Chapter 6 #2
Quinn straightened, leaning forward. “Let’s see…
” He motioned to Darwin. “Canada’s version of Dr. Strange, over there, created a super soldier serum, but his evil partner, Finch, stole it and weaponized it.
” He paused, glanced at Darwin. “Real shocker there, by the way. Now, we’ve got a bunch of these mutant assholes running around who happen to be extremely hard to kill.
And in order to fix everything, you all had to die and cops like me have been left to clean up your rather extensive line of messes. That about sum it up?”
“Taylor…”
Quinn pushed to his feet, missing the warmth of Scout’s hand in his, the moment it pulled free.
“I get it. You made something that could revolutionize how soldiers are treated in the field. Be the difference between them making it back to base or dying, right there. Then, assuming everything you’ve said is true, some psychotic asshole went and turned it into the very thing you hate.
I understand why you’re here, why you’re trying to keep this all secret.
But my sister’s out there, having god knows what done to her, so I really need to skip to the part where we do something. Anything.”
The room fell silent, everyone staring at him until Scout stood, twisted to face him.
He pointed to Gideon. “You can access Finch’s network. Can’t you find out where that transport was taking them? Maybe who that asshole was that was obviously in charge?”
Gideon placed his hands on the table and stood.
“I already took a cursory peek inside ORACLE, but there’s no record of anything other than a couple pings from a HELIOS watch, which stopped the moment you intercepted that transport.
In fact, I’m not sure Finch even knows this…
trial, for lack of a better word, is happening.
” He sighed. “I’m sorry, but the usual channels won’t help us. ”
Zadie scrambled to her feet. “If they start broadcasting again, we should be able to trace it.”
Quinn fisted his hands to resist pounding them on the table. “She could be dead by the time they do that. There’s got to be a way to track down who these people are….” He paused as a thought struck him. “Her race.”
Gideon frowned. “What race?”
“Brea’s race. That’s where she got the watch and the patches.
I don’t know who gave them to her. She didn’t say, and I didn’t ask.
” He didn’t add that he’d been too messed up to think.
To ask the kind of questions he normally would have.
“But it would have been one of the sponsors, right? Someone at the race. And there’s got to be some sort of digital record of who was there. If we can get a name…”
Zadie grinned. “We can hack our way into some intel.” She headed for the door. “C’mon, Mountie.”
Zadie rushed past, Gideon close behind. Scout moved aside and waved Quinn forward. He stepped into the main room, waiting until she stopped beside him, brow arched, looking adorably confused.
He offered his hand, striding forward once she’d slid her palm across his. He wasn’t sure why he needed the anchor. Just knew that his heart wouldn’t stop racing until her skin touched his, brought him the sense of peace he thought he’d lost.
Gus mumbled under his breath as they crossed the main living space then through another door. A blast of cool air mixed with ozone and orange cleaner washed over Quinn as he walked into the room, a bank of computers and monitors lined across the far wall.
Zadie took a seat with Gideon settling in beside her before she tapped on the keyboard, bringing the machine to life. She typed in a password, then glanced over at him. “Let’s start with the race. Do you know what it was called or where it located?”
Quinn leaned in. “It was called the Crucible 100 out of Squamish. Brea was pretty stoked because it was by invitation only. They chose the highest-ranking runners over a series of previous races. She thought it was an honor.”
His throat closed around the last few words, the memory of her on her ass, hands raised in defense nearly taking him to his knees. If she died because he hadn’t reached her in time…
Scout squeezed his hand without saying a word, just pressed her side against his as if she knew he was slipping. Grinding his teeth together, he used the pressure to keep from shouting as Zadie continued typing, the constant noise grating on his last nerve.
A clock ticked in the background, every strike jacking up his nerves until he wanted to put his fist through the damn thing.
Zadie finally stopped, chewing on her bottom lip before leaning back. “I’ve scoured the web, and I can’t find any official race called the Crucible. Are you sure that’s right?”
“She had a running shirt with the name and logo on it, so yeah, pretty confident.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “What about searching for permits? In order to get the distance they need, these races encompass a huge area. No way they accomplished that without crossing onto crown land.”
Scout shifted closer. “And check social media for photos the participants would have posted. I mean, even if the race, itself, was a ploy to bring in a certain clientele for these trials as Gideon called them, the runners have likely been to enough legit ones, they’d know if it was sketchy, which means whoever organized it had to make it look and feel legit. ”
Quinn nodded. “Scout’s right. And there’s usually a photographer who posts images on a website where participants can purchase copies, and the sponsors all have tents. And they’d need security.”
Zadie smiled, glancing at Gideon. “Already running algorithms to search for all of that, but it’s going to take time. Why don’t you all get a drink, change out of those wet clothes, and I’ll shout as soon as I have anything.”
“Thanks, but I don’t really care about wet clothes, right now.” He gestured toward the other computers. “I can search the police database. Look for any tickets or disturbances out that way around the same time, maybe cross-reference?—”
“Quinn.” Scout stopped him from shifting over. “While I realize you’re an action sort of guy, we can’t have you digging around in an unsecured database.”
“It’s highly encrypted.”
“That’s not what I mean.” She blew out a breath, mouth pursed tight, a hint of red on her cheeks. Just like in the forest when she’d pulled her hand away — as if she wanted to disappear. “We can’t risk that the wrong person might get alerted to what you’re searching for.”