The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,133

one with a happy ending. But did you feel any ill effects from taking on al-Rais’s persona again? Anything . . . deep down?’ She didn’t want to use Tony’s words to prompt him, hoping he would come up with his own description.

None was forthcoming, though. ‘No. Unless you count disgust, now that I know some of the things he’s done. John was right. We should have killed him when we had the chance. He deserves it. Only now . . .’ He sighed. ‘He’s on the loose again. And he knows about the Persona Project.’

‘He can’t know all that much, surely?’ said Bianca. ‘Even though we didn’t give him any Mnemexal, all he’ll remember is that we did something to him – but he won’t know what. Maybe he just thought the PERSONA machine was a fancy lie detector or something.’

‘He knows our faces.’

That thought cast a pall over the room. ‘Hopefully someone’ll catch him before he can find out who we are.’

‘We need more than hope.’ Adam leaned back, thinking. ‘He’s got assets he can use against us. But we’ve got one we can use against him.’

‘His persona?’

‘No. We got the most crucial information in the first interrogation – anything else is just going to be extra detail. But we’ve also got Qasid. He knows one of al-Qaeda’s moles – someone high up in Pakistani intelligence. If we find out who . . . maybe we can turn them.’

‘And get them to tell us where al-Rais is?’ Adam nodded. ‘Only problem is, Harper doesn’t think Qasid’s worth the effort. What if you can’t get permission to make a transfer before he gets shipped out to Guantanamo Bay?’

‘I already know I won’t get it,’ he said. ‘They’re only interested in al-Rais. But Qasid knows something. And not just about the mole – about me, too. He’s seen me before.’ Another thoughtful pause, then he stood. ‘I’m going to find out where.’

‘You’re going to interrogate him?’

‘No. I’m going to use the PERSONA on him.’

‘What?’ Bianca gasped. ‘Wait a minute – if you don’t have permission, won’t that get you into a lot of trouble with Morgan? And with Harper?’

‘I’ll have permission – they just won’t know about it. I can hack into the system and give myself authorisation.’

‘That sounds like a really bad idea, Adam.’

‘Oh, it gets worse,’ he said, giving her a humourless smile. ‘Because I can’t do it without your help. So . . . will you help me?’

Visions of orange jumpsuits jumped unbidden to her mind. ‘Are you insane? I don’t want to end up in the cell next door to Qasid!’

‘Nobody’ll ever find out. And this is the best time to do it – there’s hardly anyone on duty. The full day shift won’t come in for another couple of hours. I’ll only need a few minutes to get what I need from Qasid’s persona.’

‘What about the security cameras? And the guard on the cells?’

‘If nobody knows anything happened, they won’t have any reason to look at the security records. And the guard will check his computer, see we’ve got permission and not think anything more about it. Bianca, please!’ he said, suddenly pleading. ‘I’ve got to do this. Qasid knows something about my past. If he’s taken away, I’ll never find out what it is.’

‘I want to help you, really I do,’ she replied. ‘But it’s too dangerous!’

‘You went undercover with a violent arms dealer. That was dangerous. So was hiding in the back of a snowcat full of terrorists. All you have to do here is get the PERSONA gear from the lab and oversee the transfer – it’ll take ten minutes, tops.’

‘But if we get caught . . .’

‘We won’t be,’ he insisted. ‘I know what I’m doing.’ Seeing that she was still reluctant, he softened his voice. ‘Bianca, I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You’ve done something for me that nobody else has – you made me start thinking about who I really am. And now, I’ve got a chance to find out . . . but I’ll never know if you don’t help me. I need to do this, Bianca. Please.’

Several seconds passed before she gave him a reply. ‘Are you absolutely sure you can do it without anyone finding out?’

‘Yes, I am. Do you trust me?’

Another pause, but shorter. ‘Yes,’ she said, before repeating the word with more certainty. ‘Yes.’

‘Will you help me?’

Seconds passed before she replied. She would be risking a lot: her career, the Luminica