pretty rough watching him. He’s only a kid.”
“You said she found you. How?”
“The Garwood records she’d gotten from her friend had cross-references to Thomas Reilly’s cases that were brought there. The Garwood subjects had ‘disappeared’ but there were still leads to some of Reilly’s. He had an entire compound of men to tap for service to the highest bidder. They dispersed when the CIA was closing in on Reilly. Most of them were picked up but some of us stayed free.” He paused. “But you knew all this. You tracked me down yourself almost a year ago.”
“And you told me you knew nothing about where Sanborne had moved his REM-4 experiments. Lies?”
Jock shook his head. “I didn’t remember much of anything at that time. It took a hell of a long time for me to heal enough to be able to put any kind of facts together. I was pretty much of a vegetable when MacDuff found me in that asylum in Denver after I’d broken free of Reilly. You were too early in my recovery. If you’d come a few months later you’d have gotten more out of me. Sophie came at just the right time. I was ready to remember. She prodded me and it came flowing back to me.”
Royd studied him. He was probably telling the truth. Jock was different from the man he’d first met. At that time he’d been a little vague and remote. There was nothing vague or remote about this man across the table from him. That Scottish brogue was soft but everything else about him was decisive and unyielding. “And what did you remember?”
“That Reilly was going to send a few of his newer subjects to another Sanborne location for training even before the CIA raid. Somewhere in Maryland.”
“And why didn’t you contact me? Dammit, you knew I had to know. It took me months to find out that information for myself.”
“I was a little busy with Sophie. I didn’t want interference.”
“Busy?”
“She didn’t really know the scope of what Sanborne had done until she met me. She was pretty devastated. She was going to go after Sanborne on her own.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t allow her to do it.”
“Why not?”
“She touched me,” he said simply. “She was full of guilt and pain and was no match for Sanborne and his goons. At first, she wanted to try to get into the facility and destroy the research that had created REM-4. But they had changed all the security codes and she couldn’t do it. So that left her with only cutting off the head of the snake and hoping that would destroy the poison.”
“So she asked you to do it?”
He shook his head again. “She’s so burdened by guilt at what she’d helped to do to me that there’s no way she’d let me kill him. The only thing she asked was for me to teach her how to kill a man.”
“And you did it?”
“Yes, she’s technically very good. She’s almost as fine a shot as I am. Can she do it? She thinks she can. It depends how much hate she has stored up. Hate can make the difference.” He stared Royd in the eye. “Can’t it?”
Royd ignored the question. “She
is
guilty. How do you know that she wasn’t involved with Sanborne’s scheme from the beginning and then had a falling-out?”
“I trust her.”
“And I don’t.”
“I’m not a fool, Royd. She told me the truth.” He studied him.
“You look frustrated as hell. Why do you want her to still be in Sanborne’s pocket?” “Because it was my chance to squeeze enough information out of her to locate the REM-4 formulas and bring down Sanborne and Boch. Now you tell me she’s practically an innocent bystander.” His hand clenched into a fist. “No, I won’t buy it.”
“You’ll buy it. You’re too smart to be blinded by the way you want things to be. You just have to get used to the idea.”
“Maybe.”
Jock’s gaze narrowed on his face. “What are you thinking?”
“Ever since I escaped Garwood I’ve had to manipulate every situation to make sure I survived and stayed on the road to
“You said she found you. How?”
“The Garwood records she’d gotten from her friend had cross-references to Thomas Reilly’s cases that were brought there. The Garwood subjects had ‘disappeared’ but there were still leads to some of Reilly’s. He had an entire compound of men to tap for service to the highest bidder. They dispersed when the CIA was closing in on Reilly. Most of them were picked up but some of us stayed free.” He paused. “But you knew all this. You tracked me down yourself almost a year ago.”
“And you told me you knew nothing about where Sanborne had moved his REM-4 experiments. Lies?”
Jock shook his head. “I didn’t remember much of anything at that time. It took a hell of a long time for me to heal enough to be able to put any kind of facts together. I was pretty much of a vegetable when MacDuff found me in that asylum in Denver after I’d broken free of Reilly. You were too early in my recovery. If you’d come a few months later you’d have gotten more out of me. Sophie came at just the right time. I was ready to remember. She prodded me and it came flowing back to me.”
Royd studied him. He was probably telling the truth. Jock was different from the man he’d first met. At that time he’d been a little vague and remote. There was nothing vague or remote about this man across the table from him. That Scottish brogue was soft but everything else about him was decisive and unyielding. “And what did you remember?”
“That Reilly was going to send a few of his newer subjects to another Sanborne location for training even before the CIA raid. Somewhere in Maryland.”
“And why didn’t you contact me? Dammit, you knew I had to know. It took me months to find out that information for myself.”
“I was a little busy with Sophie. I didn’t want interference.”
“Busy?”
“She didn’t really know the scope of what Sanborne had done until she met me. She was pretty devastated. She was going to go after Sanborne on her own.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t allow her to do it.”
“Why not?”
“She touched me,” he said simply. “She was full of guilt and pain and was no match for Sanborne and his goons. At first, she wanted to try to get into the facility and destroy the research that had created REM-4. But they had changed all the security codes and she couldn’t do it. So that left her with only cutting off the head of the snake and hoping that would destroy the poison.”
“So she asked you to do it?”
He shook his head again. “She’s so burdened by guilt at what she’d helped to do to me that there’s no way she’d let me kill him. The only thing she asked was for me to teach her how to kill a man.”
“And you did it?”
“Yes, she’s technically very good. She’s almost as fine a shot as I am. Can she do it? She thinks she can. It depends how much hate she has stored up. Hate can make the difference.” He stared Royd in the eye. “Can’t it?”
Royd ignored the question. “She
is
guilty. How do you know that she wasn’t involved with Sanborne’s scheme from the beginning and then had a falling-out?”
“I trust her.”
“And I don’t.”
“I’m not a fool, Royd. She told me the truth.” He studied him.
“You look frustrated as hell. Why do you want her to still be in Sanborne’s pocket?” “Because it was my chance to squeeze enough information out of her to locate the REM-4 formulas and bring down Sanborne and Boch. Now you tell me she’s practically an innocent bystander.” His hand clenched into a fist. “No, I won’t buy it.”
“You’ll buy it. You’re too smart to be blinded by the way you want things to be. You just have to get used to the idea.”
“Maybe.”
Jock’s gaze narrowed on his face. “What are you thinking?”
“Ever since I escaped Garwood I’ve had to manipulate every situation to make sure I survived and stayed on the road to
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