Takedown

by L. T. Ryan

  “You always have a backup plan,” Bear said. “So what is it this time?”

  Thorne looked directly at Bear when he said the one thing Bear was hoping he wouldn’t.

  “Jack.”

  37

  “How in the hell did you ever get Jack in on this?” Bear asked. “He hates you more than I do.”

  Thorne laughed. “You’re not wrong. But once I showed him the evidence, he was on board. Didn’t have much of a choice.”

  “Why not?” Sadie asked.

  “Wholesale destruction, remember?” Bear said. “The likes of which—”

  “You’re not going to be laughing much longer,” Thorne said. “Trust me.”

  “That I’ll never do,” Bear said, leaning forward. “And you sound like some crazy tin-hat.”

  “You know better than to believe all conspiracy theories are bullshit. There’s truth in all of them—some more than others.”

  “We don’t have time for your witty banter,” Sadie said, glaring between both Bear and Thorne. “Tell us how this ties in with what happened in London.”

  “London was the first domino,” Thorne said. “There are a series of attacks planned, all around the world, and London was supposed to be the first.”

  “You knew about it and you didn’t do anything to stop it,” Sadie said.

  “Wrong.” Thorne shifted in his seat. “That’s what Jack was for.”

  “What about Maria?” Sadie asked. “How does she play into all of this?”

  Thorne’s features softened ever so slightly. “How is she?”

  “Do you care?” Bear asked. “I put a gun to her head and you practically begged me to pull the trigger.”

  “I never wanted her to get hurt.”

  “Does she know about all this?” Sadie asked.

  “Bits and pieces,” Thorne said. “Not the big picture. She wasn’t ready for that.”

  “She’s in the wind,” Bear said. “I’m guessing there’s a target on her back, too?”

  “Most likely,” Thorne said. “But she’s smart. She’ll be able to survive on her own.”

  Sadie shook her head, but there was nothing they could do for Maria now. “What about Fredericks?”

  “What about him?” Thorne said. “He’s a useful idiot.”

  “A dead idiot.”

  Thorne’s eyes cut to Sadie, and then to Bear. “That’s unfortunate.”

  “He nearly set the bomb off himself,” Sadie said. “Luckily, Bear stopped him.”

  “Like I said, he’s an idiot,” Thorne said.

  “Was,” Bear corrected.

  “Regardless,” Thorne said. “The idea was to flush out whoever is behind this.”

  “Did it work?”

  “No, but it was a long shot.”

  “You tried anyway,” Sadie said. Her voice got louder with each word. “Despite the risk.”

  “Yes.” Thorne shifted in his seat and for the first time he looked desperate. “This is worth the risk. It’s worth every risk. This person—”

  “Who you won’t name,” Bear interjected.

  “—is smart.” Thorne glared at him. “They won’t be caught red-handed. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.”

  “You know about the other attacks,” Sadie said. “Why not tell someone?”

  “You’re not listening to me,” Thorne said, banging his fists on the table. “There’s no one to tell. The people I would tell are probably in on it.”

  “For what purpose?” Sadie asked.

  Thorne tried to throw his hands up and was stopped short by the shackles around his wrists. “Because war is profitable. And the United States needs a solid win to reestablish itself as the strongest nation in the world.”

  “You profit from war.” Bear sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “Why are you trying to stop this one?”

  Thorne closed his eyes. When he opened them again, it seemed like he had found a sense of calm. “Believe it or not, there are people I care about in this world. Not to mention my own life. World War III? That would make it a little difficult to maintain my current lifestyle.”

  Sadie checked her watch. She turned to Bear. “Time’s almost up. Let’s pretend we believe him for the next three minutes.”

  Bear shrugged but didn’t comment. He hated that Thorne seemed to be telling the truth, but he’d been burned before. “Fine. What’s the next step?”

  “Run,” Thorne said. “And then link up with Jack.”

  “Where is he?”

  “I don’t know. I assume he’ll get in contact with you if he thinks it’s safe. He’ll prove that what I’m saying is true.”

  “And then what?” Sadie asked. “We save the world?”

  “Do you have another option?” Thorne asked.

