“It’s what I did to myself,” Marissa said. “I’ll tell you about it, just not now. Just promise me you won’t use this.”
Okay, that was a shitty thing to leave in the air. I didn’t know how to react to that, so I simply took a deep breath. “There’s a lot going on that I think he might be the key to unravelling.”
“He was a monster,” Marissa said, using language she didn’t normally use. “Evil.”
“So am I.”
“You’re not,” Marissa said before seemingly losing all will to resist. “I’ll see what I can do. I’ll have to ask someone about it first, though.”
“Okay, this is just weird now. We need to discuss this. Tonight.”
“No,” Marissa said. “We don’t.”
“Fine. Don’t accept my help.” I threw my hands up in the air before heading back into the penthouse. I saw Lucita sitting down and giving a deposition to an awed male bureaucrat she was dazzling with her smile.
The look she gave back to me was deadly as well as intrigued. She thought I’d ordered Hitoshi’s death, perhaps to prevent her from having to make the choice herself. Funny how everyone seemed to think I was a bigger evil mastermind than I was. Must be the suit.
Half an hour later, I got my meeting with S.
Chapter Nineteen
As interrogation rooms went, it wasn’t exactly Guantanamo Bay. The penthouse bedroom had its furniture removed but was still a luxurious room with a lot of light and warm air coming in from the ocean. This was contrasted, though, by the fact that S was tied to a metal chair with a bucket underneath it and a large plastic tarp spread across the floor. S had been undressed and left naked for maximum humiliation.
A video camera was recording in front of her while a series of computer devices with electrodes was tapping into her IRD implant. A little bit away from the chair was a plastic hospital cart with a tray full of hypodermic needles as well as ugly-looking instruments designed to intimidate. I’d never seen anyone try to hack a Letter’s brain or what the effect of it was, but by the fact that her body was covered in sweat while her face contorted in agony, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Unlike humans, Letters’ minds were made of information, and the act of flooding it with possible passwords was probably like pouring a vial of acid on the cerebellum. The smell to the place indicated she’d not been allowed to use the bathroom either. I really thought we were above this. All this was going to do was harden her resolve and increase her likelihood of trying to deceive us.
Then again, that was the nature of torture. Once you introduced it as an interrogation technique, people assumed it was better and more effective than other methods. It served the mentality that the only reason the War on Terror hadn’t been won was because the United States hadn’t been hard enough. Not that there were easy answers. A war on an ideology was a far harder one to win than a war on a nation—perhaps impossible, unless you killed everyone who held to it.
Shaking those thoughts from my mind, I concentrated on my surroundings. There were three individuals present. One was a United States Marines with his arms folded behind him. Another was a middle-aged black man in slacks with a white shirt and suspenders. I recognized him as Sophia Deveraux’s father Nigel. Nigel was a member of the Discipline Unit from the Society and loved torturing people in the same way other people loved porn. He indulged in it as much as possible while claiming to never do it at all. Sophia was still serving the Society, and I wondered if he was trying to find out where his daughter was—or if he was too focused on the task at hand.
I hated him.
“Hey, G!” Nigel said, turning around. “Good to see you. Marissa said we’re supposed to give you some time alone with the prisoner.”
“Nice to see you, Nigel,” I said, giving a fake smile. “I hope you’re fitting into the United States’ service well.”
“Like riding a bike,” Nigel said, chortling. “I’m back to doing the same thing I used to do in Romania when I was still a company man. The restrictions there were always so stifling. Things have improved since then, though. Perhaps I underestimated President Douglas. I can crack S in the next few hours, I promise.”
I looked at the computer, which was running through thousands of number and letter combinations beside us. It was weak AI designed to “guess” encryption possibilities rather than simply rely on brute force. It was still brute force hacking but had beaten programs designed to lock out users as well as keep individuals guessing until the heat-death of the universe. I suspected that would break S far earlier than his techniques.
“I’m sure you would,” I said, cheerfully. “However, I’d like to give it a go if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all, not at all,” Nigel said, turning off the camera while I blocked the Marines’ line of sight. I wondered what Marissa had promised him or if she’d just had to ask. “I assume you, of all people, would want to take a shot.”
I just nodded. “Take a five-minute break, Nigel.”
“I’ll give you twenty,” Nigel said, chuckling.
I was soon alone in the room with S. I imagined there were a half-dozen bugs and hidden cameras in the room aside from the main one, but I believed Marissa would have them all off. That level of trust surprised me. As if to accent that we were alone, a radio on the bottom shelf of the table started to play The Heavy’s “This Ain’t No Place For No Hero.” It was much louder than normal.
The moment we were alone, S ripped the chair up from where it had been bolted to the ground, busted it in two, and then swung at my head. I ducked underneath the chair and proceeded to grab a full hypodermic from the tray before jabbing it into her heart. I managed to put the entirety of the contents into her before she pulled back. She took a few steps back, then fell to her knees.
“You shouldn’t have tried that,” I said, reaching over and pulling out the needle. “These drugs are designed to incapacitate even a Letter. I’d say they contain nanites, but I understand it’s more a kind of microscopic cultured set of viruses designed to interfere with artificial organs.”
