Page 112 of No More Spies

“We will agree to disagree,” he said with a sniff. He wassomewhere to her right, probably ten or twelve feet away. “I don’t understandwhy an interesting woman such as you would have anything to do with him. He hasno style. No real intelligence. Now your sister fits with him.”

“I assure you my sister is intelligent.” She hoped sobecause this fucker had almost certainly fried her tracker at this point.Kenzie and Lou and Tris would do anything they could to find her. And Devi. “Iwant to see my cousin.”

“She’s with Lena. They’re talking through all of herproblems. So many issues with that girl. One would almost think something’swrong with your family.”

“Yeah, she was a great therapist. Top notch, Doc.”

“She was actually top of her class. Completely delusional,though. I think her mother screwed her up with all those stories about thefather who was taken away from them. The dumb bitch actually thought the rogueCIA agent she had a brief affair with would have come back to her.”

The evil doc had a real problem with women. She moved asquietly as she could. There seemed to be some kind of cot. That was what she’dbeen laid out on. Roughly six feet away there was another cot on the oppositeside. So she might be getting a roommate. Hopefully her cousin. “Yeah, dumbbitches. It’s ridiculous to think the dude she’s screwing would be interestedin the fact that they had a child together. So how’d you find her? Did you putout a post on the Internet asking for anyone who my parents killed in the lineof duty to join your extraordinary league of supervillains?”

If she kept him talking, then he wasn’t torturing her.Although now that she thought about it, the worst would be him talkingwhilehe was torturing her.

He chuckled as though she’d amused him mightily. “League ofSupervillains. I like this. It sounds strangely American. The rest of the worldunderstands that these villains you look for are always close to the heroes.Personally, I think Americans don’t know either definition deep down.”

She reached out and found the bars. Yup. She was in a cage,but she didn’t panic. She’d known. She was pretty sure the bucket she’d thrownup in would also be her brand-new toilet. Fun. “Let’s move it along. I reallywould like to know how you found some random chick who thinks my father screwedher over. Is there, like, a Facebook group?”

He sighed as though disappointed. “Fine. You’re not beingmuch fun, but I do like to explain my methodology. It’s probably the doctor inme. A very long time ago, my grandfather set up… Let’s call it a surveillancesystem. He wanted to keep track of the family that ruined his life.”

“Yes, the family that wasn’t even in the room when someonewho wasn’t a member of the family killed your dad. You know Levi Green killedhim, right?”

“Oh, see, that’s where you think the only people responsiblefor a tragedy are the direct actors. Such an American viewpoint. It tends tokeep you from thinking of yourselves as, to use your word, villains. There’smore to any act. There are forces behind it, things that shaped and movedpieces into place. Who is more important? The pawn who unknowingly does theking’s work? Or the king himself.”

She would get no information from arguing with a delusionalindividual. She gently let her hands move from bar to bar until she found acorner. “You were telling me how you found Lena Crazy Eyes.”

Another chuckle. “See, when you talk like that, I find youamusing. So different from most women of my acquaintance.” She heard himshifting. He was probably watching her through night vision goggles. The creep.“Like I said, my grandfather watched your family closely. He was rather weak,though. He wanted a way to hurt your father financially, but he never found it.I knew there were better ways to have revenge on a man like him. I was onlyeighteen when I started seriously looking for allies. I found Lena when sherequested several Freedom of Information Act documents. She was looking for herfather. He was connected to yours, so I had people tracking anyone who askedabout him.”

The cage was a square, and to her left there was the smellof…loam. Earth. Were they underground? “And she thought ‘hey, I’ll screw up mywhole life to help this dude I’ve never met before?’”

“She hated anyone connected with her father’s death. Shecouldn’t actually find out what happened, but she knew her father was on aclassified mission and that Ian Taggart was somehow involved. I might havefudged a little there. You see, my father had managed to get the reports onTaggart’s missions. It’s surprising what millions of dollars will make anemployee do. I didn’t tell her that Lena’s father was being hunted by theAgency for his treason. I let her believe it was Taggart who caused him to gounderground and abandon her mother. From what I can tell, Nelson was a bastardwho likely wouldn’t have cared even if he knew he had a child. But I findgiving a person what they want helps make them far easier to manipulate.”

“So you find Lena, convince her to use her powers for evil,and manipulate your way to get around all the Agency guardrails?”

“That’s easier than you think, though I will admit I had alot to work with when it comes to her. Despite her delusions about her father,she’s quite smart when it comes to her job. She’s a gifted therapist and atruly excellent profiler.”

All right. So she was in a roughly eight by ten cell. Thedoor was in front of her, and she’d felt a box that was likely the lock.Probably some high-tech biometric system. The room outside felt bigger sinceshe was almost certain Huisman was at least twelve feet away from her. Maybe abasement. Perhaps that loamy smell was actually mold. “Well, I was one of herclients, so I’ll have to disagree.”

“Do you? I thought she handled you perfectly.”

She should have known. “She recorded the sessions?”

“Yes. It’s why I waited so long. I’ve known for a while Iwould take you back. But when Lena managed to get herself assigned to profileZachary Reed and assess your team, I knew I would wait. I’ve listened to thosesessions several times now. They’re fascinating.”

He was giving her some serious ick. “Great. I’m thrilled youmanaged to violate me on another level.”

“I haven’t, you know. Your body was safe the whole time. Iwouldn’t do such a thing to you.”

“No, you wouldn’t. You would want me awake.”

“Exactly,” he practically purred. “I want you to be with meevery minute of the way, so you can be assured no one touched you this time.”

“You’re just a peach.” She hated him. She’d thought shehated people before, but this one…this one truly threatened to turn her intowhat Lena thought she was.

Her eyes were starting to adjust. It wasn’t completely dark.There was something humming in the room, and it had a few buttons or switchesthat were lit.

“I am fascinated by how the experience—ornon-experience—affected the rest of your life. I wonder if it hadn’t happened,would you be so fierce? Lena thinks so. Lena believes you were born a predator.She believes the only reason you don’t kill with abandon is the family aroundyou.”

Lena was an idiot. She wasn’t a predator. She was aprotector. When she managed to ignore the voices in her head, she knew exactlywho she was. She was a woman who cared enough to kick some ass, willing to risknot being liked to help the people around her. Though she could give the mansome reassurance. “I promise I’ll have total abandon when I kill you.”

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