Game of Dust and Ashes (Book Two in the Covert Operations series)

One

Geneva, Switzerland, November 22, 2021.

"Yancey, Dyson, what the hell was that? You almost blew the whole Op. The two of you better hope that our guys get out of there or it'll be your asses on the line."

"Of course, ma'am."

"Myers!"

"Yes, Ms. Caslove?"

"What's our status on the Puerto la Cruz job? Have they made contact with Bautista yet?"

"Not yet ma'am. There was an issue with local authorities."

"Make sure it's resolved. I want an update in one hour."

"Yes, ma'am."

I held my breath, waiting and hoping that she wouldn't move on to terrorize me. My fingers flew across my keyboard, typing madly, as the clicking of heels sounded across the walkway above me.

"Collins, I need those reports on my desk before you leave tonight."

Damn. I glanced up from my desk, a small little thing in the center of a row compiled of other cubicles, to see my boss, Helena Caslove, looking down at me. Her dark eyes stared at me unnervingly and she flipped her black hair over her shoulder with nonchalance. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good. You'll be heading out tomorrow. I've got an assignment lined up for you. Securing an asset in Italy. Italian military may be on the scene but we're still working out the details. In any event, I expect your best behavior. No funny business or you'll never see the other side of this desk again, do you understand me?"

"Of course. No humor from me, ma'am."

She leveled me with a stare and then strolled away, heading back towards her office on the far side of the room, while pausing to yell at a few other employees as she went. Her office was a large ensemble, encased fully with glass windows so that she could keep tabs on each and every one of us meager workers. It wasn't that Helena was a bad boss. She was just...stern.

She also happened to be the only person in this office to know who I really was which meant that, whether I wanted to be or not, I was forced to be on my best behaviour at all times or risk losing the life I'd worked so hard to build. That, of course, was something I wasn't exactly looking for at the moment, and so I kept my mouth shut and my fists firmly at my side.

"She likes you."

I rolled my eyes and looked to my left to where my coworker Stefan Weber was sitting. He was a talented agent hailing from Canada, though his parents were originally from Germany, who came to work for the Global Centre for Covert Operatives after a brief stint with CSIS, Canada's security intelligence agency. He was a handsome guy with clear blue eyes and a purposely shaved head. His jaw was strong and defined and he was tall with thick muscles.

"Yeah, sure," I said as I continued typing away. "She likes me in the way that a bear likes a bee. I do the work, I make the honey, and then I'm no more than a pest getting in the way of her very busy schedule. I mean, I've been here for a year. You'd think she'd at least like me a little bit."

"Yeah, well, I've been working here for two years and she still pronounces my name wrong. At least your name doesn't get screwed up every time she addresses you." Dai Ishimura pushed away from his desk to my right, a wide grin on his face. He was the complete opposite of Stefan with Japanese heritage resulting in pitch black hair that curled at the nape of his neck and strong brown eyes. He, like Stefan, was a remarkable agent and could speak well over a dozen languages with ease.