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

charge. Her satellite phone only really worked when the skies were clear and there wasn’t any inclement weather. She’d always been a bit leery of the lack of up-to-date equipment, like the field operatives weren’t worth the good stuff.
    “This is Baston,” she said as she pulled over to the side of the road.
    “Hey, chickie,” a familiar voice said. It was her partner in crime, Kate. Kate sat on the Russia desk at Langley and kept all the CIA officers up-to-date with intel when she had it. Sometimes her intel had more to do with her own dating life.
    “Kate. What’s going on?” she asked, smiling to herself.
    “I’m dating a Combat Weather guy. I just met him. He told me you had a pocket of clear weather over your location, before the storm cometh, so I thought I’d check in.”
    “Tell me you didn’t reveal my location to your new boyfriend,” she said, mock sternly.
    “Eh, he has higher clearance than me, so…” Her voice trailed off as she was, no doubt, distracted by something shiny walking past her desk. Abby had witnessed it happen more than once.
    “Don’t tell me, someone in a sharp uniform just walked by,” she deadpanned.
    “Man, it’s like you’re a spy or something.” Kate laughed. “Hey, anyway, looks like you have the mother of all storms heading your way, and I wanted to be sure you had everything you needed.”
    “Sure. I’m okay.”
    “Look, you haven’t been there in the winter. It’s hard to keep track of troop movements when the ground is covered in snow and the troops and their carriers are camouflaged in white. Our heat-detecting satellites are pretty crap in sub-Siberia temperatures.”
    “It defies belief.” She and Kate had spoken at length about the shoddy 1980s instruments they had to deal with. Nevertheless, Abby peered through the darkness, feeling excitement spike. “You think we’ll see troop movements? What have you heard?”
    “Nothing. No need to go to DEFCON 1 or anything. You’re just going to be alone and out of range for a while. Keep your eyes open, and stay safe, okay? Check in when you can. Even if it’s via email.” A couple years back, they’d set up a back-channel protocol in case the encrypted system didn’t work or couldn’t be accessed. Kate had a slightly different protocol for everyone in the region as a backup. Not terribly legal but also well appreciated when alone in the field with shit tools.
    “Copy that,” she said.
    “And if you have any snowball fights with anyone delicious, I need photos or it didn’t happen.”
    Abby rolled her eyes. “Copy that too.” Static crackled over the phone line.
    “I’m going to lose you—” Kate said before the phone went dead.
    Abby hung up and wondered, not for the first time, if she should just bite the bullet and buy her own freaking sat phone. Not that it would be encrypted and not that the CIA paid her enough to buy one without feeling the pinch financially, but as the clouds rolled in, presumably bringing snow with them, she started to feel a little angry at the shit state of the equipment she had to trust her life to. And at being alone.
    It was an argument she’d had with herself many times before. And with Kate. And with her boss.
    She started the motor again and made a turn before her street to stock up on food, just in case the snow hit bad. The store was about to close up, but she persuaded the storekeeper to give her five minutes in the aisles. When she’d gathered enough things she could eat with no electricity, she loaded her bags into her car and found a spot to park in the road outside her building. She wondered briefly how her car would hold up in the snow, but with no garage, there wasn’t much she could do about it. She swung her bags onto her forearm and locked the door.
    A few snowflakes fell on her face, and she looked up to the sky. Having spent some of her childhood in upstate New York, she knew very well that this second, the moment that the snow started,