Technical Risk (Aegis Group Task Force Book 3) Read online

  Technical Risk

  Aegis Group Task Force #3

  Sidney Bristol

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  Inked Press

  Technical Risk

  Aegis Group Task Force #3

  Diha Balakrishnan knows she should be focused on the task force's latest objective, hunting down a notorious hacker. Ever since joining the team her career has been as exciting as she dreamed, but it's also lonely. Which is why she has a secret goal, one only her closest friend knows about. She wants to catch the eye of the sexy British spy.

  Miles Green's career is on the ropes and he's not thrilled about being tapped to work with an American team. The chance to catch the hacker responsible for derailing two commuter trains is too good to pass up. But then he sees her. The woman with the sultry eyes, and Miles begins to wonder if she's what his life has been missing. He's always been a work first man, but she makes him want more.

  After half the team is falsely arrested, it's up to Diha and Miles to work together and bring the hacker down. It's a job that requires them to work closely together, which makes ignoring the sparks that much more difficult. But while the flames burn hot between them another threat looms.

  Explore the whole Aegis world in these series...

  It all began with the Aegis Group.

  Dangerous Attraction

  Dangerous in Training

  Dangerous Games

  Dangerous Assignment

  Dangerous Protector

  Dangerous Secrets

  Dangerous Betrayal

  Dangerous Heat

  Dangerous Connections

  Dangerous Exposure (2020)

  More Coming Soon!

  Within Aegis Group, special teams take on special jobs, beginning with the Alpha Team.

  Dangerous in Love

  Dangerous in Action

  Dangerous in Transit

  Dangerous in Motion

  Dangerous in Charge

  Other specialized teams exist under the Aegis Group umbrella, including Lepta Team.

  Dangerously Taken

  Dangerously Involved

  Dangerously Deceived

  Dangerously Broken

  Dangerously Entwined

  Troy Team has signed on to work an ultra-secret case in the Aegis Group Task Force series.

  (prequel) First Risk: a newsletter exclusive serial

  Stolen Risk

  Forged Risk

  Technical Risk

  Necessary Risk (2020)

  Intercepted Risk (2020)

  Targeted Risk (TBA)

  Hard Risk (TBA)

  Burned Risk (TBA)

  Final Risk (TBA)

  Stay tuned for the appearance of the Omega Team and Dangerous Ladies!

  In Dangerous Games it continued with the Gone Geek girls.

  Beauty and the Geek

  Mr. Purr-fect and the Geek

  The Jock and the Geek

  The Gamer and the Geek

  The Adorkable Girl and the Geek

  The Fake Boyfriend and the Geek

  When the Seattle office of Aegis Group opened the Twisted Royals took the stage.

  The Origin Story

  Alpha Prince

  Her Prince

  Bad Boy Prince

  Noble Prince

  For short reads, tune in this December for the Body of Danger novella series kick-off.

  Heart of Danger

  Spirit of Danger

  Soul for Danger (2020)

  The other Smith brother takes us to the Texas SWAT series, a small town suspense series.

  Fighting Redemption

  Stolen Redemption

  Forbidden Redemption

  Reckless Redemption (coming soon)

  Thanks to the SWAT team, Ransom, Texas enjoys a slower pace of life beginning in The Love Barn.

  Give Me Back My Man

  Summer of Love

  Party out of Bounds

  Table of Contents

  Prologue.

  1.

  2.

  3.

  4.

  5.

  6.

  7.

  8.

  9.

  10.

  11.

  12.

  13.

  14.

  15.

  16.

  17.

  18.

  19.

  20.

  21.

  Epilogue.

  For all the Diha’s in the world. Be you. Be loved.

  There are many things that I would say to you. But I don't know how.

  ―UNKNOWN

  Prologue.

  Wednesday. George Bush Center for Intelligence, Langley, Virginia.

  Diha Balakrishnan slid lower in her ergonomic desk chair and hoped the group returning from lunch couldn’t see her.

  The cluster of next generation good old boys laughed as they strolled in from wherever they’d gone to eat. They never invited her. During her first year here, that had crushed her. She’d thought she was entering a fellowship of people who shared her burning desire. Instead, it felt like she was back in high school. The nerdy girl pushed into a corner and forgotten about.

  She had her dream job. She worked for the CIA, where she was doing important things. Like resetting passwords for people who got locked out of their fancy phones.

  Inwardly, she groaned.

  College had given her an inflated vision of what she’d be doing. Everyone had said that she was smart for angling at the new Cyber Security degrees. With her GPA and experience from her internships, she’d have her pick of jobs.

  She had no one to blame but herself for landing where she was now. She’d pushed aside other, much more lucrative offers to come work at the CIA. It had been the one job offer she’d had to hunt down herself.

  Her parents were so proud of her. Every night when she came home for dinner, they gushed. It had been this way for the last two years. And every day it killed a little more of her.

