The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,148

and strained. ‘If what Adam Gray knows – what he used to know – gets into the wrong hands, there will be major implications for national security. That disk has to be recovered, Morgan. At any cost. Do I make myself clear?’

‘You do, sir,’ said Morgan, frowning. ‘If I may ask . . . when you say “the wrong hands”, do they include Agent Gray’s?’

Another pause. ‘That is correct. Where’s Gray now?’

‘We’re not sure. He’s knocked out our systems.’

‘What?’

‘He blew a water tank and shorted out a lot of the building’s electrics. We’re trying to bring everything back online now. We think he’s on the roof, but—’

‘Whatever it takes, Morgan, you have to recover that disk. Put Baxter and his team on it. They’re authorised to use any means necessary to take Gray down.’

Morgan was shocked. ‘Take him down, sir? Are you saying—’

He broke off, whipping round at a muffled sound from somewhere outside the room. Kyle jumped. ‘Was that a gun?’

‘Everyone stay calm,’ Morgan ordered, as more distant retorts reached him. ‘Stay at your posts – we need those cameras! Get our systems online!’ He brought the phone back up. ‘Sir, there have been shots fired. I’ll report back as soon as I know the situation.’ He ran from the Bullpen, following Tony’s path through the building.

He passed frightened workers rushing the other way. ‘Did you see what happened?’ he asked one woman.

She shook her head, desperate to get away. ‘No, sir. But I saw Mr Carpenter run past my office – and then we heard the shots.’ She pointed down the corridor.

‘Get to safety,’ Morgan ordered, running the way she had indicated. Towards the cells. It struck him that he could be heading straight into danger, unarmed, but he shook off his concerns. He was in charge; he had to know what had happened.

A security door ahead, the green light flashing. He hurried through. Beyond was the holding area. The door was open – and he caught the sharp scent of gun smoke in the air. ‘Tony!’ he called, going to the entrance. ‘Tony, are you okay?’

Silence, then—

‘Martin? Yeah, I’m all right.’ Tony sounded anything but.

Morgan looked cautiously through the doorway. Tony was leaning over the guard’s desk, supporting himself with both hands and breathing heavily. The guard himself, a man named Rivers, was sprawled on the floor outside Qasid’s cell – which was open, and empty. A pool of blood slowly swelled around him. He was unmoving, eyes and mouth frozen open.

Qasid was slumped against the wall by the door. Ragged splatters of blood were splashed across the paint, smeared downwards where the terrorist had fallen. A SIG lay near him, several shell casings glinting on the floor. ‘What happened?’ Morgan asked.

Tony shook his head. ‘I wish I knew. Maybe Rivers didn’t realise that the failsafe system had unlocked the cell and went to check the door after the lights went out, I don’t know. But Qasid must have caught him by surprise and got his gun.’ He looked down grimly at the dead guard. ‘Jesus.’

‘What about you?’

‘I came in just as Qasid was going out – we ran right into each other. We started fighting for the gun. He nearly got me with it, but I managed to take it off him.’

‘So I see.’ Morgan checked the Pakistani’s corpse. Three holes had been ripped through his chest and abdomen, blackened and burned by the muzzle flare from point-blank shots. ‘My God. Are you sure you’re okay?’

‘Just shaken up, that’s all. What’s the situation with Adam?’

‘Right now, you know as much as I do. But Harper wants him taken down.’ Tony reacted with shock. ‘Come on, we’ve got to get back to the Bullpen.’ They left the cells at a run.

40

Leap of Faith

Bianca peered nervously over the edge of the roof. Traffic cruised along the street, a long way below. She looked back at Adam. ‘You must be joking!’ she said as he pushed a button to snap open the very flimsy-looking umbrella.

‘Trust me, it’ll work,’ he replied. ‘I’ve used one before. I jumped off a four-storey building.’

‘Well, that’s great,’ she protested. ‘But this has got more than four floors. And there are two of us, and we’re carrying a lot of heavy cases! There’s no way that’ll get us down to the ground in one piece.’

‘We’re not going to the ground. You see that tree?’ He pointed at one of the lindens lining the sidewalk, this one somewhat younger and shorter than its neighbours. Even so,