Page 11 of Thorn

“Bite me,” Thorn said, looking at the bullet hole that had sliced into the sleeve of his favorite leather jacket. He slid his arm out to make sure there was no blood. Adrenaline could mask some wicked injuries. Nothing. He shrugged his jacket back in place and pulled his safety belt across his hips.

Gage had melded into the highway traffic and was driving smoothly apace.

“Who had the guns, Nutsbe?” Thorn asked.

“From what cameras were functioning, you had two unidentified, military-aged, males entering the stairwell behind you. The gray-lady looked like she was running them. She was talking into her phone and moving in your direction, purposefully, but making it look like she was running for a flight. Whoever she is, she’s good at what she does. I don’t have her ID’d yet. Which means she may not exist.”

“Black ops?” His words were silent, but Thorn knew the computers would pick up the vibrations from his mic and translate them for Nutsbe and the others.

“I’m guessing,” Nutsbe confirmed, “or I should have her by now.”

“Billy’s crew – you’ve got the third guy?” Thorn could see Gage’s mouth move, but the sound came through the ear buds and not from the man beside him. Technology could make their job easier and technology could also bite them in the ass when used with equal dexterity by the enemy.

“Tibor Yegorovich, Russian national. Because of Watts’s involvement, this is a contracted operation. Omega operators can’t opt for any side game, so Omega’s definitely involved. It looks like there are at least three teams targeting this guy. I’m guessing we’re the only ones amongst them that has the doctor’s good health in mind.”

“Copy,” the Panthers said in unison, making DuBois’s eyes stretch wide. He couldn’t hear the other end of their conversation.

Thorn turned almost backward to catch DuBois’s gaze. “Sir, what did the janitor tell you in the bathroom?”

DuBois opened his eyes wide in the way people do when feigning innocence.

“I’m not playing here, sir. I watched it happen. I pulled the gun from under your ribs. I squeezed the blood out of the man’s neck. What did he tell you in the bathroom?”

DuBois began trembling, his teeth chattering.

“That quaking’s from adrenaline,” Honey explained. “It’s gonna happen, no need to fight it. But we do need to know what the janitor told you.”

“He said there was a kidnapping at my mother’s house in Toulouse. I was to go with him quietly, and they’d tell me what they needed from me. Then you came up and wrestled with him. Is it true?” He twisted toward Honey. “Is my family in danger? Who was shooting? Who are you?”

Honey sat silently, they weren’t authorized to disseminate that information.

“Sir, what do you do for a living?” Gage asked, repositioning his hands on the steering wheel.

“I’m mostly retired. I give my thoughts now and then on research projects. I teach a few classes for graduate students. I golf, and I fish.”

“Sounds like a nice life,” Thorn said. “But you didn’t mention your affiliation with DARPA.”

DuBois flailed about for a moment, sputtering. Finally, he said, “You shouldn’t have helped me back there. It’s imperative that I get Juliette back.” A hangdog look that painted DuBois’s face was pitiful. Thorn felt for the guy. In his place, he’d say the same damn thing.

“You want to be kidnapped?” Honey’s knee pressed into the back of Thorn’s seat.

Thorn reached down and powered his chair forward as much as possible.

“Bad people took my daughter,” DuBois said.

“You know that’s not how it works.” Honey tried to speak reasonably to the scientist. “If they’re using a loved one to get to you, they’ll keep you tucked tight by leveraging them. You’ll be at their beck and call. Let the U.S. intelligence and security communities keep you safe and work to get your daughter back to you.”

“No.” He reached for the door handle though they were driving at highway speed. “Pull over. You need to let me out of the car. I can’t go with you. I have to go back.”

“But you have military secrets,ourmilitary secrets,” Gage said. “We can’t allow you to go.”

“And under what authority will you stop me?” DuBois started to show some spunk.

“Under no authority,” Gage said. “We’re rogue. We’re out doing our best to keep the USA safe, and if you’re going to spill some DARPA beans to our enemies? Yeah, that’s just not going to happen.”

“I don’t know whoyouare. You have no right to just force me to go with you. So what if I work for DARPA?” DuBois spat out.

“Doesn’t matter if you know us or not. DARPA is DARPA and secret compartmentalized information is secret compartmentalized information. You arenotwalking into the enemies’ hands,” Gage said as he checked his rearview mirror. “Incoming,”

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