In the Grey (51 page)

“
What was that?” Ben
asked.

“
I don’t know,” Eoin said.
“I’m not fakin’; I don’ have any idea.”

Ben nodded.

“
He taped every
interaction. Find his video camera,” Patrick said. “I can’t move or
I’ll track blood everywhere. Ben stop. You’re covered,
too.”

Cian went to the desk. He
grabbed the notebook and stuffed it down the back of his pants.
Eoin riffled through the drawers. He grabbed a stack of files from
the bottom drawer and tucked them into his sports
jacket.

“
Video,” Patrick pointed
to the long bookcase along the wall to the left of the door. “It’s
got to be over there.”

Cian carefully checked
each shelf.

“
Dr. Singer?” the
secretary asked through the door.

Cian found the camera. He
yanked it from its fitting and stuffed it in his pocket.

“
Does it go anywhere?” Ben
asked.

Cian shook his
head.

“
Jane!” Patrick said.
“Call the police.”

“
What . . . ?” The door handle
turned.

Patrick nodded to Cian. He
met the secretary at the door.

“
Don’ come in here,” Cian
said. “He’s gone and offed himself.”

The elderly woman did
something strange; she looked at Cian and nodded. She glanced
around the room.

“
With his pen?” she
asked.

“
Yes ma’am,” Cian
said.

She turned her wrist over
to look at her watch. She gave Cian a sincere nod and walked out of
the office. Cian was so surprised he didn’t know what to say. She
reappeared with a roll of butcher paper, a heavy duffle bag, and
three young men.

“
Paddie, I only have
fatigues,” she said.

“
That will do,” Patrick
said.

While Eoin and Cian
gawked, she rolled the butcher paper in Patrick’s direction. The
roll bounced against his shin. He bent down and tore the sheet.
Without moving, he turned and rolled the paper to Ben, who repeated
Patrick’s gesture.

Patrick walked the paper
to the door. The secretary looked him over and nodded. The
secretary dropped the duffle bag. Patrick undressed. He dropped his
jacket and dress shirt onto the paper. He stepped out of his shoes,
took off his socks, and pulled off his pants. From the duffle bag,
he took a digital camouflage shirt and pants. When he was dressed,
the secretary gave him a plastic trash bag, which he put his
clothing into. She set down a pair of flip flops which he put on.
Patrick stepped aside to allow Ben to change. Ben went through the
same procedure and ended up with a plastic bag full of
clothing.

“
Mr. Kelly?” the secretary
asked.

Too uncomfortable to not
comply, Cian stepped forward. The secretary looked him
over.

“
Turn around,” she
said.

Cian turned
around.

“
You’re clear,” she said.
“Please stand with the General.”

Cian stepped off the paper
and stood with Ben and Patrick.

“
Mr. Mac Kinney?” she
asked.

Eoin stood in front of
her.

“
You don’t know this,” she
said. “But you saved my daughter’s life.”

“
I . . .”

“
I just wanted to thank
you,” the secretary said. “Turn around please.”

Eoin turned
around.

“
You’re clear,” the
secretary said. “Follow Patrick.”

She nodded to Eoin and
stepped out of the doorway. The three younger men came into the
room, and she went back to sit at her desk.

“
We’ll get the desk,” one
of the young men said. “Anything else?”

“
The bookshelf,” Cian
said.

“
I touched that chair,”
Eoin said.

“
Done,” the young man
said. To Patrick, he said, “We’ll be in touch.”

“
Destroy your clothing as
soon as you can,” the secretary said. “All of you.”

“
This way,” Patrick
pointed to the door.

They followed Patrick out
the door and down the hallway. Patrick veered from the elevator and
took the stairs. They were out of the building. Rather than take
their rental car, Patrick flagged a taxi. He had a long,
complicated conversation with the cab driver about his retirement
from the US Senate. The cab dropped them off at Fairfax Hotel.
While Patrick slapped people’s backs and laughed, Ben checked them
into a four-room suite at the hotel. No one spoke until the suite
door swung closed.

“
What the hell was that?”
Cian asked.

Ben’s eyes flicked to Cian
before going to the bar to mix a drink.

“
What
was
that?” Cian asked
again.

Ben glanced at Patrick and
he nodded.

“
We’re not sure,” Ben
said. “The secretary is someone we know from other business. She
works on a cleaning crew.”

“
She’s seventy!” Cian
said.

“
She did look that way
today,” Patrick said.

“
Dr. Singer was either
slated for elimination today or they thought we would kill him,”
Patrick said.

“
Did ya plan to?” Eoin
asked.

“
No,” Patrick said. “He
was worth more alive than dead.”

As if he was cold, Patrick
went to stand in front of the fireplace.

“
She seemed to know he
would kill himself with the fountain-tip,” Ben said.

“
Good point,” Patrick
said.

“
You think we were
targeted?” Cian asked.

“
It’s very possible that
our appointment was noted,” Patrick said. “Whoever set up his
removal didn’t realize that we have our own
connections.”

“
What does that mean?”
Eoin asked.

“
He means that we know the
cleaners,” Ben said. “Patrick knew the good doctor was slated for
elimination when he saw the secretary.”

“
My guess is Cam knew it
the moment she showed up for work this morning,” Patrick
said.

Eoin and Cian
nodded.

“
I want to know one
thing,” Patrick said. He turned to look at Eoin.

“
What’s that, sir?” Eoin
asked.

“
What do you and Dr.
Singer have in common?” Patrick asked.

“
No idea, sir,” Eoin said.
“I wanted to come today because I wanted to meet the man who
developed this protocol. It’s damned hard to crack, and wicked
complicated.”