“F-fuck you.” S spit on the ground at my feet.
I stared down at her. “Can we can the broken bird act? Even after what Nigel has done and the drugs I just gave you, you’re still sharper than most people at their best.”
S took a deep breath, then closed her eyes. “I have nothing to say.”
“How about, ‘I’m sorry for almost killing you.’ That would be nice.”
“That would be a lie,” S snapped.
I frowned at her. “Just because we’re on opposite sides of this doesn’t mean we have to be enemies.”
S rolled her eyes. “I’m pretty sure that’s the definition of an enemy.”
I put the empty hypodermic back on the tray. “Only if you actually think the Society or US government is worth fighting for. I, for one, am Switzerland. The only person who has my loyalty in all this is me—and those I care about.”
“You’ve destroyed the Society,” S said.
“World’s smallest violin playing. You were the one who taught me that. Why the sudden change of heart?” I asked.
S was silent.
“Persephone is going to live,” I said. “She’s already given us everything.”
“Then you don’t need me,” S said. “So, get on with it.”
“It?” I asked, wondering if she really thought I was going to kill her. What was I saying? Of course she did.
“Execution, reprogramming, whatever you’ve been doing to the other Letters,” S rattled off what she thought was going on.
“I offered them jobs,” I said, staring at her. “E just joined up.”
S looked like she’d been punched in the gut. “How the hell did you manage that?”
“Whenever the British government identified spies working for the Nazis during World War Two, they gave them the option of flipping on their homeland. This proved to be a shockingly successful tactic, as not only did it rely on exploiting the captured agent’s self
-interest, but many German intelligence agents didn’t much care for their employers in the first place.”
S stared at me. “You got to him through his lover.”
“And beating the crap out of him,” I said, looking down at her. “It’s a samurai thing.”
“He’s Korean,” S pointed out.
“I know. Someone tell him that undying loyalty is an unattractive quality in a spy. I want to help you, S.”
“That’s what annoys me,” S said, glaring at me. “You’ve been following me around like a lovesick puppy since we were forced into marriage. I tolerated it because it’s better to have someone who likes you rather than someone who loathes you, but it was never anything more than a convenience. I’ve since taken up with someone else. I’m glad they’re safe from you.”
“Quite the change from last night.”
“Hours of torture will do that.”
She had a point there. “How did Matthews convince you the Society was a lesser evil than President Douglas? It can’t have been Viktor.”
“I’m not saying anything,” S said, defiant.
“I can get you out of here.”
“Your masters won’t let you.”
“I could probably convince them that you need to be allowed to escape to track back your owners, only to actually let you get away. They’re kind of idiotic that way. That is, unless you want to join.”
“I don’t,” S said with more intensity than I expected. “I was working with Matthews to end all this. He has a vision for America.”
“Yeah, lots and lots of money in his pocket with a puppet president,”
I said, baiting her to reveal more.
“No, he—” S stopped midsentence. “God damn you, G. You’re too fucking good at this.”
I smirked, acknowledging she’d caught me. “Everyone wants to talk. Its why torture is such a stupid idea for anything but punishment, revenge, or creepy sex fantasies. People have forgotten the lost art of conversation. So, when did you discover we were all Ken and Barbie dolls in the service of a deranged bunch of rich toddlers?”
“If you mean when I found out we were cybernetic clones, I found out the truth not long after you did,” S said, looking on the verge of tears. “Matthews told me everything. That I was never the person I thought I was, and there was no retirement. The Society would use us until we broke down, then replace us.”
“Yeah,” I said, taking in what she was letting slip. “That’s what turned me against the Society. I wanted to fulfill the Freudian dream of killing my parents. Unlike Oedipus, I hated my mother too.”
S let out a bitter laugh. “You think the United States is better?
“Not in the slightest. That still doesn’t justify trying to kill me in Peru.”
“What?” S asked, blinking.
“When you paid Parker to sabotage my grappling gun,” I said, still smarting from S’s betrayal. “You then sent a drone attack that tore up our base. You didn’t kill me there, though, so I’m grateful.”
“I didn’t do any of that,” S said. “I had Parker monitoring you, nothing more.”
I paused, gauging her reaction. She had no reason to lie, but Parker had been too stupid not to tell me the absolute truth when I’d interrogated him. “Interesting. Seriously, though, President Douglas is going to release Black Technology to the world and make it a better place.”
“No, she isn’t,” S said. “Sarah Douglas may drop a few bits here and there to make herself look good, but no person who loves power as much as she does will allow it to the public. Matthews may believe she’ll change the world, but he’s wrong.”
That tracked with my impressions about the President. It also made the entire conflict between her and the Society pointless. “So tell me, really, what did Matthews offer you? It’ll be between us. If you never loved me, never cared about me in the slightest, believe that I did care about you. I have a history for liking women who lie to me more than I do to them.”
Strangely, that caused her to pause. “He didn’t have to offer me anything. I failed.”
“Failed,” I said, blinking. “Failed at what?”
“Being human,” S said, looking about ready to burst into tears.
