The Firestorm Conspiracy Read Online Free

shorter woman behind. He called over his shoulder, “Thanks for the company, Tina. I’ll see you around sometime.”
    He felt a little guilty for lying as he rushed up the steps, but he wasn’t interested in forming friendships and didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
    Flushed from his quick escape, John pulled off his jacket as he entered his office. He turned to toss it on the back of his chair and was startled by the presence of a very large man sitting at his desk.

Chapter 4
    Kree closed and locked the door to his nest for the sixth time. He walked to the nearby shuttle station, stopped, and turned to go back yet again. What if someone discovered his message? They might be planning to arrest him for treason. What if Squaa or the other male was waiting for him? He scurried back toward the safety of his home, glancing over his shoulders.
    Once he stood before his locked door, he realized his absence would be noted and investigated. Kree clacked his jaws in an agony of indecision.
    * * * *
    Kree arrived at the Agency, exhausted but on time. He walked down the central aisle, casting furtive glances with each step. Everyone looked suspicious. Was Preen watching his every move?
    The journey to his desk seemed endless. He reached his station and sank into his chair, shaking and panting. Kree closed his eyes, slowed his breathing, and tried to bring his heart rate under control. Kree accessed his terminal, gave a startled peep, and nearly fell sideways.
    A priority message from the human Department of Alien Affairs blinked malevolently on his display. He ran the basic decoding sequence and read the contents, expecting a standard response similar to the one his office sent to those who submitted wild claims with no proof. What he found caused his head to swim and his mouth to dry up.
    Sculdan’s testicles . They wanted him to meet with them. Some idiot had assumed his message contained information on how to contact him, and now their government was sending an agent into avian territory. They were shell-cracked if they thought he was going to travel off-world to talk with a human spy.
    Kree realized he was still wearing his cloak, stood to hang it on his hook, and jumped as two unfamiliar males walked onto the floor. Something about the way they scrutinized the employees made his heart race.
    Relax , he told himself. They had to have clearance to be here. He was letting his imagination get the better of him. He tried to focus on his work as the males methodically made their way closer to him.
    “Can I help you?” Preen’s irritated voice carried across the cubicles.
    “No,” the male replied. “My associate thinks he may have misplaced an important item and we are checking the floor in case it got dropped.”
    Squaa. He’d recognize that grating tone anywhere. It had haunted him through his nightmares until his alarm freed him at sun-up.
    They were here and looking for something. A sickening flash of understanding brought his hands to the side of his head. Shoes. They were checking everyone’s footwear.
    Kree stared at his shoes--the same footwear Squaa and the other male had found last night--and groaned when he spied the distinctive scuff across the top of the left one from when he’d tripped over a storm drain two days earlier. His unthinking, fuzz-headed action was going to get him killed.
    He trembled. Scrambled didn’t even begin to describe this mess.
    He grabbed a portable computer from his desk drawer and moved toward his supervisor’s office. He tried to walk naturally, each moment expecting to hear Squaa or the other male call out, or worse yet, to feel a shot through his spine. When he reached the door he had to press the buzzer three times before he could get his quaking hands to trigger the mechanism.
    “Come,” called the female on the other side.
    Kree opened the door, stepped in, and closed it again. If Wheeta found Kree’s unannounced and unscheduled appearance odd, she didn’t show it.