Special Ops Exclusive by Elle Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page B

touch.”
    A familiar voice suddenly caught Nick’s attention, drawing his gaze back to the television screen.
    Rebecca Parker.
    She was doing a live report from outside the parliament building, shouting over the roar of the crowd.
    A spark of concern lit Nick’s gut, but at least the woman had the sense to stick close to the news van this time. As she spoke, the camera panned to the furious mob, then focused on a car that was engulfed in flames thirty feet away. The sheen of sweat on Rebecca’s forehead told him that she must be hot as hell standing near that conflagration, but she sounded cool as a cucumber as she addressed her viewers.
    “As you can see, the violence has escalated overnight. Two members of the armed guard were nearly beaten to death by five youths who have since been taken into custody, and several vehicles have been set on fire in the past hour. We’re seeing Molotov cocktails being thrown at the parliament building and—”
    “—still looking into it, but Harrison was the only member of the team who spoke to Waverly.”
    Nick jerked his gaze away from the screen as he registered Tate’s last remark. “Sorry, what was that?”
    “I said that the scientists at the lab that created the virus, D&M Initiative, are being questioned, but they all maintain that they don’t know who contracted them to work on Project Aries. Apparently Richard Harrison was the point man for the project—all he told his staff was that they were working on a top-secret government project.”
    “He didn’t give them any names?”
    “Nope, but his phone records indicate that he was in touch with Paul Waverly.”
    Wariness flooded Nick’s chest. “Do we think someone in the Department of Defense authorized the virus project?”
    “Maybe.” Tate paused. “Secretary Barrett has always been gung ho about defense. I can easily see the man green-lighting a biological weapons project like this.”
    Nick bit back an indignant denial, but inside, he was seething. His father would never allow a deadly virus to be tested on innocent people. Kirk Barrett was the most honorable man Nick had ever known. A man who cared not only about the American people, but also about all people, a man who considered it his duty to help those who needed it, no matter what.
    Not only that, but Nick’s father possessed an ironclad sense of right and wrong. It used to drive him nuts when he was growing up—every mistake he’d made required punishment, even if he’d learned his lesson from it. Kirk Barrett didn’t tolerate wrongdoing, whether it was breaking curfew or forgetting to take the trash out or telling a little white lie.
    Nick knew without a shred of doubt that his father was incapable of being involved in something as despicable as Project Aries, but he couldn’t say anything to Tate. Not without confessing that he’d been lying about who he was in the five years they’d served together. Although his commander had known who Nick was, the other men in the unit had been kept in the dark, and he wasn’t ready to confess to the deception. Not now, anyway.
    “You’ve gotta light a fire under Salazar’s ass, man,” Tate went on. “The more time you spend waiting, the less chance we have of finding Waverly.”
    “Trust me, I know.”
    On the TV, Rebecca was urgently informing the audience that a Molotov cocktail had just been hurled at a member of the tactical squad.
    “We’ve got a man on fire!” she said sharply. “Folks, these images are graphic. Please, if you’ve got young children, I urge you to move them away from the screen.”
    The camera shifted to provide a gruesome tableau of a uniformed man engulfed in flames as he rolled on the pavement. Two policemen were desperately attempting to stomp out the flames that were devouring the man, who was screaming in agony.
    Nick blanched. Christ, this was insanity.
    “Anyway,” Tate was saying.
    A deafening boom and a horrified scream blared out of the screen.
    Two seconds