The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,90

he’s in charge, so . . .’

‘It’s still idiotic. Paranoid, even. But I suppose I should expect that by now.’ She pursed her lips. ‘Speaking of paranoid, how did those two know we were at that bar? And how did you know we were at his apartment?’

‘Adam’s comm system has a tracker built into it. So long as he’s not too deep underground or in a shielded building, STS always knows where he is.’ He caught her appalled look. ‘Yeah, paranoid is only the beginning when you work in US intelligence.’

‘Jesus.’ Another, more worrying thought. ‘You don’t listen in through his earwig when he’s off-duty, do you?’

‘Why, have you been trying to persuade him to sell secrets to the Chinese?’

‘I’m being serious, Tony. He might be a government agent, but he still has rights. You know, privacy and all that. I’m not even American and I know that’s supposed to be one of the Amendments.’

‘The fourth. Although when it comes to national security, rights get a bit fuzzy. Hey, I didn’t say I approve,’ he added, seeing her darkening expression. ‘That’s just the way it is. Trust me, it isn’t any better in England. Or any other country.’

‘That doesn’t make it right.’

‘Maybe not. But just to give you some reassurance that we’re not all cogs in an Orwellian surveillance machine; no, we don’t listen in on Adam. When he turns the earwig off, it’s off.’

‘Except for the tracker. And the beeper.’

‘Hah! Don’t get me started on the beeper. I just hope they toned it down for Adam. The damn thing was like an airhorn going off in my ear.’

‘You had one too?’

‘Yeah. I’ve got the same implanted gear as Adam. They deactivated the earwig – and the beeper, thank God – but it’s all still in there. It would have needed surgery to take out, and since it wasn’t causing any trouble we decided, hey, just leave it. You never know, I might need it again some day.’

‘After what you said PERSONA did to you, I really hope you don’t,’ she said. That thought took her back to what Adam had told her. ‘Tony?’

‘Yeah?’

‘What happened to Adam when he joined the project?’

‘What do you mean?’ There was already reticence in his voice.

‘Why did they wipe his memory? They didn’t do that to you.’

‘I don’t really know.’

‘You don’t know, or you can’t tell me?’

He gave her an apologetic look. ‘Some from column A, some from column B. What I do know is as much as you’ve obviously figured out for yourself – they did something to him that they didn’t to me. What they did, or why they did it, I honestly don’t know.’

‘Who’s “they”?’ she asked, already suspecting she knew the answer.

‘Kiddrick. And Roger Albion.’

She had been right. ‘Roger . . .’

‘Yeah. If you want to find out anything more, you’ll have to talk to him.’

‘Oh, I will,’ she said, setting her jaw.

24

No History

Albion shifted uncomfortably under Bianca’s stony stare. ‘I don’t suppose playing the helpless invalid card would get me any sympathy?’

‘Not really,’ she said.

‘I thought not. Still, it was worth a try.’

A lengthy silence. ‘Well?’ Bianca prompted.

‘Well what?’

‘Are you going to tell me what happened to Adam before he joined the Persona Project, and why you and Kiddrick wiped his memory and brainwashed him into not thinking about it?’

‘Oh, that.’

Another long pause. ‘Roger,’ Bianca finally said, exasperated, ‘I told Adam yesterday that if you didn’t tell me what I wanted to know, I was going to poke your bullet hole until you started talking. I was joking then, but now I’m starting to consider it.’

‘Look, what can I say?’ Albion protested. ‘That whole part of the project is classified as need-to-know, and you don’t need to know.’

‘I disagree. I’m standing in for you—’

‘Temporarily.’

‘So what? You might think that I’m only here to keep your seat warm, but there are real people involved, real lives at stake. Whatever it was you and Kiddrick did to Adam, it’s seriously affected his mental state. You must realise that.’

‘Of course I realise that,’ he snapped. ‘I’m not blind – and I’m not devoid of empathy, either. But those were the orders we were given, so we carried them out.’

‘So you were ordered to erase his memory?’

‘It’s hardly something we’d do for shits and giggles.’

The mere fact that he had sworn in front of her told Bianca that he was becoming stressed by her questions. She felt a stab of sympathy for the old man, trapped in his hospital bed, but knew she