Near Dark: A Thriller by Brad Thor Read Free Book Online Page A

precisely what they wanted to hear. She was given a slot to try out for what would be known as Jeger Troop—the Norwegian word for huntress.
    The ten-month program was grueling, but she relishedit. The more they threw at her, the better she did. No matter how hard they tried to break her, they couldn’t.
    From the eighty-eight female soldiers initially invited, only twenty were able to complete the training, and from there just thirteen went on to form the first unit.
    Sølvi was proud of herself. And just as important, so was her father. She had been made for Jeger Troop. Or so it hadseemed.
    Despite being deployed multiple times, she had never fired her weapon. None of their operations had gone kinetic. It seemed that JegerTroop spent the majority of its time either conducting surveillance or interacting with Muslim women in Afghanistan—hoping to develop actionable intelligence.
    Shit assignments came with the territory—even for Special Operations forces. Sølvi, though,had been led to believe that they’d be undertaking the kinds of missions similar to the male commandos’. The fact that Jeger had been regulated to “safer,” second-tier operations didn’t sit well with her. That wasn’t what she had signed up for. And so, she had started looking around for other opportunities.
    It didn’t take long for her to come to Carl Pedersen’s attention. The moment he met herhe knew she’d be perfect for NIS. There was something about her—a street smarts, a savvy that couldn’t be taught. She was intelligent and quick-witted; perfect for the espionage business. She was also a very striking woman, which would discount her as a threat. Lots of men were going to drop their guard the moment they saw her. In Pedersen’s opinion, she was being wasted in the military.
    Nevertheless,poaching her from Jeger was going to ruffle a lot of feathers. They had spent a boatload of time and money training her. It took some serious string-pulling to get her transferred, but string-pulling was something Pedersen was quite skilled at.
    She was an exceptional student. Privately, he liked to joke that she had the “Three Bs.” Beauty, brains, and huge brass balls.
    From the moment she hadshown up at NIS, she had been eager to prove herself. She was a risk-taker, but not a foolish risk-taker. Pedersen was confident that as long as he could help her channel her passion, she’d be one of the best intelligence operatives Norway had ever seen—maybe even better than him. And, he had been right.
    No matter what kinds of assignments he sent her on—no matter how complicated, or how dangerous—shealways found a way to succeed. Yes, she got knocked on her ass. She also got battered, bloodied, and bruised. On a handful of occasions, she had even come close to losing her life. But that was what the job required and she had thrown herself into it with everything she had until a devastating, personal loss had sent her tumbling back into the realm of drugs.
    Of the many mistakes she had madewhile living abroad, the biggestinvolved a night of heavy partying where she ended up in a rough part of Milan with a horrible man who had slipped something into her drink. By the time she realized what was going on, it was too late. Though she tried to push him off of her, she was unable.
    Although that night would fade into the background of her life, it would never disappear—not completely.Years later, it would come roaring back.
    Happy and challenged with her job at NIS, there was only one area where she felt unfulfilled, empty. Most men, if not intimidated by her looks, were intimidated by the demands of her career—of which she could discuss very little.
    That had all changed, though, when friends had introduced her to Gunnar, a good-looking Norwegian tech exec. Everything abouthim had been perfect, especially how she had felt when they were together. He had laughed at her jokes, had never been jealous or insecure about her frequent trips abroad,