Free Redemption by Will Jordan Page A

pestering him for assault rifles, blowtorches and hand grenades.
    He looked up when a knock came at the door.
    Frost let herself in. ‘You asked to see me, Ryan?’
    He nodded and gestured to an empty chair. ‘I need a favour. Close the door, would you?’
    The young woman did as he asked, then sat down. ‘I’m listening.’
    He leaned back in his chair, watching her thoughtfully for a few moments. ‘What’s your opinion of this operation?’
    ‘It’s a clusterfuck just waiting to happen,’ she replied without hesitation.
    Despite himself, he couldn’t help but smile. Frost had never been one for sugar-coating things. ‘Thanks for the insight.’
    She shrugged. ‘Just calling it as I see it. But I assume you didn’t ask me in here for my opinions?’
    Drake nodded and slid the file photo of Maras across the table. ‘We’re risking our lives to recover this woman, and we don’t even know her name. We don’t know a single thing about her, in fact. That’s not acceptable.’
    A slow smile spread across her face. ‘Want me to do some snooping?’
    Again he nodded. ‘Can you do a facial recognition search?’
    ‘No problem.’
    He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the edge of the desk. ‘Yeah, but can you do it quietly? If Cain gets wind of this, good things are not going to happen.’
    In addition to her skills with electronic surveillance, Frost was a pretty decent hacker. Her problem was that she was a little too confident for his liking. He wanted to know more about Maras, but he didn’t want Frost to end up in prison for her efforts.
    ‘You don’t trust him, do you?’ she asked. ‘Cain, I mean.’
    ‘He’s not giving us the full story, or any story at all for that matter,’ he evaded. ‘That makes me nervous.’
    ‘You’re not the only one.’ The young woman grinned. ‘But relax, he won’t find out what I’m up to. I’m good at what I do.’
    ‘And modest, too,’ he observed.
    ‘Modesty’s for you Brits, along with warm beer and stiff upper lips,’ she taunted. ‘Look, I know a guy in the Office of Information Technology. He’s pretty good. We’ll make a few enquiries, see what we can come up with, and we’ll cover our tracks real well.’ She smiled sweetly. ‘Promise.’
    Drake grinned, returning to his computer. ‘All right. Go to work.’
    ‘I’m on it.’ She rose from her seat, but seemed to think better of it. ‘Oh, and Ryan?’
    ‘Yeah?’
    ‘Try to get some sleep, would you? You look like shit these days.’
    ‘Sounds like good advice to me,’ another voice remarked.
    Drake and Frost both looked up to see Dietrich hanging by the door.
    ‘Some people actually knock before coming in,’ Drake pointed out with an angry look, wondering how much he’d overheard.
    Dietrich shrugged nonchalantly. ‘Duly noted.’
    ‘What do you want?’
    ‘A word. In private,’ he added with a dismissive look at Frost.
    The young woman crossed her arms and returned his gaze with one of simmering hostility, making no move to leave.
    ‘All right, Keira,’ Drake prompted her. ‘I’ll pick up with you later. And remember what we talked about.’
    ‘Yeah, I remember,’ she replied, not taking her eyes off Dietrich.
    ‘Better get to it,’ he suggested. ‘And let me know as soon as you have something.’
    She seemed reluctant to leave, but at last nodded agreement. Giving Dietrich one last hostile look, she turned and strode out of the office, closing the door much harder than was necessary.
    Dietrich smiled in amusement. ‘Quite a little firecracker, isn’t she?’
    ‘She doesn’t react well to certain kinds of people.’
    This prompted a cocked eyebrow. ‘Really? What kind?’
    ‘Your kind,’ Drake said. ‘Look, I’ve got a lot to do. What do you want to talk about?’
    The older man helped himself to the spare seat. ‘You, actually.’
    ‘What about me?’
    ‘I want to know why you’re here, Ryan. This operation has got fuck-up written all over it. Most