would have been the only barrier. “Thank you, Selma. I know it was you who pushed for me. I'm not going to let you down.”
    Senior Agent Rivera let out a slight smile, “I know you too well, Mike. I know you'd never let me down. Be in my office at eight thirty. Skip the morning prayer services. This is more important.” Goodman responded in standard military fashion, “Yes, Ma'am.”  Agent Rivera could be seen on the video display reaching over to shut off the video camera while saying goodbye, “God bless you.” He replied in kind.
    Goodman took notice of the clock sitting on his desk. It was twenty past seven. Before his conversation with Agent Rivera, he thought he'd be able to finish his work in an hour or so. Now he knew he wasn't going to get to bed before midnight.
    Connected to the Homeland Security high speed encrypted network, Goodman began downloading the field reports from that evening's operations on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Viewing the number of dead and wounded he shook his head. He knew from his overseas assignments that more terrorists would be created that night. Regardless of the piss poor handling of the operation, he had his job to do. As the new Counter Terrorist Chief one of his first jobs would be personally overseeing the interrogations of the rounded up terrorists.
    Before starting work on his new assignment, Goodman opened the files on his tablet  computer to the project he'd been working on, his most important since starting at Homeland Security. An almost imperceptible grin crossed his face while he swiped his thumb across the display of the tablet, leafing through the pages of the documents. He was beginning to realize that in his new position he was now free to proceed as he liked, unfettered by anyone. I'm the goddamn boss now, he thought while f lipping though the documents until he found what he was looking for. The title of the file read: “ Fraser, Edward Dylan, Jr.”

EIGHT
     
    The next morning, Dylan was in his office pretending to review lines of computer code. If anyone knocked on his door, that's what he'd have them believe if they walked in. He was actually spending his morning goofing off; surfing the net, tossing a foam mini basketball through a hoop stuck on the wall with a suction cup, and snacking on M&M's. Most days Dylan worked hard. But today a lot weighed on his mind. He had to go down to Grace's office and smooth things over with her. He was doing whatever he could to delay taking that walk.
    The office v-phone signaled an incoming transmission at nine thirty am. Joanne Neely was visible on the other end. Her hair was a mess as if she had just got out of bed. She was wearing plaid pajamas and sipping a mug of coffee. He picked up the call. “Hi Joanne, how are you?” He considered Joanne to be more of a 'friend of a friend' than anything else. He'd only hung out with her and Brooksie a few times. Dylan actually liked Joanne and respected her regardless of the fact that her politics were somewhat radical and even possibly subversive. Joanne took another sip from the mug and spoke into the phone. “I'm doing well, thanks. Hey, the reason I'm calling is I'd like to pass along an invitation for a party I'm having at my place Friday night. Last minute sorta thing.”
    “ Well, I'm kinda...” he spoke hesitantly before being cut off. “Come on, Dylan. It'll be fun. This is why I called you instead of having Brooksie invite you to the party. I knew you would make some lame excuse,” she said, finally getting the chance to take another sip of her coffee. Dylan didn't answer right away, giving Joanne another chance to speak. “Actually, I have a girlfriend that will probably be there. You should meet her.”
    Girlfriend....