In the Grey (50 page)

“
Must have been programmed
herself,” Eoin nodded.

“
She keeps asking for
Jack,” Tom said. “She has no idea where he is. I have to tell
you . . .”

Tom winced, and they
walked in silence for a while.

“
You think she’s faking,”
Cian said.

“
I think she’s faking,”
Tom said. “I can’t shake the feeling that she set all of this up
and wants us to believe she was programmed. But I don’t know how
to . . .”

“
We do,” Cian said. “Leave
it to us. We’ll get it sorted.”

“
How?” Tom
asked.

“
We have special skills,”
Cian smiled.

“
Not you’d list on a CV,
but . . .”

“
Ever notice how few MI-6
infiltrated the Irish Republican Army,” Cian said.

“
A few did,” Tom
said.

“
They only thought they
did,” Cian said.

“
Well, I could use the
help,” Tom said. “You won’t kill her, will you?”

“
No,” Cian said. “We won’t
hurt her physically in any way.”

“
But we will get the
truth,” Eoin said.

“
Then I’d welcome your
help,” Tom said.

They walked back to FBI
headquarters. Tom signed Eoin out from custody. They were in Tom’s
car driving into town when Tom turned to Cian.

“
I heard you own a
bakery,” Tom said.

“
We own a very successful
bakery,” Cian said.

“
We pay our taxes and have
employees,” Eoin said. “Colin Hargreaves is our proper and legal
partner.”

“
We’ve been in the
newspaper four times,” Cian said.

“
And won lots of awards,”
Eoin said.

“
I was just wondering if
we could get something to eat,” Tom said. “Everything is closed
because of Thanksgiving. I’m starving.”

“
Sure,” Cian said. “Turn
here.”

F

Thursday night

November 25 – 11:42 p.m.
MST

Denver Health, Denver,
CO

Alex opened her
eyes.

She knew by the quality of
the blue light and the sounds that she was in the hospital. She
tried to move her right arm, but it was immobile. She shifted her
left hand and she felt fingers holding on.

Max.

Her entire body felt like
it had been run over by a truck. Her mind went through her body.
Besides the pain and immobility in her right side, everything
seemed fine. She saw Jesse floating near her bed and smiled. Her
head rolled to the right.

John was sound asleep in a
chair by her bed.

She heard a familiar noise
and knew that Trece had just cleared his throat. She had so much to
tell him; and wanted to hear everything he had to say. She was
about to get Trece’s attention when John opened his
eyes.

“
Hi,” John
said.

She smiled at
him.

“
How do you feel?” he
asked.

“
I hope I did some damage
to the truck that hit me,” Alex said.

He got up and went to her
bedside.

“
Do you remember
anything?” John asked.

“
Some,” Alex
nodded.

“
Everyone wants to talk to
you – MPs, military intelligence, the spies, your parents, your
sisters, Colin, the police,” John said. “But I’d rather you
sleep.”

“
Max?” Alex
asked.

“
He had something like a
heart attack,” John said. “They went in and replaced that leaking
valve. We won’t know if his heart is damaged until tomorrow. He
finally received a pacemaker, as well.”

Alex nodded.

“
He is healing,” John
said. “We were more worried about you.”

“
Why?”

“
Heparin,” John
said.

“
On the knife?” Alex
asked.

John nodded.

“
How is Steve?” Alex
asked.

“
Let me put it this way,”
John said. “He’s better off than you.”

Alex smiled.

“
The swelling is subsiding
in Raz’s brain,” John said. “The vesticulostomy was enough. They
didn’t have to do a decompressive cranioectomy.”

“
Sounds awful,” Alex
furrowed her brow. Her eyes filled with tears. “Is he going to be
all right?”

“
We think so,” John said.
“He’s healthy and, as I said, the swelling is already
subsiding.”

“
How did that
happen?”

“
Sami hit him,” John
said.

“
Things were going so
well,” Alex said.

“
Troy was drugged,” John
said. “Went into anaphylaxis about five minutes after he woke
up.”

“
Wow,” Alex said.
“Everyone.”

“
Everyone who was home,”
John said. “Eoin saved the day.”

Not sure what he meant,
but too tired to ask, Alex smiled. He gave her a tissue to wipe her
eyes.

“
Glad you’re here,” Alex
smiled. “How are you?”

“
Grateful,” John
said.

“
It was close this time,”
Alex said.

John nodded.

“
I . . . ,” she started. She was too tired
to finish.

“
You should rest,” John
said. “You’re not out of the woods.”

“
In the
meadow . . . ,” Alex drifted off.

John watched her for a
moment before kissing her forehead.

“
You can get some rest,”
Trece said. “I’ll watch her.”

John looked up at
him.

“
I’ve spent the last
couple of weeks sleeping,” Trece said. “Seriously, I’ll get you the
moment something changes.”

“
I’ll be in the doctor’s
lounge,” John said.

Trece nodded. John smiled
at him. He leaned over and kissed Alex’s cheek. He looked at Max.
He went and kissed Max’s forehead. For good measure, he kissed
Raz’s forehead and Troy’s. He stood looking at Steve for a few
minutes before kissing his forehead too. He looked up to see White
Boy watching him.

“
For luck,” John
said.

“
Good thinking,” White Boy
said.

John pulled on his tie and
stumbled back to the doctor’s lounge. When he was on call, he hated
the lounge. If he wasn’t conducting a surgery or meeting with
patients and their families, he wanted to be at home. Tonight, he
merely lay down on a cot and fell sound asleep.

“
John?” His surgical nurse
Trish shook his shoulder. “Dr. Drayson?”

