Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
Davos, Switzerland
Adam sat in the passenger seat, because as much as he’d love to argue otherwise, Steph was far more fit to drive a stolen car than he was right now. Plus, it gave him the focus he needed for this conversation. “You’re both there?”
Kyle said, “Yes.”
“Good to hear your voice, bro. Thought something bad might’ve happened.”
Adam heard a snort across the phone line. “Something bad has happened,” Kyle said. “Earthnet got their program to worm into the CIA’s network, and Steph was burned. Your identity was compromised. We don’t know how far the leak spread.”
“I care more about finding Kai.”
“Far as we can see,” Ash said, “it’s more than just Kai.”
“Dan was taken from the train station where we went to catch Steph.” Adam was still angry that Ice had done it, even though he understood the “why” behind the move.
He figured they’d talk it out, and then it would be settled.
Until then he’d be irritated, frustrated, tired, and angry all rolled into one.
Ash muttered.
“We need to finish this.” Adam lowered the phone and hit the Speaker button. “Steph is here, too. She’s as much part of this as we are if Earthnet wrecked her life.”
Steph glanced over, then focused back on the road.
“Her team didn’t get kidnapped,” Ash said.
“Maybe not,” Steph countered. “But thanks to what happened, my father’s life is in danger. He’s being tortured for information.”
Adam would love to argue that the US government didn’t do that kind of thing, at least not in a way they’d admit was sanctioned. But he’d lived the dark side of that coin where the shadows were. The top secret facilities, not on any map—or expense sheet.
“What does he know?” Ash asked. “Because I’m all for finding and rescuing him, after we get our friends back.”
“The team that slays together stays together?” Kyle said.
“We’re full,” Adam said. “If we had an opening, it would be offered to Steph.”
“Rude.” Kyle sounded amused rather than offended.
Adam smirked. “I’m sure glad you guys are all right. But it doesn’t fix this, even if there are four of us to work it.”
“We’ll get out of Berlin and come join you,” Ash said.
“We need a target.” Adam needed Marina’s tech skills, Noah’s steady leadership, and the boys and their jokes and the way they didn’t hesitate to grab their gear and head for the plane. He’d been alone far too much in his life, terrified and utterly cut off from help. “We need to get them back.”
Just one of his team members in a situation like that made him sick.
More than one?
“Okay.” Adam scrubbed a hand down his face. “Dan was captured. Kai was captured. Ice is AWOL. Are we presuming he was captured?”
“Good luck to whoever took him,” Ash muttered.
Kyle said, “That leaves Jay, and the Noah-Marina duo.”
“How do you know so much about this team?” Steph asked.
“I make it my business to know, Stephanie-Jo Runnerford. Your father’s name is Walton. He’s been in US custody since he ‘disappeared’ fifteen years ago, after betraying his team. The first Division Zero team, which he ran for ten years.”
She paled. “How do you know that?”
“They were on a mission, going up against a Russian dissident. I won’t bore you with the details, but the dissident ended up in a gulag and your father was branded a traitor. The mission was written up as a failure, and the CIA has been trying to find a stable Division Zero team ever since.”
“Not sure I want the job anymore.” Adam glanced at Steph. “You okay?”
“How does he know that?” She looked over for a second. “Even I didn’t know he was Division Zero.”
“I guess it’s a family affair now,” Kyle said.
Adam needed to rein this conversation back in. “Whether it is or not, we can sort out later.” He took a breath. “Ash, you have a laptop?”
“Nope. You?”
“No. So we don’t have a way to track anyone’s comms. Marina is dark, along with Noah?”
Ash said, “We can keep trying them, but they went to the Earthnet HQ in Paris.”
“Right into the lion’s den,” Kyle said. “So to speak.”
Adam watched the highway blur past, aware they were headed northwest in general, but not if Steph was going in a specific direction.
He pulled in a long breath and his stitches screamed, the pain almost blinding.
If he didn’t get meds soon it would be debilitating pretty quickly.
“We’ll hit a pharmacy and try to get ahold of Jay.
He might still be out there, working on this. ”
“You want us to go after Ice, or Noah and Marina?” Ash asked.
Before Adam could answer, Steph said, “I could call Vesper. I have a voicemail service I can try using. See if she’ll return my call.”
“And why would we do that?” Kyle asked.
“You got a beef with her, bro?” Ash whispered. “She do you dirty?”
Adam said, “Guys.”
Steph eased off the gas but didn’t slow much.
“She might know where Earthnet is holding the team members they have. After all, we thought she was the one who took Kai. Or she was, and they took him from her. I don’t know exactly, but she was in the van.
Maybe she has Ice. Maybe…” She shook her head.
“I don’t even know. But she can tell us. ”
Adam watched her lift a hand from the wheel and swipe at her cheek, brushing away an angry tear.
Because Kyle had disclosed some of her past, things even she hadn’t known, and now she felt exposed?
Adam didn’t blame her. He knew what it felt like to be fileted open and laid bare. Literally and figuratively.
“I say it’s worth a try.” Adam didn’t care if it sounded like he was simply agreeing with her. “We don’t have much else to fall back on to figure this out.”
“I’ll call Caleb. Fill him in.” Ash cleared his throat. “Find out if Morgan has a way to find Jay, or if there’s a way to find Noah.”
Kyle said, “I’ll check in with…you-know-who.”
Of course, Adam wasn’t going to say “the Phoenix Network” over an unsecured phone line. “Understood. We’ll find somewhere to stop, and you can catch up. I’d rather we do this together than work it from other angles.”
“As long as you watch your back until we get there, Nix.”
Adam said, “Will do.”
The call ended.
Steph pulled the car over, parking up against a low stone wall at the side of the road which reminded him of Syria, the day they’d met. Parking so she couldn’t get out, with the truck up against a cliff.
“Gonna hold a gun to my head again?”
She looked at him, the damp of tears in her eyes. “What?”
“I was just remembering Syria.” He shook his head. “Feels like weeks ago.”
“Back when we were young and na?ve, and we thought the CIA wouldn’t try to kill us.”
“Speak for yourself.” He reached over and squeezed her shoulder, getting her to chuckle a little. “Call your sister.”
She rolled her eyes. “She’s not really my sister. Not in any way that counts.”
“More like a thorn in your side? I’ll introduce you to my sister sometime. You’ll like her, and she’ll like you.”
Steph held the phone. “Was Ash really serious about finding my father? I’ve wanted to rescue him for years, but I could never locate him.”
“We can try.”
“I’d appreciate the effort.”
Adam nodded. “Make your call.”
She dialed and held the phone to her ear. Listening. “It’s me. I’m not going to pretend you feel any kind of loyalty to me, but I could use your help. All I want is information.” She tapped the screen and lowered the phone, looking around at the deserted mountain road around them.
A light drizzle dampened everything, and the windshield wipers swiped away the moisture. There wasn’t really enough to make it worth the effort.
Adam had about drifted off to sleep when the phone rang. He blinked, sitting up too fast.
“Easy.” She touched a hand to his arm. “It’s just me.”
For a second there, in his dream, she’d been gone and he had been back in that facility. At the mercy of a psychopathic US Army colonel. But it wasn’t real.
“Yes?” Whatever the caller said, Steph flushed and looked relieved. “Tell me where to find them. I don’t care how thin the lead is. I need to know what you know.”
A few seconds later, she hung up the phone.
Adam glanced over. “You have a location?”
“Vesper thinks she knows where Earthnet would’ve taken them.”
“How do we know it’s a good lead? She could be leading us into a trap—or a wild goose chase.”
“We don’t,” she said. “But we’re still going to check it out, right?”
“Of course.” He nodded. “With backup.”