Hammer of Angels: A Novel of Shadowstorm Read Online Free Page A

sit. You too, Darwin.”
    We flop into Cyrus’s guest chairs. “Sir, I’m following Director Fredericks to practice tailing an experienced target.” I gesture to my partner. “Darwin doesn’t know I’ve been doing it.”
    Cyrus scowls at me. He inhales slowly and deeply. “I should have known you weren’t going to any damned hardware store.” He shuts his eyes and rubs his temples. “Scarlet, Extreme Operations Division prohibits freelancing.”
    â€œYes, sir,” I say.
    â€œ
I
prohibit freelancing.”
    â€œYes, sir,” I repeat.
    â€œDo you know why?”
    Actually, I don’t. I think it’s a push-everyone-around control thing, but I have no idea what the official reason is. “Do you mean yourself or Extreme Operations?”
    â€œEither one is fine.” When I remain silent, he realizes I honestly don’t know, so he tells me. “Freelancing is prohibited by Extreme Operations because the brass hats upstairs think that agent is probably moonlighting for a competitor. Freelancing is prohibited by
me
because sooner or later the brass hats upstairs order me to interrogate—and typically eliminate—that agent.”
    Jesus H. Christ.
Those twelve pounds of anxiety rush back into me.
    â€œImagine my thrill, Scarlet,” my boss rumbles, “when I got a call at four o’clock this morning to inform me one of my Levels had pulled a mission I knew nothing about. After I heard about the gunfight on the Metro, my first thoughts were of you.” He catches my expression. “That was
not
a compliment! Wipe that smile off your face!”
    I force my mouth to stop smiling.
    He continues, “I back-traced your No-Jack data and saw the first thing you did with that agency car was drive it to Fredericks’s office. Then you spent a week using it to track him to his house up in North Bethesda,
where he’s lived for five years
!”
    Like a complete doofus, I ask, “You know his real address?”
    Cyrus uncoils to his full height of 6'2" and booms, “Alixandra, I’m Front Desk of the German Section at Extreme Operations—”
    Uh oh …
    â€œâ€”I’ve known the man for almost twenty years—”
    Â â€¦Â this is gonna to be a loud one.
    â€œâ€”he’s brilliant, he’s dangerous—”
    Here it comes!
    â€œâ€”and he tries to KILL my agents!
Of course
I know where the FUCKER lives!”
    The chatter and clatter outside Cyrus’s office stops. His eyes bore into me like drill bits. “Now, why are you following him? And cut the ‘practice’ bullshit or I’ll stick you behind a desk in Dubuque!”
    â€œSir,” Brando pipes up, “if I may interject.”
    The eyebrows swing toward my partner. “What is it, Darwin?”
    â€œWell, sir, it doesn’t strike me as reasonable to expect a fully trained Level to wait for someone else to go after the man who betrayed her own father.”
    â€œIt doesn’t strike you,” Cyrus says very quietly, “as reasonable?”
    Oh, crap.
    â€œDarwin, when I want to know what strikes you as reasonable—”
    Here we go again!
    â€œâ€”I’LL BLOODY WELL ASK YOU!” Cyrus stands back and pounds his big paw on his desk. “We are
not
cowboys!” He’s so steamed that he paces back and forth a few times. “Alix, I don’t know who would kick my ass harder if …” He stops, frowns at his reflection in the window, and says, “Never mind. You stay away from Fredericks. Justice has warned me he’s untouchable, at least until this thing with Germany gets sorted out.”
    This “thing” with Germany is America’s worst international crisis in thirty years. It turns out the German public has little tolerance for crashed cars, shot-up college campuses, trashed public facilities, and bullet-riddled city streets. My