Dark Deceptions Read Online Free PDF

Created fifteen years ago by the CIA in response to the increased threat of terrorism, the nationally renowned
     think tank was home to a dozen or so of the best minds in the country, Ph.D.s who also handled some of the nation’s most dangerous
     counterintelligence operations.
    There were eight permanent members of the American Tactical Intelligence Command (A-Tac), all tenured professors with expertise
     in both academia and espionage. And from time to time, as missions demanded, they were joined by other experts in their field,
     the think tank acting as cover for their association and affiliated operations.
    Since A-Tac professors were often called away to “advise” on top national issues, their teaching assistants were given the
     chance for more hands-on classroom experience than their colleagues at other universities. All of which meant that competition
     for graduate positions was extreme. And the winners, like their mentors, were usually the best of the best.
    “I had no choice.” Emmett shrugged. “The kid’s a senator’s son. Strings pulled and all that. Probably has visions of running
     the Fed one day.”
    “Well, he’s lucky to have you,” Hannah said. “I mean it’s not every day you get to work with a Draper fellow.” The coveted
     prize was given annually to the country’s most noted economist. Emmett had actually won twice.
    “I’m not sure he sees it that way.” Emmett grinned. “But thanks.”
    “So anyone know what’s going on?” Tyler asked as she joined them.
    “Not a thing.” Emmett shook his head. “But Nash thinks it’s Avery.”
    “Well, that’s a given. No one else summons us in the middle of class.”
    “It wasn’t the middle,” Jason said. “And we go when called. It’s part of the job.”
    “Actually, just at the moment,” Tyler sighed, “I think I might prefer Avery to Chaucer. Or at least the endless complaints
     about Middle English.”
    Nash smiled, knowing that her protestations were cursory. The truth was that Tyler was as passionate about her teaching as
     she was about ordnance.
    They’d crossed the campus in short order, making their way up the steps of the Aaron Thomas Academic Center. Crossing into
     a narrow side hallway, the group stopped in front of an elevator marked “professors only,” and Nash inserted a key. The doors
     slid silently open as the assembled company stepped inside.
    “This always makes me feel like Maxwell Smart,” Emmett said, inserting another key and pressing a button hidden behind an
     Otis elevator sign.
    “I know what you mean,” Hannah said as the elevator started to move downward. “Although, for me, it’s more Bruce Wayne. I
     always half expect Alfred to be waiting at the bottom with my utility belt.”
    “It is sort of like the bat cave,” Tyler agreed, “but considering the money the suits in Washington have spent on it, I kind
     of think they’d resent the analogy.”
    “Depends if you’re talking the campy television show or the movie,” Emmett said as the elevator stopped and the doors slid
     open.
    “They all sucked,” Jason protested. “The original comic is the only way to go.”
    “Batman, I’m assuming?” Lara Prescott said as they stepped into the austerely appointed reception area. The room served more
     as a buffer than as a real welcoming area. From time to time, students had tried to gain entrance to the coveted elevator.
    Thanks to CIA fail-safes, the very few successful attempts had all ended in an upper-floor lounge and general disappointment.
     But just in case there was ever a breach to this level, the reception area was designed as a decoy and, without proper identification,
     the precursor to a not-so-pleasant meeting with Avery—who also happened to be the dean of the college—and a one-way ticket
     out of Sunderland altogether.
    “Are we that obvious?” Tyler asked, pressing her hand against what looked like a professorial bust, but was really a biotechnical