Instead, she started to laugh. “I managed to get away from the Society and live a whole month before I ended up killing three people. They were my girlfriend’s owners in the Bratva. After that, I realized I had about as much in common with the rest of humanity as a wolf among sheep. I’d also run out of money, too. It turns out I liked the luxuries we had more than I thought.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, knowing how much that must have been a blow for her. “We are what they programmed us to be.”
“Are we?” S asked, shaking her head. “If we were, we’d have stayed loyal, but we all have betrayed our masters at one point or another. They just keep coming up with new ways to bring us back under their control, like correcting a bad dog’s behavior. I don’t even know how to be free anymore, G. If I ever did.”
Her words were sobering. “We all choose the lesser of two evils, S. You just chose different ones.”
“Are they going to wipe my mind?” S asked.
“Only if they think you’re a threat,” I said. “I can end this if you want me to.”
“Don’t,” S said. “I’d rather live. I’d rather they think me dangerous enough that I’m an asset worth preserving.”
I’d rather die than be reprogrammed. I was my memories and they were all mine. “Understood. I can keep you from being tortured. It’ll be painful, though.”
“Beat the shit out of me and let them treat me like a normal woman instead of a cyborg?” S asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Thank you. I’ll tell you where Matthews is. Maybe that’ll give you some pull in this organization.”
I shrugged. “I doubt it. I’m just another screwdriver in their toolbox. That doesn’t mean Matthews doesn’t deserve to die, though.”
“We all deserve to die, but I understand your feelings.”
I turned down the music. “Now.”
S grabbed a piece of the broken metal chair off the ground to go for my throat, only for me to grab her arm and pull her into a chokehold. If S was at full strength, she would have been able to escape, but I held tight. The metal pipe in her hand fell to the ground while she continued to struggle.
“Where is Colonel Matthews?” I shouted. We had to make this look good. “Tell me, now!”
“I don’t know!” S hissed, still trying to move her cuffed hands.
“Liar!” I snapped, pushing her back down when she tried to do a backflip over my body.
“My handler and I had a four-hour window of time to regroup after the assassination!” S shouted. “He’s gone.”
“I don’t believe you!” I shouted.
“Screw you!” S said, thrashing about like a wild animal.
Nigel and the two guards ran back into the room, though slower than they probably should have given the amount of noise we had to be making. Taking note of the battered S and the damage around the room, he gave a short chuckle before saying, “If you were just going to beat it out of her, you didn’t need to have me leave the room.”
I wanted to kill Nigel in that moment.
“Uh-huh,” I said, uninterested in talking further. “Tell me what you find.”
“Of course,” Nigel said, walking over to the machine. “Who knows what sort of secrets we’ll find in her mind. The opportunity to study a Letter in-depth is an opportunity not to be missed.”
I decided to figure out some way to help S. Just not now. My cellphone rang as I exited to the interrogation chamber. Since only a handful of people in the world possessed access to my encrypted number, I pulled it out and put it up to my ear.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Hello, G,” Delphi’s voice spoke on the other line. “Having trouble?”
I blinked, not expecting to ever hear from her again. “What do you want?”
It wasn’t the politest of responses, but I was too stunned to fall back on manners.
“To repay my debt to you,” Delphi said. “I’d like to give you Colonel Matthews. I’ve kept up with his and Nechayev’s locations since you botched my first attempt to help you eliminate them.”
“That wasn’t me,” I said. “Blame the government.”
“I can still help you find them,” Delphi said.
Honestly, I didn’t give a shit about helping President Douglas bring down the Tribunal. I loathed her almost as much as I hated my old bosses. The fact that her people were torturing S and had made me hold Peter over E was enough to dissolve any gratitude I had for their introducing me to Marissa. Hell, the dangling of a fake cure over my head was enough to make me think I should eliminate Douglas before the election cycle was done—she wouldn’t be the first Chief of State I’d eliminated. Instead, as I stood there, a different idea popped in my head.
“What?” Delphi asked.
“I’d like something else,” I said. “Tell me, do you have access to all of Persephone’s files?”
“The file I gave you gave me a back door into Strike Force-22’s systems,” Delphi said. “Everything they’ve uploaded I have access to. I also have all of the original Peruvian documents stored as leverage.”
“Does that include the Black Technology schematics?” I asked.
“I have complete files on ninety-three percent of all concealed technologies, yes. Why?”
I closed my eyes. “Not here.”
I had a plan to cut my strings forever.
Chapter Twenty
“A kitten cafe, really?” Delphi’s voice spoke on the burner phone I’d acquired on my way there.
The Meow and Drink (it sounded better in Japanese) was a little hole in the wall in the middle of Tokyo’s downtown, well away from the penthouse where the rest of Strike Force-22 were going gaga over what they’d found in S’s memories.
The cellphone was resting on the table in front of me while I sipped a glass of tea. Several cats moved around my booth. In this place I was surrounded by a mixture of locals and tourists—the perfect place to hold a secret meeting. I’d been followed on my way out but managed to lose my tail, allowing me at least twenty to thirty minutes of privacy before they managed to track me down.
Agent G: Saboteur Page 14