Hellbent (Orphan X #3)(59)

Evan’s RoamZone rang, the piercing sound startling him. He hadn’t noticed how tense he’d grown while watching the gang leader.

The burner cell’s number registered in the RoamZone’s caller ID.

Evan answered, “Go.”

Joey said, “I cracked it.”

Evan took in a breath of crisp rooftop air.

“You’d better get over here,” she said. “It’s worse than we thought.”





40

Enhanced Interrogation

Candy pulled the Audi through the side gate, released Tim Draker from the trunk, and marched him in through the rear door. She stayed five feet behind him, pistol aimed at the back of his head. She’d zip-tied his hands at the small of his back, but you couldn’t be too cautious. Not with an Orphan.

Draker stepped into the living room, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the gloom. Mattresses covered the windows and walls, soundproofing the space. An array of implements were spread out on a drop cloth. Across the room stood Charles Van Sciver, his log-thick arms crossed.

Candy couldn’t help but smirk a bit when she saw Draker sag at the sight of him, as if someone had put slack in the line.

Van Sciver stared over the ledge of his arms, one eye sharp and focused, the other dilated, a dark orb. “Let me tell you what we know,” he said. “Jack Johns has long been aware of the directive from above to neutralize washouts, dissenters, Orphans who tested high-risk for defiance. But the shadow file? He knew of its existence before I did. And he knew it was only a matter of time before I got my hands on it. So he reached out to anyone he could and hid those people any way he knew how. He got to a few before we got to him. You were one of them. After you left the Program, he helped you hide. He also took care of the asset you’d recruited for me. David Smith. Twelve years old. Now thirteen.”

Van Sciver paused, but Orphan L gave no reaction.

At the mention of the boy, Candy felt cool air across the back of her neck. An uncomfortable sensation, like when she thought about that alley outside Sevastopol, Halya Bardak?i with her baby-giraffe legs and that almond-shaped face. East Slavic through and through, beautiful and alluring, cheaply had and cheaply dispatched. After she’d been stabbed in the neck and dumped in the back of the car, she was still alive. Rattling against the hatch as she bled out.

Van Sciver took a step toward Draker. “We know Jack hid the boy here in Richmond. We know that you helped him before you went to ground. I want to know where the boy is.”

Draker said, “Even if I did know anything about this, why would you want the boy? You think he can lead you to X?”

“No,” Van Sciver said. “I think he can bring X to me.”

Draker said, “I don’t know anything about this.”

“Is that so,” Van Sciver said.

The men regarded each other solemnly.

Then Van Sciver took a step back and tapped on the wall lightly with his knuckles.

A moment later Thornhill entered from the next room. He was holding the turkey baster. He walked a casual arc in front of Van Sciver.

“Enhanced interrogation,” Thornhill said, with that broad, easygoing grin. “It’s such a well-considered term. Gotta hand it to the Agency. They do know their marketing.” He gazed into the middle distance, tapping the baster in his palm. “You know another one I like? Rectal rehydration. It sounds so … therapeutic.” His stare lowered. “When your intestines are all swollen up with fluid and you get a steel-toed boot in the gut, do you have any idea how much it hurts?”

Draker said, “I do.”

“That’s just the start,” Van Sciver said. “Have a look around.”

Keeping her gun raised, Candy watched Draker take in the items arrayed on the floor.

There were padlocks and plywood.

Nylon ropes and boards of various lengths.

A decline bench and jugs of water.

Mattresses and drop cloths.

Duct tape and a folding metal chair.

A sheen of perspiration covered his face now, and it was no longer a fake-addict sweat. He lifted his head again. Set his jaw.

He said, “Let’s get to it, then.”





41

Borrowed Time

Joey chewed her thumbnail, leaning over Evan’s shoulder as he sat before the Dell laptop, staring at a list.

Five names.

One of them was Joey Morales.

Morales. All this time he didn’t know her last name. He’d been unable even to get her full first name out of her.

The hillside crowded the back windows of the safe house, shadows making the interior dismal. That ever-present moisture had taken hold in the trapped air, turning the place dank. It smelled of microwaved food and girl’s deodorant. Evan ran his eyes across the screen once again.

“So much encryption,” Evan said, “for five names.”

She paused from chewing her thumbnail. “Not just five names. It’s a list of people in the Program who were associated with Jack in some way. Look.” She shouldered him aside, taking over the keyboard. When she hovered the cursor above the top name, a hidden file appeared. She clicked it, and a host of images proliferated. “This guy? Jim Harville? He was Orphan J. One of the original guys. Jack was his handler way back when. It says it was Jack’s first Program assignment.”