Page 76 of Fury

“We’ll hold back and comb through the video Ledger took,” Hale said. “See what else we can figure out about where Germaine went.”

Without a word, Chapel took off toward the hold.

Following the grizzly operator down the hall bolstered her resolve to stay strong. She could do this. After all, she’d held her ground and stated her position and he’d agreed. So she was doing something right.

His broad frame blocked the light as he ducked into the hold. Inside, she spotted Archie on a medical gurney, Glace and Macklin hovering over him. Where was the rest of Damocles?

“Hollyn.” Relief filled Archie’s tone.

She forced herself not to rush forward.

You have to find out what’s going on.

“Are you the mole, Archie?” she asked him point blank. Wanted to see his reaction.

His face scrunched in confusion. “What’re you talking about?”

Hollyn pressed on. “We found the emails.”

“Emails?” Archie didn’t look at anyone in the room but her. “I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

“Crossfire and Old Lace.”

He frowned again. “What does that even mean?”

The tether on her temper burned, and she stomped forward. “My parents are dead, Archie! Leila is dead!” She spoke with more ferocity than she’d known she possessed. “Stop messing around! Was it you? Did you kill my parents?”

“No!” Archie balked, anger replacing confusion. “It wasn’t me. On a stack of Bibles, it’s not me. I swear.” He blanched. “I’m not the one you’re after.”

Chapel’s muscular form wedged in. “Then who is?”

Archie looked between them. Looked like he might not say anything else. Then his shoulders slumped and his head dipped. She thought she heard him whisperforgive mebefore he straightened. “I don’t know who’s behind it . . . but I know what they’re going to do with the program.”

15

DAMOCLES SAFE HOUSE, ABU DHABI, UAE

He’d known?This whole time—possibly longer than the emails revealed—and he’d never said a word?

“All right.” Chapel lowered his hands out to his sides, a move that reminded her of cats when they turned sideways to make themselves look bigger, fiercer. And this guy definitely seemed more intimidating than usual. “When, where, and what? Now.”

Archie shook his head again. “I don’t know. All I found out was that they’re going to militarize the program to guide missiles. They’re planning a demonstration. Soon.”

Hollyn swallowed. Same message from the emails. Was he telling the truth or blowing smoke about not knowing more?

“What kind of demonstration and where?” Chapel pressed.

“Again,” Archie bit out, “I. Don’t. Know. I heard them talking about missiles and the Sparrow project. Wasn’t hard to put two and two together from there.” He bobbed his head toward her. “I know what her program does.”

Hollyn wracked her brain. This wasn’t right. Archie’s behavior. His apparent regret. None of this was adding up. And did anyone else find it unbelievable that his captors hadn’t cared that he could overhear them? “They can’t make the program work without the whole algorithm.” Better not tell him she had the missing part, just in case he was lying. “You saw the test runs fail.”

He lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “Sounded to me like they had someone working on that.”

Who? Her stomach squirmed. Yet . . . “Even if they had everything they needed, the program is currently only able to support a short-range launch,” Hollyn went on. “No one is dumb enough to try to guide a missile into an area they’re standing in themselves.”

“How short?” Chapel gruffed.

Hollyn lifted a shoulder and shook her head. “Fifty yards max. I hadn’t developed the long-range sequence yet.”

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