  Diha tapped out an email, notifying the latest phone lock-out that they were good to try again.

  Part of her felt guilty for having such a poor attitude. She made good money. This was a respectable job. So what if people didn’t like her and she never got picked for the good jobs? What she did kept the machine that was the CIA running. Even if it didn’t feel like it.

  She blew out a breath and hit send on the email, then checked her clock.

  It was almost time for another briefing. She wasn’t entirely sure what this one was about. It had just popped up on her calendar and she’d accepted. At least it would get her away from her desk for a bit. Granted, everyone else would likely be headed to the meeting, too. Chances were it wasn’t anything she needed to be present for, but she liked listening in and knowing what was going on when she was invited. Sometimes it helped clear the gloom and remind her that even her small jobs mattered.

  But what about when that wasn’t enough?

  She’d done two years at the CIA. That was respectable. It was perfectly acceptable for her to move on to a new job, no matter what her parents said. Not that she’d brought it up to them, but whenever her older sister mentioned her husband was changing jobs, climbing up the executive ladder, her father inevitably had something negative to say.

  Her parents were so old fashioned, despite how much they liked to claim that they didn’t stick to old ways. They believed in being loyal to your employer. Her father had worked at the same law firm since his late twenties. They might not believe in arranged marriages like some of their extended family still did, but her mother had begun talking just last week about the day when Di
ha would leave her job to tend to her family. Diha hadn’t said anything, but she saw a different path for herself. Not that she could bring herself to say that now. Not yet. Not when she wasn’t happy where she was.

  What was she going to do?

  If she stayed at the CIA, it was going to kill her soul.

  If she left, she’d be breaking her parent’s hearts.

  This was Diha’s problem. She just didn’t know how to stand up for herself. She’d falsely thought that she’d get ahead on merit alone, all the while ignoring the fact played out around her so many times that the most qualified didn’t always get the prize.

  She pulled open the door to the conference room and stepped inside.

  A lone woman sat at the table. Her dark skin seemed to glow, offset against the cream of her well-tailored sheath dress. She was beautiful. And likely from one of the upper floors, judging by the way she commanded the room. There was an air about her.

  God, Diha wanted to be like this woman.

  Wait.

  She’d met her.

  Tall black woman, killer red shoes.

  Xara? No, Zora.

  As if thinking her name, Zora glanced up at Diha.

  “Sorry, am I early?” Diha reached back to push the door open again. She’d thought she was only going to be five minutes early. There should be lots of people in here.

  “Not at all. I like early.” Zora stood and the slightest smile touched her glossy, burgundy lips. “Zora Clark, NSA. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Ms. Balakrishnan.”

  She stopped a few feet away, hand out.

  Diha opened and closed her mouth. She wasn’t sure which was more shocking. That Zora said her last name without stumbling over it or that Diha had unwittingly agreed to a meeting that actually pertained to herself.

  She took Zora’s hand in hers for a shake. “Sure. No problem. Um, what is this about?”

  Diha had come with nothing but her phone. She didn’t have anything to take notes on or run any sort of program if that was what she’d been here for.

  “Sorry for the secrecy.” Zora’s lips parted in a real smile now. “I’ll explain. Sit, please?”

  “O-okay.”

  Diha raced to recall everything she knew about Zora, which wasn’t much. Diha had been part of a support team pulled in to run facial recognition on some big case. It had been so hush-hush that Diha had never known their real purpose. All in all, it had been boring work, but the buzz in the room had made even the menial work feel important. Maybe that was why she’d taken a second stab at those questionable pictures, hunting different angles that had landed on someone the team was searching for.

  She’d only been doing her job.

  “I’m sorry, I feel like I’m not properly prepared.” Diha sank into the chair across from Zora.

  Zora scooted her chair up to the table and looked across the wooden surface that had heard more secrets than she had years. “That’s fine. All you have to do is sit there. I’m the one who has to work to convince you.”

  “Okay.” Diha folded her hands in her lap.

  Convince her?

  Of what?

  Zora leaned an elbow on the table, her entire focus on Diha. “I want you to be part of a task force I’m putting together.”

  “Oh.” Diha blinked. “Okay.”

  This was all highly unusual. Normally if she was being allocated for a special task, she got an email telling her where to report and who to speak to. She wasn’t asked.

  “Before you agree, you might want to know a little more about it. I’m afraid this might not be a feather in your cap. You see, I get the feeling I’m being given this task to get me out of the way, because they expect I’ll fail. I can’t tell you the nature of what it is we’ll be doing, not unless you agree to sign on. What I can tell you is that...this is important. And it’s big. I’m looking for people who take the initiative and think outside the box. Which is why I want you to lead the technical side of things.”

  “Lead?” Diha squeaked.

  “Lead might be a strong word. You would have two techs reporting directly to you to help us with, well, everything.”

  “Everything meaning?”

  “Everything, Ms. Balakrishnan. Like I said, I’m afraid I’ve been given a task far too large for the resources I’ve been given. That’s why I need people like you.”

