The Spy in 3B
Nana Malone
Copyright © 2021 by Nana Malone
Published by Rakuten Kobo Inc. as Kobo Originals
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover photography by Brandon Sosa Photography
Cover design by Qamber Design & Media
Production by Bright Wing Media
All rights reserved. For information about permissions to reproduce this book address Rakuten Kobo, 1-135 Liberty Street, Toronto, Ontario, M6K 1A7.
ISBN 9781774533604
Website: www.kobo.com/originals
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Next in Series
More By Nana Malone
Landmarks
Cover
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Body Matter
Chapter 1
Lyra
I tried not to fidget in my seat as Roslyn James droned on and on about the mission.
The target location. Target resistance. Acquire the target. And oh yes, don’t kill the target. That last part was especially important, considering the last mission where I’d run into a spot of trouble and nearly killed the target… accidentally on purpose.
“Am I boring you, Lyra?”
I wrangled my wayward attention and shook my head as I glanced around at my teammates. “No, sorry, Roslyn. I’m not bored at all.”
Lies. I was bored stiff.
This meeting was part mission brief, part lecture. And I’d had one too many lectures lately.
“Look, we hear you. Don’t kill the target. But to be fair, the last target was holding one of the girls hostage. He was a human trafficker, and I did save her life.”
Roz sighed then gave me that subtle Michelle Obama-style lip purse that conveyed her displeasure but also her slight amusement. I really shouldn’t take advantage of her being my mentor, but Sampson had that knife wound coming.
She dismissed the rest of my team, and when I pushed on the arms of the orange Tom Dixon designer chair to join them, she lifted her brow at me. “No, you stay.”
Addie Franklin, my best friend and sometimes partner, gave me a wincing smile and then mouthed, Good luck.
Help that she was.
I turned back to Roz. “I’m so sorry. Look, I know you would like me to be more contrite about the Sampson mission, but I can’t seem to muster any remorse. He was a human trafficker.”
She expelled another long-suffering sigh and then placed her hands palms down onto the sculpted glass top of her Nina Campbell desk that was both functional and beautiful. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, Lyra. You need to tuck away your emotions. You’re one of the best agents we have. But still, I have to lecture you because sometimes your emotions get the best of you.”
I did push out of my chair then. If she was planning on continuing the lecture, I wasn’t just going to sit down and take it. Besides, I was restless. I had a date planned, one I wasn’t sure I wanted to go on. I started to pace around Roz’s office, and she eased back into her chair. “Lyra, what’s wrong? I spoke to Everly. She said you were edgy, tight. Is there something you want to share with me?”
Everly Jones was our in-house psychiatrist. We each saw her quarterly for evaluations, and if one of us had an ‘incident,’ we saw her more frequently. At that point, I was seeing her weekly.
I bit on the corner of my Pink Perfection polished thumbnail and frowned down at the acrylics. God, I hated acrylic nails, but they were part of the facade. Part of the costume. This costume, anyway. The carefree, have-no-worries woman. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t have disposed of Sampson so efficiently.”
Roz’s lips twitched then, and I could see the burgeoning grin forming. “Yes, Lyra. Wound him. Maim him. But we needed him alive.”
“Roz, what he was doing to that girl, what he would have done to so many others… I just— He had her by the throat, and the next thing I knew, my knife flew out of my hand.”
She shook her head at me. “Excuse me? ‘Next thing you knew’? I know for a fact, Lyra, when you are in the mood, you have the utmost control. It’s just that you never seem to be in the mood lately. You have gone quite righteous on us. You do know what we do here, right?” She spread her arms. “At The Firm, you know your purpose.”
I grinned at that. “We keep the world safe.” I sniffed and muttered the part I hated. The part that kept me up at night. “Sometimes we deal with shitty people to get what we need.” I inhaled sharply. “I could show restraint. But when it comes to scum, restraint isn’t really my strongest asset.”
She sighed. “I know you could. You’re just choosing not to. And it makes me wonder why. I thought you were happy doing this job.”
I blinked rapidly. “What? Of course, I am happy.” The Firm was my home.
We were a hidden government black ops organization that was so covert even the world’s best hackers couldn’t find us.
Our official cover was P.O.P. PR & Marketing. With its bright white, orange, and pink decor, our front offices looked the part of every other contemporary marketing firm. We “specialized” in businesses run by women. And the funny thing was, we actually did have marketing people on staff. On the off-chance that someone actually did try to hire us for a PR job, there were three people on the team that could put together a real pitch and get the job done.
I’d been recruited by The Firm when I was nineteen, a year after my parents died. I’d been lost and on the verge of my life imploding.
