Stephanie is trying to find out how I recovered my memories, what better person to try theories and shit on but a relative?”
“She didn’t do anything like that to Lorna,” I said, grateful to be able to say it. “And she’s your sister.”
“What are we going to do with the information from Walters?” Patrick asked.
“I say,” I began, “we don’t react. We spend the next twenty-four hours or more verifying. I fucking want to trust the man. Walters knew my father better than I did. But I can’t trust someone I barely know and someone who advocates for wiping people’s pasts to make them better soldiers.”
Mason turned to Patrick. “The next time you’re on the street or in a situation that requires you to pull the trigger, will you do it?”
“Fuck yeah.”
“So having a kid doesn’t make you soft?”
“I have two kids,” Patrick corrected as he stood and made his way to the coffee machine. “And to answer your question, the fucking opposite.” He straightened his shoulders, standing taller. “Jettison was involved in Ruby’s abduction. The less sane part of me at this moment, you know the part that has awakened to a crying baby multiple times a night, yeah, well that part wants to read that fucking message on your computer from Walters. And then that part wants to not do what Reid just said. I don’t want to verify. I want to get a flock of Sparrows and ambush their asses. And if you don’t think I want to be the one who pulls the trigger simply because I now have two children, you’d be sadly mistaken.”
“So you think Top is wrong about emotions and following orders?” Mason asked.
“I’m not sure that there is a right or wrong answer to that,” I replied. “I believe it’s up to the individual. It’s why, even with the Order’s magic memory blocker, people like Morehead and Jettison still go rogue. It’s independent thought. Taking away a person’s memory doesn’t take that away.” I lifted my hand toward Mason. “Look at you. Even before Laurel, you and Jack had said enough is enough. They took your memory of who you were, but they couldn’t take that independence from you. Even Kader was independent.”
“He still followed orders,” Mason said.
“And if I’m right about what you’ve told us, he also was in control of his own life.”
“My guess,” Patrick added, “is that Morehead fit that bill, like you’re saying. She was strong and independent. Wasn’t she Laurel’s assistant?”
“Yeah,” Mason said, “in hindsight, that status in the university wasn’t her choice; it was her placement from the Order. She had the credentials to exceed beyond that rank, but wasn’t able to pursue that due to her assignment. I think that situation added to her dislike of Laurel.”
The steel door opened, and we all turned, expecting to see Sparrow. Instead, it was Laurel carrying something small in her hand.
“Hi, I won’t bother you for long, but I thought I could explain this better in person.” She lifted a flash drive. “Lorna got me thinking the other day.” She looked around. “Wait, I’m interrupting, aren’t I? I can bring this to you later.”
“No,” Mason said with a sigh. “We were just talking about you.”
“Oh, that’s never good.”
“And about your assistant,” I said. “Stephanie Moore.”
Laurel lifted the flash drive again. “It’s interesting that you’d mention her.” She walked up to Mason. “May I show this from one of your computers?”
He went to his workstation and brought a computer to life, different than the one with Top’s message. “Here you go.”
Laurel inserted the flash drive and sat in Mason’s chair. Pulling up what appeared to be a file of PDFs, she turned to all of us. “I know I’m somehow connected to what’s been happening.” Laurel lifted her hand. “I don’t need anyone to sugarcoat it for me. I’m assuming it is because I’ve been working on my research without permission from the agency Mason worked for.”
“That’s not—”
Interrupting her husband, Laurel continued. “I want to help in any way I can. A few days ago, Lorna asked me how I was connected to her mom. I was her daughter-in-law, but she never knew that, so after Lorna’s and my discussion, I started going through all my original research.”
“Laurel, we have—”
“Mason, let me finish. This won’t take long. It’s funny that you mentioned Stephanie Moore. I found this.” Laurel turned and clicked on a saved document, a scan of a document. It appeared to be a consent form from the