  “Why Jack?” Bear asked.

  Thorne shrugged. “Why not? He’s an independent entity. He’s practically invisible. Can come and go as he pleases. No one would be watching him, and if they were, he’d be able to shake ’em easy enough.”

  “How did you know he wouldn’t shoot you dead?”

  “I didn’t,” Thorne said. “Almost came to that, too. You guys really hold a grudge.”

  “And for good reason,” Sadie said.

  “But Jack’s a reasonable guy. Took some convincing, but in the end, he listened to what I had to say. I hope you will, too.”

  “And you’re safe here?” Bear asked, looking around the room.

  “Like I said, I’m right where they want me. They can keep an eye on me here. I’m their biggest threat.”

  “Then why aren’t you dead?”

  Thorne laughed. “Because I’m useful. They’ll try to squeeze every ounce of information out of me. And then they’ll probably try to pin this all on me, too.”

  “They were talking about that in London,” Bear said. “Definitely made it look like you wanted to flatten the city.”

  “What I don’t understand,” Sadie said, “is why we’re even talking right now? If Langley is in on this, they could’ve stopped me from coming here.”

  There was a cursory knock on the door. Thorne leaned forward. Sadie and Bear had to mirror him just to hear what he had to say.

  “They’ll want to know what we talked about. You’re just another pawn to them. Trust no one. Never stop moving. Find out what’s next and stop it. If you don’t, you might as well say goodbye to everyone you know.”

  Bear didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to believe it. It seemed crazy. World War III? Someone in their own government pulling strings all across the world to ensure a global war just to turn a profit? It was something that belonged on a website named theyareouttogetus.com.

  Then again, this was the world today. Global interdependence meant a slight tipping of the scale in the wrong direction could cause massive destruction. Bear had stopped a terrorist attack or two in his day. He knew how precarious the balance was.

  The guard in the hat pushed open the door. “Time’s up.”

  Sadie stood up. She looked down at Thorne, giving him no indication what she thought of everything he said. “Thank you for your time.”

  Thorne nodded his head as his gaze settled on the wall behind them.

  The two guards led Sadie and Bear out of the room and down the hall. Bear wanted to talk to Sadie, to ask her what she thought about what Thorne said. She seemed calmer than he felt, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t struggling with everything he had divulged to them.

  Bear shook himself free of the doubt in his head. He knew what he needed to do next.

  Find Jack.

  The two guards opened the door and ushered Bear and Sadie through. Once they were alone, Sadie shot Bear a look.

  “What?!” he asked.

  “What do you mean what? After all that, you’ve got nothing to say?”

  “At the moment, no. It’s a lot to take in.”

  “I believe him.”

  Bear stopped dead. “Seriously?”

&nbs
p; Sadie kept walking. “A lot of it adds up. Something has felt off about all of this from the beginning. Even before I left for London there were little things here and there. I was getting pushback where I normally wouldn’t. There were obstacles and delays. More than usual.”

  Bear didn’t say anything.

  “And if Jack is on board? That must’ve been some pretty convincing evidence.”

  “Thorne said Jack’s on board,” Bear reminded her. “We don’t know that for sure.”

  “Fair enough.” Sadie pushed her way through the final gate and headed toward her car. “How are we going to find him?”

  “According to Thorne, he’s going to find us,” Bear said. “I just hope he does it sooner rather than later.”

  It was Sadie’s turn to stop dead in her tracks. “Yeah, that might not be possible.”

  Bear followed her gaze across the parking lot, toward her car. Three black sedans were blocking her in. A pair of agents stood at the hood of one, talking to each other but keeping their eyes fixed on their targets. It was clear they were here for Bear and Sadie.

  “Friends of yours?” Bear asked.

  “Not exactly,” Sadie said. She started moving again and Bear followed her lead. “But they’re definitely CIA.”

  “What do you think they want?”

  “To know about London,” Sadie said. “But if what Thorne said is true, they want more than that.”

  “To keep us detained,” Bear said.

  “Exactly.” Sadie spoke out of the corner of her mouth now. “Don’t give them anything of consequence.”

  “Copy that,” Bear said.

