Read Online Conard County Spy by Rachel Lee - Free Book Online Page A

and I’m not allowed to know a thing about it.”
    â€œPretty ugly,” he agreed, frowning a bit. “Are you aware of compartmentalization?”
    â€œNot exactly.”
    â€œIt means nobody, absolutely nobody, is given any more information than what he or she needs to complete a job. We do that because the flow of information can be dangerous, so we limit it. For example, in all the years I’ve known Ryker, I couldn’t tell you most of what he’s done. A few ops we worked on together, yes, but nothing else. It can be frustrating at times, but you get used to it because you understand the reason for it. It protects people and saves lives.”
    She thought about it. “That requires an awful lot of trust, that you’re being told all that you need.” It was a way of life that would surely drive her crazy in short order.
    â€œYes, it does.”
    Her gaze met his as she put the pieces together. “Somebody’s betrayed your trust.”
    â€œMaybe. No way to know for sure, so we’re covering all bases.”
    She wouldn’t be able to stand living like that, but here she was, right in the middle of it. Which left only one question she could ask, and she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.
    â€œHow many people want to kill you, Trace?”
    He rose from his chair and began pacing again. “Let me make something clear, Julie. I never hung anyone out to dry. I took care of my assets and my operatives. They were helping me, and they deserved everything I could do to keep them safe. So a few days ago, I’d have said nobody wants to kill me. Clearly I was wrong. Somehow, somewhere, I put someone in a position that is driving them to seek vengeance. That’s what I need to figure out.”
    She thought that’d be enough to keep anyone burning the midnight oil. She could barely imagine how many people he needed to remember, how many situations he needed to reevaluate. After a few moments, she carried her coffee to her desk.
    â€œWhile you cogitate, I need to plan a week’s lessons.”
    He simply nodded, wandering into his own thoughts again. She forced herself to pull out her plan book and tried to find the mental space that gave birth to her ideas for the coming week. It wasn’t going to be easy with a caged lion pacing behind her.
    The benchmarks were already laid out in her plan book, for each day and each week. All she needed to do was come up with some ideas for reaching them that would keep her students excited and not bored. She glanced over to the side and saw the stack of workbooks she’d purchased and decided that maybe it was time to introduce them. The kids liked workbooks because they provided measurable progress as they moved through them, and then when they had finished, they could take them home to show off their accomplishments. They would certainly help with her planning for the week.
    Drumming her pencil on the desk idly, she stared out the window, noting that even the next building had vanished in the blowing snow. Full whiteout: a good day to be inside, even if Trace was pacing around behind her.
    Or maybe because Trace was pacing around behind her. She rather liked him, little though she knew about him. He’d only told her a bit, but it had been enough to gain her respect.
    She hated, though, to think of the world he had lived in for so long. Just this instance made her wonder about all the rest of it. She was sure whatever he did was nothing like the movies, and she cherished no illusions of Tom Cruise doing fanciful things as part of Mission: Impossible . The work was probably extremely stressful and often unpleasant.
    But she wondered how he had come to this point, depending on a friend and people he didn’t know. And why. He’d never tell her the why, she was certain, but the very fact that he lived in a world where someone wanted him dead was chilling enough.
    He was an attractive man, though. Not a