  “Like me? You don’t even know me...”

  “During our joint op you positively identified four targets after everyone else had come up with nothing. You weren’t satisfied just letting the computer do the job. You had to do it better. That’s the kind of person I need on my team. Someone who takes the initiative. Now, I know you’re young, but I also know you interned with Krieger, Inc. and had a glowing recommendation from several people there. People whose opinions carry weight.”

  Diha swallowed. She hadn’t realized her work had been compared to others on that job. She’d just been trying to do it well. And the Krieger recommendations, well, she might have worn copies of those letters. Sometimes she read them to remind herself that she was good at what she did.

  “Diha, do you mind if I call you that?”

  “No, please do,” she mumbled.

  “Diha, can I be...personal with you?” Zora tilted her head to the side. When Diha failed to respond, Zora continued. “I dare say I identify with you. We are both women in fields dominated by men who chose to not see us, be it because of our gender or the color of our skin. You are on my short list because I saw a young woman with a lot of talent and not a lot of room to grow.”

  Diha’s insides wobbled. Was this Zora a mind reader? Did she know what Diha had just been thinking?

  “I will warn you now that I am a hard task master. The deck is stacked against us. We are expected to fail. But I refuse to. Which is why I need you.” Zora slid a stack of papers toward Diha.

  She swallowed and leaned forward, glancing down at the words to escape Zora’s piercing gaze. There was something about her that swept Diha up in the emotion brimming just under the surface.

  What the hell was all this?

  She flipped through a few pages. NDAs. Confidentiality agreements.

  “What is the task force for? Who or what are we hunting?” Diha asked.

  “All I can say is that it’s a matter of national security.”

  Diha glanced up at Zora. NSA types were always spouting off about national security, or at least the good old boys liked to gripe about them that way. Diha had very little experience with the NSA outside of her previous stint.

  “If you were to categorize the threat on a one to five scale, what would you put this threat at?” Diha asked.

  “I guess that depends on how you weight the system,” Zora said slowly. “I do not expect we are looking at a 9/11 disaster. But I believe the subversive danger is just as great, because of how far it reaches.”

  Diha studied Zora. The awe was gone. Diha had to shove that out the door and think objectively about this. Zora had said upfront that this job might not look good for them, but it was important. It needed to be done.

  And Zora believed in her.

  Diha picked up the pen and began scrawling her name on the first page.

  She’d waited years to throw herself into something she believed in. Maybe she had to start with someone that believed in her first.

  1.

  Eighteen Months Later. Monday. Thames House Security Service Headquarters. London, United Kingdom.

  starts like this and changes. Miles Green stared straight ahead at his reflection, arms pumping at his side while guitars shredded his ear drums. It would take about fifty miles or so to run his anger out. He was committed to the task. It wasn’t like there was anything else he could do. Until the internal review was done, he was effectively sidelined from doing anything meaningful.

  Once more he cursed his past self. If he’d just looked away. If he hadn’t noticed the woman’s tears. If he hadn’t gone by the book.

  He’d neve
r been able to handle a woman crying. It was his weakness. He didn’t know where it came from. The only thing that made sense was that there hadn’t been many tears in their household growing up. He didn’t know how to handle them. Logically, it was a load of bull, but it was the only answer he made.

  If he went back, he’d have made the same damn call because it was the right thing to do. And he’d still be here, twelve miles into the fifty it would take to work the anger out and make him a passable human fit for society.

  Around him others were finally beginning to use the equipment in the basement of The Security Service building. He ignored the other MI5 operatives in favor of maintaining his pace. He was not in the mood to chat or play nice with others. He wasn’t sure how long they were going to hold him under like this, but he was determined to keep his cool. Chances were he’d be on desk duty for a few weeks and suffer through having his nose rubbed in his supposed misstep before being cleared once more to do meaningful work.

  God damn it.

  He picked up the pace, running faster than the throbbing drums.

  He’d been right.

  Miles blew out a breath and eased off. He’d never make it to fifty miles if he pushed himself harder than necessary.

  A hand touched his arm.

  Startled, Miles grabbed the handles, lifted himself up and stepped onto the runners. He glanced sideways and the air in his lungs froze.

  Shit.

  A petite older woman that could have been the queen’s younger sister stared at him with eyes that commanded to obey.

  He yanked both earbuds out and jabbed the stop button. “Yes, ma’am?”

  Why was the Deputy Director General Bennett in the gym hunting him down?

  Damn, this wasn’t good.

  “Mr. Green, I need you to come with me now.” DDG Bennett turned on her heel. Some claimed she wasn’t human at all, which would have explained her lengthy service history.

  Miles wasn’t keen to find out. He grabbed his towel and water bottle, then scurried after her. No one would judge him. Hell, every man’s back was turned toward him as if in solidarity. None of them wanted to be called on by Bennett if they could help it.