Arctic Gold Read Online Free PDF

I’d have to say you’re holding together pretty damned well.
Ah, you young
Marines don’t have a clue.
Cry me a river, Grandpap.
Both Dean and Strieber were former Marineswithin the fraternity of the Corps, there was no such thing as an ex-Marineand that fact alone created a shared camaraderie,
even though his experience in the service had left Dean somewhat bitter.
Dean had been one of Desk Three field operatives for over a year now. Strieber was employed by the National Security Agency as what was euphemistically known as a military expert consultantwhich in his case translated to range boss at the NSA Fort Meade training center.
This particular range boss, Dean thought, got a particularly savage enjoyment out of ragging Dean about his age. Some of the comments hit a little too close to the mark sometimes. Dean was in his early fifties, now, and getting through the Fort Meade OCthe obstacle coursehad been a major challenge, despite his daily routine of exercise and running.
Charlie? a new voice sounded in Dean skull. This is Rockman.
What up? Dean asked. Strieber raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He was used to Desk Three operators suddenly breaking into one- sided conversations, apparently with themselves. I’m not even supposed to be on duty.
The DD told me to let you know, Rockman said from the Art Room. We’ve got a situation here.
What kind of
Dean stopped, forcing down the sudden upwelling of cold fear. While Desk Three would be engaged in any number of ongoing operations on any given day, there were two well into their active phases that were of particular interest to Dean because both involved very dear friends. Right now, Tommy Karr would be somewhere out over the North Atlantic, helping escort some high- level government scientist or other to a conference in London. And Lia
Lia, he said. Is she okay?
You’d better get down here, Charlie. She out of contact. She may be in trouble.
Dean bit off an unpleasant word, then forced himself
to relax. Lia was a superb agent, well capable of handling herself in almost any situation imaginable.
But he didn’t like it. He’d argued point- blank with Rubens when he’d found out Lia was going to Russia. The new guy being paired with her was too
new, too inexperienced. Dean wanted to go instead.
But Rubens had pointed out that Dean yearly quals were due and that there wasn’t time to wait while he worked his way through the battery of tests, physical drill, and proficiency exams. Damn
the bureaucrats, anyway.
Excuse me, Gunny. The master voice.
I hear you, Marine, Streiber said, gathering up Dean equipment. Go. I’ll check your gear out.
Thanks.
Semper fi,
Charlie, the former Marine said, his voice grave. He must, Dean thought, have read something in Dean voice, or in his eyes.
Yeah. Semper fi
.
He hurried toward the door.
DeFrancesa
Operation Magpie
Waterfront, St. Petersburg
0034 hours
Lia hunkered down in the darkness between two walls of crates, watching and listening. From here, she could just glimpse several armed men moving past the opening to her hidey- hole, could hear more shouting in Russian.
She didn’t speak the language, beyond a few rough- and- ready tourist survival phrases like Good morning and Where is the women restroom? and she didn’t have her communications link with the Art Room for a running translation. Still, it sounded like they were demanding
something of Alekseev, and it sounded like Alekseev was talking, talking all too willingly.
The fact that one of the newcomers had already identified her as an American
told her that the mission had been compromised, quite likely by Alekseev. Two people breaking into a warehouse on a St. Petersburg waterfront? With crime and looting as bad as they were in the city, how would the newcomers know foreigners were involved, much less Americans?
No, someone had talked. And she was pretty damned sure she knew who.
Keeping low, she found a side passageway through the labyrinth of crates, one taking her