Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Not too bad. The girls looked good. The Louboutin stilettos made her legs look way longer than they were.
The caption read Josh Hunt’s New Girl?
She slid it back Ezra’s way. “It was inevitable. I’m actually surprised it took a whole two weeks. They’re always on him. Josh has drones fly by. Freaking drones. I took one out this morning. Pretty sure it got a couple of shots of me, but not with Josh. They’ll reach the proper conclusions no matter what we do. Is my cover good?”
The tightening of his jaw let her know he was worried.
“Ezra?”
He sighed and sat back. “Your cover is solid, but I’m worried the Agency is preoccupied right now.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means a couple of things have happened recently that’s thrown normally solid teams into chaos.”
“And naturally it’s classified,” she surmised.
“Naturally, but I’m going to tell you anyway because it concerns you on several fronts.”
“Is Josh at risk?” She was surprised at how worried she was about the answer to that question. She was taking him into something perilous and he didn’t even understand the danger he would be going into.
“I don’t know,” Ezra admitted. “Two things have happened, and while I believe they’re coincidental, I can’t be sure. Three weeks ago, the Agency received proof that John Bishop wasn’t killed in the line of duty and is, in fact, alive and well.”
Her stomach took a deep dive and despite the heat of the day, a shiver raced along her skin. The Ice Man was alive? There was only one reason she could think of that a man like Bishop would fake his death. How could that have happened? She’d believed in him. God, of all the people she’d met in her time in the Agency, Bishop had been the stalwart one, the one who would make the hard decisions, but they would always, always be in the best interest of his country. “He turned? Who’s he working for?”
“That’s what we’re trying to assess.”
“Where did they find him?” She never thought she’d go back to the Agency. After Ten had brought her home, she’d quit and vowed to never do the deep dive again, but if Bishop was in trouble or…if Bishop had turned and become the enemy…well, he’d been her mentor. She would have to save him or be the one to put him down. Maybe she was looking at this wrong. Maybe he was in trouble and he’d turned against his will. That could happen.
“Colorado,” Ezra replied. “A tiny town in the mountains called Bliss.”
Of all the places he could have told her Bishop had been hiding, small-town Colorado wasn’t one of them. If he’d turned, he should have been in a big city. “Is there a high-value target in the town? Like a nuclear plant?”
Ezra snorted. “There’s barely a grocery store. Although it does have an oddly high murder rate for such a tiny town. But all of those are easily explained by police reports. I don’t see how Bishop could have used any of those incidents, though I’m fairly certain he was responsible for a few of those bodies. He had a very specific technique he liked to use.”
John Bishop had been the one to teach her how to internally decapitate a person. Quiet. Easy. No blood. No muss. No fuss. “I think I know what you’re talking about. Is he killing people?”
A long sigh issued forth. “From what I can tell any killing he’s done has been in defense of others. At some point in time, the cartel he’d been investigating when he ‘died’ found out he was alive. I don’t know how, but they went after him and the operative who’s now working on them found out and told the Agency.”
“Levi,” she said, the word flat on her tongue. Levi, who probably would never have told her despite the fact that he knew her connections to Bishop. Complex, complicated connections.
“Yes, which is why I’m here early. He should be along in a few minutes and I would appreciate it if you don’t mention to him that I let you and Tennessee know,” he requested.
“Of course not.” She still had some questions. “Do we have any intel on what his cover has been?”
“Bishop has been living in Bliss for five years under the name Henry Flanders. As far as I can tell his only contact from his previous life there was a man named Bill Hartman. Bishop served under him in the military. We’re looking into him and his contacts as well to see if he’s the one who drew Bishop in.” Ezra looked down at his tablet, turning the pages of the report. “Bishop married a woman named Nell Finn. She’s a part of the problem. She’s an activist. Save the everythings. We’re looking into her to see if she’s got ties to left-winged terror groups.”