“
But you’ve seen it
before?” Patrick asked.

“
I have,” Eoin said. “Boys
in Shankill after a trip to the Maze.”

“
I’ll check on it,” Ben
said.

“
Sir, what are we doing?”
Cian asked. “I know you want to get back to Alex and
Max.”

“
We’re waiting for our
story and clothing,” Patrick said.

“
That’s handy,” Cian
said.

Patrick nodded.

“
What do you think it
means, sir?” Cian asked.

“
What?” Ben
asked.

“
The joke’s on you,” Cian
said. “That’s what that turd Joiner said to Alex before he was
killed.”

“
How do you know that?”
Ben asked.

“
Alex asked me what I
thought it meant,” Cian said.

“
She asked me too,” Eoin
said. “She trusts us and
appreciates
our wisdom.”

Cian gave an emphatic
nod.

“
Did you come up with
anything?” Ben asked.

“
No,” Cian said. “Eoin
thinks he remembers something, maybe a rhyme, but he’s not sure
what it is.”

“
For my sake,” Patrick
said. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, Eoin?”

Eoin shook his
head.

“
Have you ever met Dr.
Singer before?” Patrick asked.

“
No,” Eoin
said.

“
He just said that,” Cian
said.

“
You’re sure?” Ben
asked.

“
Yes, I’m sure,” Eoin
said.

“
Did you know what he
meant by, ‘You’ve destroyed my best work’?” Ben asked.

“
No,” Eoin
said.

“
I figured it was the work
in Belfast,” Cian said.

“
He could have meant
yesterday,” Eoin said.

“
He’d have to have known
that Alex and Steve, for that matter, survived,” Patrick said. “He
didn’t seem to know that until I told him.”

“
Maybe he set up Neev,”
Cian said.

“
Say more,” Patrick
said.

“
She could have reported
to him,” Cian said. “She’d have known Eoin was messing with
Samantha, Wyatt, and Pershing.”

Patrick and Ben nodded as
if they agreed, but their faces remained unreadable.

“
He would have known that
Eoin was messing with the works and . . .” Cian
stopped talking when there was a knock at the door.

Patrick answered the door.
He had a quiet conversation and came back into the room.

“
We’re set to leave in an
hour,” Patrick said. “We’re due downstairs for an argumentative
dinner. Ben?” Patrick said.

Ben nodded.

“
I need everything you
took,” Ben said. “I’ll photograph all of it, copy it all, and have
it destroyed. That way, if we’re caught with it, we won’t lose it
completely.”

Eoin and Cian unloaded
their haul onto the coffee table. Ben and Patrick used hotel pens
to look through what they’d taken from Dr. Singer’s office. Ben
took digital photos with a tiny camera that looked like a flash
drive.

“
Let’s get showered and
dressed,” Patrick said. “Ben first, since he’s working.”

Ben left the room to
shower.

“
Is it always like this,
sir?” Eoin asked Patrick.

“
Like what?” Patrick
asked.

“
Weird and confusing,”
Cian said.

“
Horrifying,” Eoin
said.

“
Yes,” Patrick said. “I
try to trust that everything will eventually work itself
out.”

“
Does it usually?” Eoin
asked.

“
Eventually,” Patrick
said. “The question is will you live long enough to see
‘eventually’?”

Patrick winked. There was
another knock at the door. A bellman delivered clothing for all
four of them. Patrick brought Ben his new clothing, before changing
out of the fatigues he was wearing. Eoin and Cian changed quickly.
Miraculously, the jeans and shirts fit perfectly. Cian took a trash
bag from a trash container and they stuffed their clothing in the
bag. Patrick dug through his clothing for his wallet and cell
phone. He found Ben’s wallet and phone among his things.

Patrick stuffed the
fatigues into his plastic bag. He did the same with Ben’s clothing.
He crammed everything they had taken from Dr. Singer’s office into
his plastic bag before tying his shoes. Anxious, Eoin walked over
to where he sat.

“
Will we be going home?”
Eoin asked. “I’d love to see the missus and my baby.”

“
My girl is at home with
her babe to see if we can keep her,” Cian said.

“
We’ll be late,” Patrick
said. “But I think we all want to get home.”

Eoin nodded.

“
You can call,” Patrick
said.

“
Great,” Eoin
said.

Eoin went to a window and
dialed his cell phone. He pressed send and flicked open the sheer
curtain. Cian tackled him. They were flying through the air when
bullets pierced the glass. They landed with a thud. Naked, Ben ran
out of the bathroom.

“
Hello?” Delilah
asked.

“
Love,” Eoin grunted. “I
need to call you back.”

Patrick pushed the blinds
closed and went to the men. Cian rolled off Eoin and grabbed his
left shoulder. A bullet had sliced through the skin. Patrick
kneeled down to them.

“
My heart hurts, but I
feel . . . ,” Eoin started.

Ben tore Eoin’s shirt open
and then dropped back to his heels. Patrick laughed.

“
Body armor?” Ben
smiled.

“
We’re not bloody stupid,”
Cian said. “Johnny gave us his and Max’s. He said if we were going
with you, we should be careful. Aren’t you wearin’ it?”

“
No,” Patrick
laughed.

“
Hobbits,” Ben said under
his breath. Patrick laughed.

“
I’m no Hobbit!” Eoin
said.

Laughing, Ben went back to
the bathroom.

“
My chest still hurts,”
Eoin said.

“
Probably broke a rib,”
Patrick said. “We’ll get it checked out. Cian?”

Patrick waved Cian over to
him. He took a look at his wound. He made strips out of a small
towel with his knife and bound Cian’s wound.