Read EDGE OF SHADOWS: The Shadow Ops Finale (Shadow Ops, Book # 3) for Free Online Page B

in the right direction. He took her elbow, steered her in the direction of his townhouse, and they walked in silence.
    “Billy Price, you are one of the last of the true gentlemen,” Rose finally said, holding his handkerchief to her forehead as he led her inside and down the hall to his kitchen. “Who even carries a real handkerchief anymore?”
    He didn’t answer. Instead, he swapped the bloody piece of silk for a bag of frozen spinach. “Remember the last time you were here?”
    She grimaced. “Yeah. Offered you the job of your dreams. Look where that’s gotten you. Good thing you have your dad’s company to fall back on. Will you write me when they lock me away at Gitmo?”
    “Not funny. And not going to happen.” Not if he had anything to do with it.
    “They sent clowns, Billy. Freaking clowns.”
    “Actually, anime,” he corrected while getting his med kit from the pantry.
    She glared at him. “You think those kids caught in the crossfire or their parents would give a damn about the semantics?”
    Billy was thinking more along the lines of an investigative angle—how many shops rented those types of masks? But he knew better than to say anything. Knowing KC, she’d have a complete list ready before they were done here.
    “Clowns,” Rose repeated. “Like this whole thing is a joke. They would have killed those little kids without thinking twice. Humiliating us is more important to them than children’s lives.” She paused. Waited for him to catch up.
    Unfortunately, he was already there. Maybe even, for once in his life, he’d sped past her. She was talking about jettisoning the rulebook, going rogue. “You can’t let your emotions determine your actions, Rose.”
    “And we can’t play by the rules, either, Billy. Not anymore. Not after this morning. They’re taking the game to a whole new level, and we need to as well.”
    He said nothing. She was right—and yet also so very wrong. If they were forced to play by the Preacher’s rules, then they’d already lost.
    But he knew better than to tell her that. Actions spoke louder than words to Rose. Better to show her, let her intuition absorb the facts and make one of those leaps of faith that had saved them all six days ago when she’d gone after the Preacher. The same intuition that realized there was a traitor in their midst long before he’d been able to see it with his facts and data.
    Maybe now was the time to sit down and do some analysis. “I think we’ve been going at this backward.” He took his magnetized whiteboard with his shopping list from the fridge and sat down beside her, wiping it clean. “When was the first time we had evidence there was a traitor?”
    She didn’t even have to think. “The FBI was hit first, early last year. Then, before Christmas, we lost Victor Krakov.” Her voice dropped. Krakov was a Navy SEAL who’d gone undercover with one of the Preacher’s groups. Rose had brought his body home, honoring his final wishes.
    He made marks on his timeline. “And then ATF with Lucky. All attributed to someone accessing the DOJ undercover-operative database.”
    “Right. Lucky confirmed that last week when the Preacher accessed it again, despite the beefed-up security, and killed his friend.”
    “All of that points to a leak at a central intel database—someone at the DOJ or maybe even NSA.”
    “Maybe even multiple leaks—” Her words cut off. She jerked her chin up, eyes wide. The bag of spinach dropped to the tabletop. “No…no…” She spun out of her chair as if breaking free from a cage. “KC suspected back at Christmas. But we were too busy chasing the Preacher. Damn it, I should have seen it.”
    He stood, catching up to her as she paced, firmly put the spinach back into her hand and pressed it to her wound. “Seen what?”
    “The traitor. Or, more likely, traitors. Doesn’t matter. There’s been one in our house all along.”
    “No. Rose, how could there? Everyone’s been vetted—”