The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,89

her, distress in his eyes. ‘It’s me.’

‘You?’

‘Yeah. I’m . . . I’m lying dead in the street. That’s got to be a dream. Hasn’t it?’ His tone was almost pleading.

‘It must be,’ she said, trying to reassure him. ‘I mean, you look very much alive to me.’

‘Yes, I’d figured that much out,’ he said, briefly sarcastic. ‘But the rest of it feels . . . well, like a memory. And it’s always the same, every time I have the dream.’

‘How often do you have it?’

A grim look. ‘Every night.’

‘Do you remember any details about the street?’

‘Not really. I don’t think it’s in America, but there’s a lot of smoke in the air, so I can’t really see. It might be somewhere—’ He broke off, suddenly irritated. ‘I’d wondered how long it’d be before they did that.’

‘Did what?’

He pointed at his right ear. ‘STS are trying to call me through my earwig. The transceiver’s off, but there’s a beeper they can use to alert me in emergencies – and somebody’s holding down the button. I guess I’ll have to answer just to shut it up.’ He tapped at a spot behind his ear. ‘Yes, what?’ Several seconds passed as he listened to the message being broadcast directly into his skull. ‘Yeah, okay, Holly Jo,’ he said with annoyed resignation. Another tap switched the earwig back off.

‘What is it?’ Bianca asked.

‘Tony’s on his way over. It seems that business with Fallon and Spence put a fox in the henhouse. Mad panic, everyone wants to know what’s going on.’

‘I can imagine it might worry them. I’m sorry if I’ve got you into trouble.’

He managed a half-smile. ‘I’m not. It’s been an interesting evening.’

‘It certainly has!’

The smile widened. ‘We should do this again sometime. Assuming they don’t put me under house arrest.’

The doorbell rang. Bianca looked round in surprise. ‘When you said Tony was on the way, you weren’t kidding.’

Adam stood. ‘I’ll get it.’

It was indeed Tony, looking rather more harassed than when they had last seen him. ‘So much for not doing anything crazy, then,’ he said as he entered. ‘Want to tell me what happened?’

‘Spence and Fallon overstepped the mark,’ Adam replied, becoming businesslike. ‘They were aggressive and threatening, and when Fallon was about to manhandle Bianca, I stopped him. He overreacted, so I shut him down. With minimum force.’

‘You probably won’t be surprised if I tell you that’s not how their version of events goes.’

‘It’s what happened, though,’ said Bianca, getting up. ‘We were just chatting when they marched in like the Gestapo and said they had orders to take Adam back to STS.’

‘They did have orders, though,’ Tony said.

She gave him a cold look. ‘From you?’

‘No. From Admiral Harper.’

Adam’s eyes widened. ‘Harper?’

‘That’s right,’ said Tony. ‘Kiddrick complained to him directly – and Harper gave the order to bring you back. Then, after you both ran off . . .’ He sighed. ‘You know how two minutes doesn’t sound a long time? Believe me, when you spend it being yelled at by the Director of National Intelligence, it’s a goddamned eternity.’

Bianca shuffled her feet guiltily. ‘Oh. Sorry . . .’

‘It’s okay, it’s not your fault. I just didn’t think Kiddrick would do an end run around Martin – or that Harper would back him up.’

‘Why did he back him up?’ asked Adam.

‘Beats the hell out of me. But the upshot is that everyone at STS is going to get an email tomorrow reminding them of the rules on after-hours fraternisation – which,’ he added to Bianca, ‘are normally overlooked by supervisors because they’re ridiculously restrictive. I don’t agree that it’s necessary, but it’s not my call.’

Adam turned to Bianca. ‘Sorry I dragged you into this.’

‘No need to apologise. Like you said, it’s been an interesting evening.’

‘Unfortunately, you’ll have to call it a night,’ said Tony. ‘Adam, Martin wants to see both of us tomorrow at eight sharp. Bianca, I’ll take you back to your hotel.’

‘You don’t have to act as a chaperone, Tony,’ she said. ‘We were just talking.’

‘No, it’s okay,’ Adam told her. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Are you sure?’

He nodded. ‘I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.’

After what he had told her, though, she knew it would be hard not to.

‘I can’t believe this,’ Bianca snapped at Tony as he drove her through Washington. ‘Since when has going for a drink with a colleague been a matter of national security?’

‘Hey, I agree with you,’ he replied. ‘I don’t know why Harper made such a big deal of it. But he did, and