Red Heat Read Online Free Page B

Russia , of all places—at the far edge of the Pacific Ocean just a few hundred miles shy of the Arctic Circle, about to embark on the worst nightmare of her life. It was raining cats and dogs, and she was already soaked to the bone, not to mention freezing her butt off. The end of June, and it felt like freaking December.
    Not that she noticed. She was too busy being terrified of other things to care about the crappy weather. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and again tried to calm her racing pulse. It was no use.
    She groaned inwardly.
    I need someone on this mission who is smart, her boss had said. Someone confident, who can think on her feet and outside the box. Are you that person, Miss Severin? James Thurman had peered at her with a stern frown.
    At the time she’d answered yes, absolutely she was that person. But that was before she’d known what the mission was. And where.
    Now, confidence was the last thing she felt.
    Oh, God . What was she doing here? She was a China specialist, a freaking desk analyst, not some undercover Jason Bourne–type spy! What had Thurman been thinking ?
    And then there was her other little problem . . . the irrational fear of water she’d been plagued with since early childhood when she’d fallen in a lake on a family vacation and nearly drowned.
    Terror gripped her belly with sickly fingers as she looked past the harbor and out over Avachinskaya Bay with its deep, frigid water . . . and then back at the sinister gray submarine, B-403 Ostrov , lurking like a shark in the cold, churning waves before her. The cylindrical steel monster rose and fell, rose and fell, the long cement pier shaking and squealing like a banshee every time the curved hull rubbed up against its rubber bumpers. Lord, the mere words “submarine” and “ocean” sent chills of dread running down her spine. Thinking about going under those ominous waves in that floating death trap was likely to put her into a blind panic if she wasn’t careful.
    There were only two things she truly hated in this world: large bodies of water . . . and Russians.
    This mission involved both. In a big way.
    “Miss?” the Russian sailor waiting to help her onto the ugly, bobbing submarine asked in heavily accented English.
    She jolted back to the present. She felt the impatience of the gang of Russian submariners behind her, waiting for her to move forward so they could get on with their duties. The entire flat deck of the sub was a beehive of activity, men loading last-minute supplies, unfastening safety lines, and disconnecting heavy electrical cables. Julie was the last of the scientific expedition team to go on board, having used every possible excuse to delay her arrival at the pier. Unfortunately, there was no way to put it off any longer.
    She had to find a way to get past her fears. Or she’d let down her boss, her country, and most of all herself.
    The sour acid of fear bit into her insides as she steeled herself for what she must do.
    “ Ty v poryadke? Everything okay?” the Russian sailor asked.
    It had to be .
    Julie would do anything in her power to protect her country from its enemies.
    Then again, she sure as hell didn’t have to like it.
    “Yes. I’m fine,” Julie lied, straining not to let her teeth chatter from the freezing rain that continued to soak her to the bone. Or from the fear that clawed at her gut.
    She forced her eyes open, but looked down at her high heels instead of out over the bay or at the submarine that was about to carry her down into the terrifying depths of all that horrible, horrible water.
    Oh, God .
    Russians and the deep blue sea .
    Fabulous .
    She pushed out a steadying breath and wrapped her frozen fingers around the handle of her bright red rolling carry-on, gripping her matching laptop case firmly in her other hand. If she could just get onto the boat and down inside its belly, she would no longer be able to see the suffocating expanse of water lapping at its sides like a hungry