Chapter 37
THIRTY-SEVEN
Berlin, Germany
Ash paced the floor between two sets of bunkbeds in the corner room at the hostel. He’d claimed this room for himself and shoved out anyone who tried to come in, finally offering the proprietor extra cash to instruct guests this room was off limits.
He checked out the window which had bars on it. Through the cloudy glass he could see the street below. Never mind that the same red car had circled the block twice. Or that he was pretty sure the same helicopter was circling the area.
None of it mattered more than Kai, or anyone else in his team. Unless whoever took Kai wanted to take him, too? In which case, he’d be fine with it. They’d simply escape together.
Finally unable to stand the waiting, he grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. As he turned to the door, it eased open.
Ash palmed his gun and pointed it at the intruder. “Go away,” he said in German, making sure his accent made him sound like a West African native who’d moved here and recently learned the language.
“Why would I do that, Asher?” The blond guy who entered decided to act all smug about it.
“I should shoot you for taking so long to get here.”
Kyle smirked, closing the door behind him. Ash put the gun away and gave the guy a back-slapping bro-hug.
“Sorry about that.” Kyle flicked his hair back off his head in a move that was so familiar to Ash it was practically a “tell.” He smelled like he needed a shower, which would help people avoid him on the busy streets of Berlin. “It took me longer than anticipated to get back from the States.”
“What were you doing?”
“Plugging a leak.”
Ash tossed his backpack on the closest bed. “Start talking. Because I wanna leave. But before I go, I need the answers I came for.”
“You have something for me?”
Ash said, “Noah wants to meet his parents.”
“I’ll pass it along.” Kyle rolled his shoulders, then moved to lean against the wall beside the small pedestal sink in the corner.
“Talk, then you can rest.”
Kyle nodded. “The Phoenix Network embedded me in Earthnet Industries months ago, with the cover story that I was a consultant. Mr. Johannsen specialized in productivity and dispute management. I was supposed to find out what their endgame is.”
Usually, Ash’s jobs with the Phoenix Network were over in a couple of days, not a deep undercover assignment that had gone on months.
That wasn’t something designed to safeguard a person’s new identity, or eliminate a threat. This was save-the-world stuff. Or there was a major beef between Elaina and Mitch Rourke and the CEO of Earthnet. Was this personal, or professional?
Ash said, “What gave us the idea Earthnet was up to anything?”
“Bunch of things the algorithm connected as being the potential for a threat. One that has Earthnet in control of global communications networks. They dug up an old paper Elias Bradleigh wrote years ago talking about this journal he found from the nineteen forties about creating a global network.”
“He has the book?” Ash lifted his brows, shifting his weight and feeling the pull of the injury in his calf. “Vesper was after it, but if Bradleigh already has it, then the damage is done.”
“It sounded like he lost it and he’s been looking for it since.”
Ash shook his head. “So you were sent in?”
“I copied as many files as I could, and when I discovered the existence of the data center, I called you guys and ‘hired’ you to breach it as a test of their security.”
“For the Phoenix Network?”
Kyle nodded.
“So this whole thing has been the team working for us, not for Earthnet?”
“It wasn’t like I could tell you, even if you knew who I was. We all had to pretend we were someone else.”
“I wouldn’t exactly pass as a guy named ‘Johannsen,’” Ash pointed out.
He could play a few roles well. Most were fundamentalist religious types from West Africa or the Middle East, but it wasn’t as if he could change his skin color.
Guys like Kyle and Adam got stuck with the Anglo roles.
As a team they could get the job done. Ash wasn’t the guy who went out on his own, a solo spy.
He was the guy who backed up his friends, and they all watched each other’s backs.
Kyle chuckled. “I think you’d pull it off.”
“What about Stephanie-Jo…” Ash couldn’t remember her last name, if he’d even heard it.
“She was working something connected to a doctor scooped up by Earthnet and coerced into working for them. She got burned because she was close.”
“Close to figuring out what they’re doing?”
“Near enough to know something wasn’t right. An agent like that won’t just let it go. They’re gonna dig till they get to the truth.”
“That the guy was kidnapped.”
“She was burned because Earthnet has eyes and ears in the CIA’s network,” Kyle said. “One of their employees was being manipulated by an Earthnet program. One that’s far more sophisticated than anyone even knew was possible.”
“The worm that got in Marina’s system?”
Kyle nodded. “It sounds like she warned them it’s there, but the damage is already done.”
Ash couldn’t shake the idea that something was wrong. “I need to get going. I’ve got a bad feeling.”
“That’s why I’m glad you waited.” Kyle’s expression darkened.
“I passed those two drives to the Phoenix Network, and the photo you gave me of Vesper. She’s been on their radar as well, but they don’t get involved in that stuff.
The AI on the drives was an older version that has some problems and was shelved—segregated into that server farm in Argentina so it didn’t infect anything else. ”
“Okay.”
“Adam gave me another drive, which I also passed on. Earthnet got the security report and not much else.”
“Dangerous game you were playing.”
“It’s the job,” Kyle said. “And it’s supposed to keep all of us safe. But Earthnet figured out what was happening and came after you. Came after all of us.”
“The drones?” Ash had been injured before that, sidelined at the castle, but it wasn’t like him being there would’ve changed the outcome. Even if that was what he wanted to claim. “Vesper took Kai.”
Kyle shook his head. “Earthnet took him from her. I think they have Ice, too. I heard some chatter before I got cut off. They found a bug I planted in one of their offices. I think Earthnet is after the whole team.”
“They’re coming after us?”
“One by one.”
Ash palmed his phone and dialed Adam’s number. It went to voicemail before his friend picked up.
“I’m sure he’s good.” Ash swallowed. Tried another number. Dan. Noah. Jay. None of them picked up. “I’m sure they’re good.”
Kyle just stared at him, looking exhausted and like someone about to inform a person their loved one had been in a terrible accident.
“No. That’s not what’s happening.”
Kyle just stared.
Ash shook his head. “You hired us for the Phoenix Network.”
“And you thought Vesper was your biggest problem.”
“Why would Earthnet come after us like this? Just because we’re right?”
“They consider you a potential threat,” Kyle said. “Guess this is what they do to people who might actually be able to stop them.”
“Where’s that CEO guy, Bradleigh? I’ll sort this out.” Ash got all the way to the door before Kyle stopped him.
“They’ll take you, too. Unless you have someone to watch your back.”
“This is insane.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Kyle said. “The Phoenix Network will be behind you all the way. You know that.”
“I lived it.”
“Then trust us again.”
Ash’s phone rang. “It’s Adam.”
“Put it on Speaker,” Kyle said. “We’ll make a plan and tackle this together.”