“
Alex!” John woke with a
start.

“
Time for rounds,” Trish
said.

“
Alex? Max? Raz? Troy?
Steve?” John asked.

“
They’re awake and
wondering if you’ll order pizza,” Trish said. “They are arguing
with those big guys over what toppings to put on their
pizza.”

John grinned.

“
Their vitals show that
they are very weak,” Trish said.

“
They put on a good show,”
John said.

Trish smiled.

“
You have time to shower
and shave,” Trish said. “I’ll meet you outside.”

Groggy from his hard
sleep, he stared at the door. She reappeared.

“
If you don’t get going
NOW,” Trish said. “You’re going to bitch at me about it all
day.”

John jumped into
action.

FFFFFF

Friday,
afternoon

November 26 – 1:27 p.m.
EST (11:27 a.m. MST)

Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA), Arlington, VA

“
Is Cam here?” Patrick
asked.

“
He is.” The secretary had
looked up when they came in, but now refused to make eye
contact.

Patrick, Eoin, Cian, and
Ben were standing in a small 1950s-era waiting room in an outdated
research building. The walls were stark white against the worn
wide-plank wood floors. Peeling vinyl chairs lined the walls, and
ancient magazines lay stacked on the end table. The room smelled
like the inside of a moldy old book.

“
Would you like me to
announce you, General?” the secretary asked.

She looked up for the
first time and smiled at Patrick. At least seventy, her slight
flush and fluster indicated that she and Patrick had been close.
Patrick touched her shoulder in a kind, “I remember you” way. She
gave him a genuine smile. She glanced at Ben, and he nodded to
her.

“
Don’t bother,” Patrick
said. “I know the way.”

Patrick opened the heavy
wooden office door.

“
Cameron!”

Patrick walked into the
small office. Cian looked at Eoin and they followed. Bookcases
lined the walls and sun-bleached Asian rugs covered the wood
floors. A radiant heater tapped in the corner. Despite the
warm-looking setting, there was something cold and severe about the
office. Cian shivered.

Dr. Cameron Singer pushed
his reading glasses onto his forehead and stood from his wide oak
desk. He had thinning white hair, a round face, and a slim body. He
held a fountain-tip pen in his hand, and there was an open journal
on his desk. He wore a white lab coat over wool pants, a blue dress
shirt, and a matching tie.

True to his spy nature,
Ben was the last in the room. Ben closed the door, but only moved
an inch or so away from it. Cian and Eoin stopped walking when they
hit the Asian rug under Dr. Singer’s desk.

Dr. Singer’s mouth opened
and closed a few times before he settled on a broad smile. He
dropped the fountain-tip pen in his right lab coat
pocket.

“
Patrick!” Dr. Singer came
around the desk to shake Patrick’s hand. “Can it be?”

Dr. Singer turned to
Eoin.

“
Eoin Mac Kinney! As
I live and breathe,” Dr. Singer wagged his index finger at Eoin.
“You, young man, have destroyed my best work.”

“
Yes, sir,” Eoin
said.

“
And you must be Cian
Kelly,” Dr. Singer said. “Should I have security check my
car?”

“
No sir,” Cian said. “I’m
a baker now.”

“
Yes, I’ve heard,” Dr.
Singer said.

When Dr. Singer turned to
Ben, Cian shifted closer to Eoin. The Irish volunteers eyed the
exits for a fast retreat. Instinctively, they edged back into a
more protected corner of the room near the bookcases. Dr. Singer
nodded to Ben. Ben gave him a kind of bow.

“
What can I do for you?”
Dr. Singer asked as he turned back to Patrick.

Patrick grabbed the doctor
by the throat and lifted him off the ground. Surprised, Eoin
stepped back and bumped into Cian.

“
They are
my
children,
my
twins,
my
Sami. How dare
you!”

Patrick’s voice was low,
and his demeanor deadly calm. His face held the rage of a father
and the power of an experienced soldier. Holding the doctor by the
throat, Patrick brought the man’s face within an inch of his
own.

“
You have no idea what
you’re dealing with,” Dr. Singer whispered.

“
You think you can try to
kill my children and get away with it?
You
don’t know who you’re dealing
with,” Patrick said. “
Why
would you do it?”

“
Then she’s not dead,” Dr.
Singer said. “That’s not good.”

“
For who you stupid fuck?”
Patrick asked. Patrick shook the man. “Tell me.”

Dr. Singer smiled.
Furious, Patrick squeezed his throat.

“
Tell me!” Patrick
sneered.

“
Paddie look out!” Cian
yelled.

Dr. Singer jammed the nib
of his fountain tip pen into his own neck. Blood sprayed from the
wound. Patrick squeezed down on the man’s carotid artery in an
attempt to slow the bleeding. Ben jumped forward and pressed his
handkerchief into the oozing puncture would. The two men held Dr.
Singer in the air.

“
I always wondered if that
would work,” Dr. Singer said.

“
Why?” Patrick said. “Tell
me why or I’ll let go.”

Dr. Singer’s eyes held
Patrick’s for a long moment before he wrenched his body out of
Patrick’s hold.

“
No!” Eoin
screamed.

“
I guess the joke’s
on . . . you.” Dr. Singer said as he fell to the
floor. Eoin and Cian jumped back. Blood sprayed across the white
walls.

The doctor glanced at Eoin
for a moment, before he died.

“
What was that?” Ben
towered over Eoin.

“
Get off him,” Cian pushed
Ben away from Eoin.

“
Men,” Patrick said. “We
have a minute or less.”