Smoke and Shadows by Victoria Paige Read Free Book Online Page A

But I don’t see a connection between Matthews and this string of assassinations. Marissa?”
    She shook her head. “I don’t.” But Harry Matthews played a pivotal role in getting Viktor and his men discharged from the Army for insubordination more than eighteen years ago. That mission was to extract Russian scientist Luski, his wife, and daughter in exchange for information regarding a plutonium cache. The CIA reneged on their deal with Luski, and instead, decided to go for the bigger fish when the Russian mob turned up at the Luski house. Viktor paid Matthews back—from Deputy Director of Clandestine Service demoted to case officer. Marissa wasn’t aware of the details of Harry Matthews’s fall from grace, but she knew that Viktor had everything to do with it. Her eyes widened. “Unless—”
    No. It wasn’t possible. He wouldn’t.  
    “What is it, Marissa?”
    “I need to speak with you privately, Sir,” Marissa requested.
    Yeager's eyes narrowed, but he nodded for everyone else to leave.
    “Allison. You stay,” Marissa informed her analyst.
    After the final person left the room, Marissa said, “We need to find out what files Matthews had accessed in the last three months.”
    “What are you alluding to?”
    “I have a hunch,” Marissa said. “But if proven—it could get ugly.”
    Yeager cursed under his breath. “Matthews hasn’t been very happy with the agency for a long time. I was surprised he hadn’t retired sooner. But I don’t think he’d sell us out, Cole.”
    “I don’t either, Director,” Marissa said. “But the NOC on the agents on Operation Smokescreen had been leaked. Matthews’s suicide reeks of conspiracy to silence the source.”
    “Why?”
    Marissa scowled.
    Yeager took a deep breath and said, “Viktor Baran. It’s not far-fetched, but the last thing this agency needs is a scandal when our agents are being targeted. This may still be a simple suicide. Do this under the radar. You got me?”
    “Understood.” Marissa turned to Allison. “The Smokescreen files reside on Argus and have been monitored these past three weeks for access. But we haven’t considered what was stored in the Cellar. I want you to track every item Matthews had checked out from there. Any questions?”
    Allison shook her head.
    Argus was one of the giant super-computers at the agency that contained highly classified and encrypted information. The Cellar, as the name implied, was a warehouse several floors below CIA HQS where any physical item related to an op or case—files, evidence, reports, disks —was stored.
    “I hope you’re wrong about this, Cole,” Yeager said.
    “Same here.” However, if she was wrong, they wouldn’t be any closer to finding who was intent on killing Guardians and CIA agents. And something told her the clock was ticking on the next target.

    *****
    Parking! Marissa thought and swerved immediately to snag the coveted space. It was a few blocks from her house, but parking near Dupont Circle had always been a nightmare. Still, she loved her Victorian row house on T Street, although, she hadn’t had much opportunity to enjoy it lately. Marissa sent Allison home after laying out the strategy to handle the influx of information from their assets in Damascus and the CIA station in Lebanon. There was no movement on the money trail on the hit in Paris, and her analyst had been working non-stop for a month and deserved some semblance of a weekend. So she gave Allison firm orders to take a Saturday night and the whole of Sunday off because it looked like another hellish month ahead. When hitting a dead end, it was always helpful to take a step back and have a break before diving back in. A good rest might just turn the tide toward gaining a new perspective.  
    Before exiting the BMW, she clocked any possible threats. Situational awareness was deeply ingrained in her training; the man standing across the street idly fiddling with his phone, the person in the parked vehicle a