Extreme Faction Read Online Free PDF

of all those people?” Tucker said.
    â€œAfraid so. We’re not sure what this means, but we need you back in the country as soon as possible.”
    â€œOf course.”
    â€œOne more thing,” the chairman said. “I understand that you’re friends with an American there, Jake Adams, a former CIA officer.”
    Tucker lowered his gaze. “Jake is there? Yes, sir. Why do you ask?”
    â€œI’ve gotten word that Adams was with Tvchenko when he died. Stick close to him. Will he work with you?”
    Tucker had known Jake Adams for years. They had first met when Jake was an Air Force officer verifying the withdrawal of chemical weapons from the Ukraine. Later, during the Gulf War, they had worked together once again in Turkey. They had spent more than a few nights drinking from Diyarbakir to Istanbul. He had even gone pub crawling with Jake in London once while they were both on leave. What in the hell was Adams doing in Odessa? Would Jake Adams work with him? That depended entirely on Jake. He had always done what he wanted, regardless of the consequences. He knew that Jake had left the Agency more than three years ago, so what was he up to now?
    â€œJake follows orders when the occasion strikes him right,” Tucker said, smiling. “It’s not that he’s a rogue. It’s that he doesn’t trust just anyone.”
    â€œAnd what about you?”
    â€œWe have some history. If I ask him nicely, I’m sure he’ll show us some consideration.”
    â€œGood. You’re packed, I assume. Your flight leaves Heathrow in two hours.”
    He had never unpacked. “Yes, sir.”
    â€œStick with Adams. You’ll lead our efforts. We’re spread pretty thin in that area, as you well know, but I’m sure you’re up to the job.”
    He would have to be.

4
    ODESSA, UKRAINE
    When the ambulance finally picked up Yuri Tvchenko’s body, Jake still wasn’t completely certain what had happened. The Odessa police had assumed the most obvious affliction. A stroke or a massive heart attack. But Jake knew better. Tvchenko had been murdered right in front of a hundred witnesses. He even suspected the cause of death, for Jake had seen nerve agents tested on animals before, and while with the CIA, watched confiscated Soviet films where they had conducted research on prisoners. Even worse had been when Jake had entered the small Iraqi village after it had been bombed with chemical weapons by its own air force. He could never erase that from his conscience. Somehow, someone had injected an agent into Tvchenko’s system right before his eyes.
    Jake rubbed his right hand. Where there had been a spot of blood earlier, just after Tvchenko collapsed, there was now a red puffy area a few millimeters wide, like he had been prickled by a rose thorn and it was now infected.
    Jake scanned the room for Chavva. She was the last to have direct contact with the scientist before he crashed to the floor, but she was nowhere to be seen. He couldn’t imagine her killing the scientist, yet she might have seen him talking with someone else. Although he was officially in Odessa to protect MacCarty and Swanson, he could never stand by when something like this dropped in his lap.
    Standing at Jake’s side were MacCarty and Swanson. They seemed to be in shock. Neither had ever seen a man die in front of them, and the violence of a nerve agent death had been a most brutal initiation for them.
    â€œThat was disgusting,” Swanson said. He looked at his drink, uncertain if he should finish it.
    â€œDeath is rarely pretty,” Jake said. “Listen, I’m going to head back to my room.”
    MacCarty nodded and started to drink his champagne. He was closer to drunk than sober.
    â€œI wouldn’t drink that if I were you,” Jake said. “We don’t know for sure how Tvchenko died. Whatever entered his body could have come from an airborne agent.