The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,170
though – he would have made it look like an accident.’ Another memory made his eyebrows rise in dismay. ‘That’s what happened to the CIA officer I was working with in Pakistan! He didn’t die in the bombing. He worked it out – but made the mistake of telling Harper directly. Baxter killed him.’
‘It’s a good thing you didn’t work it out at the time, then.’
‘I should have done. I had all the information, but . . . I wasn’t thinking straight.’
‘You can’t blame yourself for that.’
‘I suppose not.’ He stared morosely through the windscreen. ‘You know what’s funny? In a twisted way, I mean. Harper actually thought that my not figuring it out made me the perfect candidate to replace Tony. One of Kiddrick’s theories about why Tony had his breakdown was that he was too strong-willed, that he was subconsciously resisting the persona imprints. But I was a good soldier who followed orders and didn’t ask questions . . . and I was broken. I wanted to forget who I was.’
An image from Harper’s mind came to him, as disconcerting as the similar one from Qasid’s memories: himself, as seen through the eyes of another. But the quiet confidence of the agent on a mission was gone. This Adam Gray was a shattered wreck, crippled by loss and guilt. The only thing keeping him from a complete breakdown was his sense of duty.
And Harper had taken advantage, filled with contempt for the younger man’s emotional weakness even as he saw the potential to make use of it. Persona . . . That puffed-up little prick Kiddrick claimed he could wipe a man’s mind, and condition him not to think about it. Two birds with one stone – reactivate a promising project, and make sure that Gray never puts the pieces together. I could assign Baxter to keep an eye on him . . .
So events had been set in motion. Harper had ‘persuaded’ Adam to join STS, and Kiddrick and Albion had erased his memories – without ever being told the complete story, just enough to convince them that his mental injuries had been sustained on a mission of the highest secrecy, and that he should never be allowed to remember it. For his own emotional protection.
The procedure had worked. More effectively than either doctor expected. As they had explained to Harper, the trauma they were trying to delete was intimately linked to countless other memories . . . and the process had wiped them all away. Albion was uneasy about it, but Kiddrick had been positively crowing. Their new agent was an empty vessel, perfectly primed to take on the other personas that would allow him to complete his missions.
And I was safe . . . except that idiot Kiddrick had made a recording of Gray’s original persona without telling me!
‘Adam?’ He blinked as Bianca gently touched his arm, emerging from the Admiral’s thoughts back into the real world.
‘Yeah, I’m here, I’m fine. I was just . . . just seeing things from Harper’s side.’
She bit her lip. ‘He’s not trying to take control, is he?’
He knew she was worried about what had happened in the Cube, when his despair had almost allowed Qasid’s persona to overcome him. ‘No. Absolutely not. I won’t let him. That bastard used me. He took literally everything from me and tried to turn me into some kind of – clockwork soldier.’ Bitterness and anger coloured his words. ‘Wind me up and watch me go.’
‘Well, nobody’s telling you what to do now. Except yourself. So what are you going to do?’
His response was immediate. ‘I’m going to bring that son of a bitch down. Tell people what he did – and make him pay for it.’
‘How?’
‘I don’t know yet.’ A cold smile. ‘But he does.’
The answer was already in his mind. All he had to do to find it was think. What is Gordon Harper’s worst fear? How can he be exposed?
Harper knew. And now, despite his persona’s attempts to deny him, Adam did too.
He sat in silence for a long moment, absorbing the flood of information and images and feelings. A name and face jumped out: Alan Sternberg, the National Security Adviser. A rival – and a threat. The nightmare scenario for Harper was Sternberg discovering the truth about the events in Pakistan. There would be no bargaining, no deals, no quiet cover-ups. Sternberg would destroy him without hesitation if he ever had the opportunity.