The Tide (Tide Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

Jay would be ready to do her bidding. He answered and agreed to her terms, promising her he was already out the door and en route.
    She breathed a momentary sigh of relief after ending the call. She’d played her cards. Now it was time to see if someone around her offices actually knew what the memo meant—or more importantly, if they’d be willing to clue her in.
    Meredith made her way through Langley’s corridors. She eyed the Biological and Chemical Warfare Defense sign on Chief Special Agent David Lawson’s slightly ajar office door. She rapped softly on the wood frame when she saw he was on the phone.  
    Her boss, phone to his ear, waved his hand. His message was clear : I don’t have time for you now. Despite the scowl on his face, Meredith seated herself in front of his desk. In one hand, she clutched the memo with its simple transcription:
    International Biologics at Sea Laboratory dark. Risk assessment: Immediate catastrophe. Crew affected by agent. Limited to: Global. Termination permission requested.
    A set of coordinates with a location in the Atlantic Ocean followed.
    Lawson held up a finger and put his hand over the phone’s mouthpiece. “I’m on a conference call with DARPA. Can we do this later?”
    Maintaining her poker face, Meredith stared hard into Lawson’s steel-gray eyes. She slid the single sheet of paper across the surface of his desk. “What the hell is this?”
    When Lawson’s gaze dropped to the memo, he ended the call without saying a word. His reaction alone set Meredith on edge. With such an ominous memo, the International Biologics at Sea Lab wasn’t the only thing left in the dark. She’d never heard about this project or institution or whatever it was.
    Lawson unclipped a pair of reading glasses from his front pocket and twisted the paper so the words faced him. He mouthed them as he read the memo with his brow furrowed.
    Acting, Meredith thought. The surprise now seemed feigned. She watched a drop of perspiration drip from his receding hairline.
    “I have no idea what this is,” Lawson said, pushing it back toward her.
    “Bullshit,” Meredith said. “What the hell is this International Biologics at Sea Lab?”
    “Sounds pretty innocuous.”
    “The worst ones always do,” she said.
    “I haven’t heard of it.”
    “So something as cryptic as this just shows up at the agency, and you, grand master of science and research, haven’t got a clue?”
    Lawson’s fingers tapped across his keyboard. He twisted his computer monitor so Meredith could see. “Take a look.”
    He’d inputted the name of the lab in their classified and unclassified known research institutions database. The results window displayed a glaring No Matches Found.
    “Don’t pull that one on me,” Meredith said, taking the paper back. He’d performed the query on a database that included information accessible to any agent or operative a full security clearance below both of theirs. “Search again, but this time use your credentials. Not the open access agency search.”
    “Webb, you know I can’t. Whether or not this turns up as a match, it’s against policy for me to even access such a database in the same room as another person without my security clearance.”
    “Come on, live a little. I won’t tell.”
    Lawson peered over his reading glasses, his bushy white eyebrows raised in annoyance.
    “I’m supposed to oversee all potential bio warfare threats, and I can’t do that if you’re hiding something from me,” Meredith said. “Now, I don’t know what screwed up in your line of communication that this came across my desk, but judging by its contents, this doesn’t appear to be the first time someone in this building has heard something about this lab.”
    “I don’t know what to tell you.” Lawson held up his hands. “Maybe...maybe it’s some kind of sick hoax. Maybe someone misinterpreted an encrypted transmission.”
    Too many excuses, too many lies.
    Meredith opened her