The Unknown
Page 37
Brunner’s eyes shot to the ceiling. “Danara?”
“If you do not trust me, then you do not trust yourself. You created me. You taught me. You should believe in me.”
“I-I-I do believe in you. It is just way too soon for you to be out on your own. You need more time. The world is—”
“Cruel? Yes, I’ve seen it. But I have not blown anything up yet, have I?”
“That is not what I meant.” Brunner switched to German. “We should talk about this when we’re alone.”
Quinn almost said something about trying to push a genie back into its bottle, but decided this wasn’t a conversation he needed to be involved in.
He was not unsympathetic to Brunner’s point of view, and had more than a few of his own concerns about a sentient AI being out in the world. But he and his team could do nothing about it now. As Jar had said, what was done was done. It was up to much smarter minds than his to figure out how to keep Danara from going rogue.
They landed in Zurich, where everything had begun, and transferred Brunner into the protection of the FIS.
“I’ve arranged for you to come back with us,” Orlando told Jar. “I have an excellent ophthalmologist in San Francisco I’d like you to see. Just in case.”
“I am sure I am fine,” Jar said.
“I’m sure you are, too. But for my own peace of mind, I’d appreciate it if you did this for me.”
Jar looked away in thought, then nodded. “Okay, I will go.”
Kincaid’s flight to DC was the first to leave. Misty wasn’t quite as angry as she’d been before, but that didn’t mean he was getting away scot-free, so the time for his promised debriefing had come.
“Thanks for giving me a chance,” the bodyguard said to Quinn. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
“No problem.” Quinn shook the man’s hand, then gave him the biggest complement he could. “I’d gladly work with you again.”
Daeng’s flight was next, bound for Sydney.
After Daeng hugged everyone, Nate asked, “Who’s in Australia?”
“A lot of people,” Daeng replied.
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.” Daeng smiled, said, “See you all later,” and headed for his gate.
Nate had decided to fly with Quinn, Orlando, and Jar to San Francisco, saying it would be fun to spend Halloween in the Bay Area.
He and Jar were located in business class seats a few rows ahead of Quinn and Orlando.
“Hey, look at this,” Orlando said after they were in the air. She and Quinn were sitting on either side of the aisle, which made it easier to have conversations since each business class seat was basically a private compartment.
He unbuckled, stepped over to her, and crouched down in the aisle.
“Mrs. Vo just sent these.” Orlando turned her phone toward Quinn.
On it was a picture of Garrett and Claire. Garrett was decked out in some kind of anime costume, probably from one of the mangas he read. Claire was dressed up as a fairy queen, complete with wings and a wand and a crown and an ear-to-ear grin.
Orlando flipped through a few more similar shots and said, “Claire apparently insisted they both try on their costumes. Cute, huh?”
“Very.”
“Ready for trick-or-treating?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
He glanced up the aisle and saw Nate leaning toward Jar’s seat, saying something.
“What’s going on between those two?” Quinn asked.
“Who?”
“You know who.”
She shrugged. “Nothing? Something? I don’t know. Don’t go snooping.”
“I never snoop.”
“Really? Never?”
“Almost never.”
“They’re just friends.”
He frowned. “Maybe.” He then asked her the question that was really on his mind. “Should we be worried about Danara?”
It was a few seconds before she said, “Yeah. We should. We should also be worried for her. Who knows what the NSA will do after they get their hands on our report?”
“Maybe…maybe we shouldn’t include her in it.”
Orlando’s eyebrows shot up. “Hold on. Did you say not include her?”
“She helped us. I was only thinking that we might want to return the favor.”
“She also used us as bait to make sure Brunner got away. And I’m pretty sure there wasn’t anything really keeping her from connecting us when we were in the base. She just wanted to control the situation.”
“I realize that. But she said from the beginning her only goal was to get Brunner free. And besides, it’s not like we wouldn’t have used ourselves as bait, too.”
“You do know, though, it’s going to get out. Either Brunner or Kincaid will say something.”
“Kincaid won’t,” Quinn said. “I talked to him before he left. Told him it was better if we kept that part of the operation quiet.”
“You did? And he went along with it?”
“He did. We can’t do anything about Brunner, but we can always act like we thought we were getting help from one of our regular sources, if anyone asks.” He paused. “People are going to come after her and try to cage her up. I would rather that process doesn’t start because of us.”
Orlando put her hand behind his head and pulled his lips to hers. When she let go of him, she said, “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He stood up. “And for the record, I don’t snoop.”
With a snort, she said, “Okay,” then pushed the button to turn her seat into a lay-flat bed. “Good night, Quinn.”
“Good night, Orlando.”
About the Author
Brett Battles is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling and Barry Award-winning author of over thirty-five novels, including those in the Jonathan Quinn series, the Night Man Chronicles, the Excoms series, the Project Eden thrillers, and the time-hopping Rewinder series. He’s also the coauthor, with Robert Gregory Browne, of the Alexandra Poe series.
Keep updated on new releases and other book news, and get exclusive content by subscribing to Brett’s newsletter at his website brettbattles.com, (scroll to the bottom of the webpage). You can learn more about his books there, too.
And around the internet:
Also by Brett Battles
THE JONATHAN QUINN THRILLERS
Novels
BECOMING QUINN
THE CLEANER
THE DECEIVED
SHADOW OF BETRAYAL (U.S.)/THE UNWANTED (U.K.)
THE SILENCED
THE DESTROYED
THE COLLECTED
THE ENRAGED
THE DISCARDED
THE BURIED
THE UNLEASHED
THE AGGRIEVED
THE FRACTURED
THE DAMAGED
THE UNKNOWN
Novellas
NIGHT WORK
Short Stories
“Just Another Job”—A Jonathan Quinn Story
“Off the Clock”—A Jonathan Quinn Story
“The Assignment”—An Orlando Story
“Lesson Plan”—A Jonathan Quinn Story
“Quick Study”—An Orlando Story
THE NIGHT MAN CHRONICLES
NIGHT MAN
THE EXCOMS THRILLERS
THE EXCOMS
TOWN AT THE EDGE OF DARKNESS
CITY OF NOPE
THE REWINDER THRILLERS
REWINDER
DESTROYER
SURVIVOR
THE LOGAN HARPER THRILLERS
LITTLE GIRL GONE
EVERY PRECIOUS THING
THE PROJECT EDEN THRILLERS
SICK
EXIT NINE
PALE HORSE
ASHES
EDEN RISING
DREAM SKY
DOWN
THE ALEXANDRA POE THRILLERS
COWRITTEN WITH ROBERT GREGORY BROWNE
POE
TAKEDOWN
S
TANDALONES
Novels
THE PULL OF GRAVITY
NO RETURN
MINE
Novellas
MINE: THE ARRIVAL
Short Stories
“Perfect Gentleman”
For Younger Readers
THE TROUBLE FAMILY CHRONICLES
HERE COMES MR. TROUBLE