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

was the prettiest. Silver flakes drifting slowly to earth made her think about her family’s first home for a brief second. She breathed in and felt the stir of wind that she knew would bring the snow down in droves.
    Suddenly she longed to be inside her apartment, old and creaky as it was, setting her meticulously dried logs and tinder ablaze in her decidedly ’70s-inspired fireplace. She scurried down the alleyway to the main entrance to the apartment building.
      
    Mal watched her turn her face up to the sky, and in that second he saw a different side to Abby Baston. Her face lit up as she took in the falling snow, and he wished that he weren’t watching through an SLR lens but was standing next to her, maybe brushing the snow from her shoulders.
    He sighed. He was kidding himself. He didn’t want that. That was what a normal man would want. Not one who travels light and free. Not one who had killed more people than he wished to remember, although remember them he did. Not one who found himself in danger most weeks. Not one who enjoyed the danger he found himself in. But sometimes he liked to pretend he was normal to see how it felt. Like trying on a coat. An awkward, ill-fitting coat.
    She passed out of sight, and he waited, eyes on her apartment window for the light to come on. She was on the twenty-second floor, so it mostly depended on how quickly the lift got to her.
    He was distracted by two guys walking behind her into the alleyway. One looked behind him as he walked. Mal angled himself to see what he’d been looking at. All he could see from his vantage point were puffs of exhaust coming from a car. An uneasy feeling prickled his skin, and he didn’t wait a fraction of a second to act on it.
    He grabbed his keys and slammed his door shut behind him. He didn’t wait for the lift but ran to the stairwell. Jumping down the stairs four or five at a time and swinging over the railings, he knew he would get to the ground floor faster than waiting for a lift.
    He ran across the empty street, getting a good look at the waiting car. It was just one guy looking in his rearview mirror at the entrance to the alleyway. His apprehension kicked up a notch. Barely feeling the cold, even though he was in a thin T-shirt and jeans, he rounded the corner to her apartment complex’s entry.
    He skidded to a halt. The two men were down. He panted visible puffs of air as he stood over them. Thankfully for the cold, he could also see a tiny waft of air coming from one of them. Not the other. He felt for a pulse. Nada.
    Shit. Now what? He found a tin of soup on the ground. Abby had been carrying groceries. Had she killed this guy? Had someone else? Was she upstairs? Had someone taken her? He went into the unmanned lobby. The one lift was ascending. He paused to watch. It stopped at 22. Was she alone now?
    Regardless, he couldn’t leave these guys here for the police to find. He didn’t know what the fuck was going on. He pushed the up button for the lift and pulled out his phone, hitting speed dial number 2.
    “Randall Products,” a friendly female voice said.
    “Three zero zero, please,” Mal said.
    In less than a second, Randall’s voice came over the line. “How can I help?”
    “Clean up on aisle three…no four.” Dammit, it had been so long since he’d used Randall’s services he’d forgotten the protocol.
    “Garrett? Is that you?”
    “I don’t have time—”
    “Sure. Address?”
    Mal gave him the address of Abby’s apartment building.
    “It’s five k per, and someone will be there in twenty minutes. Can you secure…”
    Dammit. “Sure. Give me a second.” He shoved his phone into his pants pocket and went back outside. After checking the scene was clear, he took off his T-shirt and grabbed one of the guy’s feet, ensuring he didn’t leave prints on the man’s boots. He dragged him to the far side of a Dumpster and then repeated the process with the other one. He pulled his shirt back on and looked