EXFIL by Anthony Patton (best books to read non fiction TXT) 📗

Community as we enjoyed a glass of Pinot Noir, but I was running out of time with each sip. I glanced at my watch, gestured to her empty glass—she was good—and tucked some cash in the glass with the receipt. If she had offered to pay half, that would have been the end of it, no questions asked, but as we stood, the words just came out.

“I have a good book you might enjoy,” I said, revealing that we were in my hotel.

I expected her to express no interest or to wait for me in the bar while I got it from my room, but she stood and walked with me to the elevator.

I inserted my room key and pressed the button for the seventh floor.

Despite all the obvious signs—the red dress, the nightcap, the invite to my hotel room—I was still tormented by what she might be thinking. Could she be this naïve? If I was misreading the signs and she said the wrong thing to the wrong person, it could make its way back to Beth and ruin my marriage. All I had to do was grab the book and go, but as she stood there looking out the panoramic window, I approached her from behind, caressed her arm, and gently kissed her neck.

She turned and smiled, as if we had known each other for years, and kissed me on the lips.

I tossed the spy novel onto the couch, hoisted her up, and carried her to the bedroom.

After a passionate kiss, I leaned back to look at her, hesitating.

“Don’t ruin this by saying something stupid,” she said. “I don’t want this to come between you and Beth, promise?”

I was about to respond with something cheesy, but she touched my lips to silence me, so I nodded and kissed her as we both moaned with delight as we fell onto the bed and removed our clothes. Beth was beautiful and amazing, but Anna’s taut body aroused me in ways I hadn’t felt in years, even more than with Jewel. I won’t describe all the erotic details, but between gently sucking her erect nipples and caressing the smooth shave under her panties, it was all I could do to restrain myself before we both reached orgasm.

◆◆◆

The ringing of my phone was a jolt in the darkness. I groaned and glanced at the alarm clock—4:15 am. It was Lieutenant General Lewis.

He told me to turn on the news and get to Cyber Command as soon as possible.

I sat up, turned on the television, and scrolled through the channels until I found it: a cyberattack on the Pentagon.

I nudged Anna, watching the images and reading the scrolling ticker tape: PENTAGON CYBERATTACK.

“Oh my God,” she said and sat up as her own phone rang. “I have to go.”

I admired her nude body as she grabbed her dress and headed to the bathroom, phone to her ear. I rolled my neck to work out the kinks and flicked on the kitchenette light to start the coffee machine before returning to watch television.

Sources were reporting that multiple computer systems in the Pentagon had been hacked and rendered inoperable, but the command and control systems were running and there was no danger of major system failure. China was suspected but further analysis was required.

I imagined Li stroking his chin with a Mona Lisa smirk.

Anna exited the bathroom dressed and running her fingers through her hair. She sipped her coffee and thanked me as she slid on her heels.

“I can take an Uber if you have to go to Cyber Command,” she said while tapping her phone. The map zoomed in to show our location at my hotel.

My heart pounded as I gently held her hand to stop the transaction. Her phone was tracking her location, but there was no reason to create an Uber receipt for the permanent record.

A healthy sense of paranoia was essential.

“You should take a taxi with cash to avoid a digital footprint here.” I handed her twenty dollars with a kiss on the lips and—because why not—a playful spank on the ass.

“Bad boy,” she said and closed the door with a wave.

I walked to the bathroom, turned on the hot water, and grabbed my razor and shaving cream. Unless I was missing something, Anna had enjoyed a good time with me and left a satisfied woman, which made me a rock star. No matter how bad I knew I should feel, no matter how wrong I knew it was, every nerve in my body tingled with energy.

I had no illusion about what would happen if Beth found out, but the calculation from my wrong head had decided it was worth the risk.

I was a ruined man and loving it.

NINE

As an infantry officer, “getting the call” was a prelude to combat. During my stints in Iraq and Afghanistan, we were on the front line, kicking down doors and removing terrorists from the battlefield. If I wasn’t willing to face combat myself, I had no business sending my soldiers into harm’s way.

Each compound raid came with unique risks but predictable variables—the smell of food with exotic spices cooking over gas flames, weeping children embracing their mothers in darkened rooms, and sweat dripping down the bridge of my nose as I felt my heart thumping in the quiet before the storm, ready to slide my finger down to the trigger.

We never knew when a terrorist would surprise us with an AK-47 or a suicide vest. Mistakes were made, innocents killed in the fog of war, but we waged our war with a moral compass and surgical precision to eliminate an intransigent enemy: radical Islamic terrorists.

We were still waiting for so-called moderate Muslims to condemn these terrorists. As long as we were killing them overseas, they couldn’t attack the U.S. Take the battle to the enemy.

When I thought about the cyberattack on the Pentagon this morning, I recognized that this threat to our national security was no less real than flying bullets.

If