Red Angel: Book II: Raiders (Red Angel Series 2) Read Free Page B

one seemed to be pressuring me to answer.
    "Ma'am, I'm not used to thinking about my future. I've always considered myself to be living on borrowed time, not knowing how long Red would live or if someone would steal him. I try to get the most out of each day. But after seventeen years, I think he's earned a home on me until one of us dies." I felt a flick of his tongue on my cheek.
    "Dismissed." Rawls turned to Alexa. "That's some daughter you have, Alexa. I can understand why you adopted her. She's worth saving."
* * *
    "How does it feel to be a Lieutenant Commander?" Adrian asked.
    "And probably the youngest in the history of the UAS," Kris added.
    Alexa had taken Adrian, Kris, and me to dinner at Aughoes, one of the oldest and most expensive restaurants on Oxax.
    "Unreal. Like I'm dressed up in my mother's clothes." I found it hard to reconcile my rank with the real me. In many ways, I felt like a child—I still lived at home with my mother and had no intention of leaving anytime soon, and she managed all the financial matters. In addition, I wasn't looking for a husband or considering children and didn't even date.
    "Anna, I hope you don't mind the team getting the credit," Adrian said after our drinks had been served.
    I laughed. "You and Kris did all the work tracking down those involved and discovering where the kraits were kept while I lay around eating ice cream, and I got equal credit, so no. One for all ..." I raised my coffee-milk concoction.
    Alexa smiled as Kris and Adrian raised their glasses.
    "And all for one," we chanted in unison.
* * *
    As I entered the office the next day in time for our standard ten hundred hours meeting, Adrian and Kris rose.
    "Anna, Admiral Rawls has called for a meeting with us in her conference room. It sounds like we may have our next assignment." Adrian smiled.
    "It's about time," Kris quipped while trying to look serious. "How are we supposed to stay on the Fast Track for commander if we're chasing petty criminals?"
    "Careful what you wish for." Adrian's gaze looked far away—maybe back to almost getting killed by revengeful smugglers on our last assignment.
    I put my laser in my desk, locked it, and rushed to catch up.
    When we entered the conference room, Stauffer was already there, sitting with a cup of coffee and a stack of folders. He looked up from the one he was leafing through and then stood as Rawls walked in. "Attention!" he barked.
    "At ease and sit. We, the NIA, have kept this team together for the next big project. Well, it's here. Two weeks ago an armed group broke into the Eastar Art Gallery and stole artifacts and paintings worth more than four hundred million credits. Normally that would be a matter for the Eastar police; however, that was the third major heist in the UAS in the last six months. Since the thefts have occurred on three different planets, the UAS Security Commission has concluded they're raiders and have tasked the navy with the responsibility of providing the planets protection." Rawls snorted. "A nice bit of passing the buck. Of course, Fleet Admiral Web knows it's impossible for the navy to protect fifteen planets, but he's in the hot seat whether it's possible or not. In a stroke of genius, he passed the responsibility for identifying the raiders to Vice Admiral Lultrel, who passed the problem to me, a Rear Admiral. And I'm passing it on to Commodore Stauffer, since he has the best bloodhounds in the UAS—you. I'll want a weekly progress report. Good hunting." She rose and walked out, smiling and leaving us sitting there in stunned silence.
    Finally, Stauffer spoke. "Admiral Rawls wants to expand the team. She's suggested adding the primary NIA agent from each of the planets hit by the raiders. Although one of those agents outranks you, she has agreed to whoever you select among you being in charge of directing activities." He made eye contact with each of us to emphasize the point. "I know you well enough to know this team is … different.