The Operator
Page 69

Jesus, Peri, he thought, looking for her lithe frame among the bulky bodies and not seeing her. Relieved, he broke into a jog, following the commotion to the back door. Leaving bodies was not Peri’s style. It was too noisy, too drastic. Bodies smacked of Allen.
His fast pace slowed as a man ran down the hall toward him. “Where is Agent Reed?” Silas asked, but the man never saw him, heavy in his combat boots and a demand for the chopper to get in the air coming over his radio.
Silas hesitated, torn, until he heard Steiner yelling. His expression hardened. Hands fisted, he ran forward. He didn’t like how he always felt helpless when it came to Peri. She was so capable and inventive. But she got herself into trouble trying to be delicate when a quick bullet would be more efficient. Even so, he wouldn’t want her to change.
The air suddenly went chill, and Silas slowed as he came around the corner. The wide back door was open, spilling the heat of the complex into the January night. Two men in combat gear were sitting propped up against the wall, ignored as they tried to stanch their shoulder wounds while around them agents buzzed like angry hornets over tablets spewing data.
“Doc!” one of the downed men shouted, gesturing at him with his good hand, and Silas stared until he realized he was still in his lab coat.
He didn’t see Steiner or Peri, and, pulse fast, he went to the two wounded men, checking the younger one first as he tried to stay unnoticed. “You’re going to be fine,” he said as he moved to the other, looking under the makeshift bandage to the torn fabric and bleeding tissue. “In and out. Just apply pressure, and you’ll be back on the range in two weeks.” Peri did this.
He stood, wanting to go out, wanting to find her, afraid it would be too late.
“Doc.”
The man grabbed his sleeve, and Silas paused. “You’ll be fine,” he repeated, then realized there was powder residue on the man. The shot had been close, really close. “Did Reed do this?” he asked, dropping back down to crouch before the man. “Did she kill those men?”
The man grimaced, clearly in pain. “Reed shot both of us, yeah, but Twill was the one who killed everyone in the other van. It was so fast they didn’t have a chance. The bastard.”
Silas stood, his mind shifting into a new worry. Jack? Here? He looked down. “Where is she? Is she hurt?”
“Hurt? No.” The man took a peek under his soaked pad. “She’s gone.”
And then with a curious flip of sensation, time caught up and merged with hardly a whisper of disturbance. Silas took a breath, estimating the length of it. Forty-five seconds or so. It had been his Peri. She was running. Steiner had found her, captured her, and tried to bring her in. And Peri had balked, right at the gate by the looks of it.
Head shaking, Silas started for the open doorway and the pavers bathed in the stark white of electric lights. Steiner had made the mistake of not darting her to keep her from drafting. It was hard to fault him for it. Most people would make the same assumption that reliving a minute of time would change nothing, but knowing how someone was going to react gave her an immense advantage. Couple that with her training to evade . . . Steiner wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
“It was perfectly executed,” the man was saying. “Like they planned it.”
“Shut your mouth, Taylor!” Steiner shouted as he came in, clothes scuffed, bloodied, and filthy from melted snow. “I want a locator cuff on this man. Now!”
Silas pulled himself to his full height. “Why? I’ve been here all night.”
Steiner halted right before him, the anger in his cold expression easy to read. “It’s either that or a cell. I should put you in a cell anyway.”
Feet spread wide, Silas crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m doing exactly what you told me to do,” he said, but he lost his aggressive stance when Allen was dragged in between two men. Old bruises between new swellings decorated his face, and there was a cuff on his ankle already. Their eyes met, and Allen smiled, giving him a thumbs-up as he was dumped unceremoniously beside the two wounded agents.
“Now,” Steiner demanded, and Silas grimaced when a man he had once trained came over, an open cuff in his hand.
“Sorry, Dr. Denier.”
Knowing it wouldn’t fit, Silas obediently pulled his pant leg up, smug when the band wouldn’t clasp shut. “Ah, sir?” the technician called out, helpless.
Angry, Steiner snagged a passing man with an unfired rifle in his hand. “You. Watch him,” Steiner said. “If he tries to leave, shoot him in the foot.”
“Yes, sir!” the man barked.
Silas looked his new babysitter up and down, assessing the threat at a low three.
Apparently satisfied, Steiner started down the hallway, trailing a half-dozen aides. “I want to know how she got so far so fast. And why we can’t find her. She’s in a car, isn’t she?”
“She is, sir,” the man at his elbow said. “But it’s an old model and doesn’t have a computer. A Gremlin, we think.”
“You want me to put out an APB on a Gremlin?” Steiner rubbed his forehead, then said, “Do it. I want the borders shut and the river patrolled. No one crosses without an eyeball check.”
“She’s not going over the border,” Silas said, and Steiner stopped short, his entourage scrambled to get out of his way as he turned.
“And how do you know that?”
“That’s not where Michael is,” he said, and Allen nodded, his head down in exhaustion.
Steiner pushed his aides aside. “You expect me to believe this is so she can go after Michael?”
“And Bill.” Silas looked at his watch, wondering how far she’d gotten. “And when they are dead, she is going to vanish, and you will never find her.”
Steiner walked slowly back. “I don’t think so, Dr. Denier,” he said, holding up a vial. “She needs this. She either comes in, or I will kill her. No more darts, no more second chances. I will kill her. Tell her that if she contacts you.” Turning, he walked away again, his aides following.
“Not if she finds Bill first,” Silas said loudly.
Steiner kept walking. “Swift, get yourself looked at,” he said over his shoulder. “I want you in my office in an hour. Armand, where are the lockers? Are there executive showers in this facility?”