  Sadie strolled forward, holding out her hand to the agent closest to her. “How can I help you, boys?”

  38

  Bear had been at Langley for close to six hours now. He was tired, hungry, and done with the entire situation. But he couldn’t tell them that. Couldn’t show it, either. They were looking for anything to latch on to, and he was doing his best to avoid giving them any footholds. He knew once they grabbed on, they’d never let go.

  The car ride to Langley had been congenial, if not a little awkward. Everyone knew what was happening, but no one would admit it. Bear and Sadie had become persons of interest thanks to their little chat with Thorne. The CIA was probably looking forward to hearing what secrets Thorne was going to spill, but the second he turned on that audio scrambler, the gloves had to come off.

  Then again, if what Thorne was saying was true, Bear and Sadie had become persons of interest well before visiting the prison that morning. They’d been under surveillance since London. Maybe even earlier. Maybe even since Costa Rica.

  As soon as they had shaken hands with the agents, Sadie and Bear had been ushered into two separate cars. He wasn’t worried, though. Despite the various ups and downs during this trip, he trusted her. Neither one of them would throw the other under the bus, and they’d do the best they could to protect Jack if he came up in the conversation.

  So far he hadn’t.

  Instead, Bear had to go through their mission in London, starting with the second he landed, and walk the two agents across from him through every moment since. He talked about Mr. Jones, the apartment building, the kid, the fire, the safe house, MI5 headquarters, and then the mess that continued from there on out. He ended with the close call in the tunnel. The fact that Fredericks had been dirty and that all three agents were now dead.

  Then they started asking about Sadie. What did Bear think of her? Was she a good leader? Trustworthy? Did he think she had been in on the scheme? Was her lack of judgment due to inexperience or something else? Did he think she shouldn’t have gone back into the field so quickly?

  It was at this point that Bear couldn’t help himself. “She caught Thorne, didn’t she? Better than you guys could do. Better than I could do. None of this is her fault. Without her, we all would’ve been fucked.”

  But Bear had said the magic word. Thorne. The conversation took such a sharp turn, he nearly got whiplash.

  The two agents across from him were exactly who you’d think would work at the CIA. They were in their fifties, with graying hair and sharp, beady eyes. They both wore black suits and ties with a crisp white shirt on underneath. The one on the right, Peterson, had a silver mustache that glinted in the light if he turned just so. The one on the left, LaSalle, had one milky eye.

  Bear desperately wanted to know what had happened to him.

  “What made you want to talk to Thorne?” LaSalle asked. He had a deep, gravelly voice like Tom Selleck.

  “Sadie wanted me there. Said she spent eight hours clearing it with you guys.”

  LaSalle neither confirmed nor denied that statement. “What did you talk about?”

  They had spent six hours making sure Bear was mentally exhausted before asking the question they really wanted to know the answer to. But Bear had been ready for this since the beginning. He’d made his decision on the car ride over. And just like Sadie, he was going to make sure he didn’t give them anything of consequence.

  But they also weren’t going to believe anything less than the truth.

  “He tried to convince us that he was innocent. That there was some insane global conspiracy and he was the only good guy on the roster.”

  LaSalle and Peterson exchanged a look.

  Bear laughed. “You have the same look Sadie and I had on our faces. Dude is crazy.”

  “You didn’t believe him?” LaSalle asked. Peterson remained silent and stoic, but raised a single eyebrow like he was adding his own question mark to the end of his partner’s inquiry.

  “Hell no.” Bear stopped laughing. He had to sell it. “Are you kidding me? I spent months tracking this guy down. He’s smart and he’s crazy. If there’s a conspiracy at all, chances are he’s the one in the middle of it.”

  “What if he’s telling the truth?”

  Bear shrugged. “Not my problem. That’s on you guys. I don’t work for you.”

  “That could change,” LaSalle started.

  Bear held up a hand. “No, thank you. I’m getting too old for this shit. I have too much excitement in my life as it is.”

  Peterson spoke up for what was probably the third or fourth time in the last six hours. “What about Jack Noble?”

  Bear couldn’t help his reaction. He turned his head sharply to look at Peterson. “What about him?”

  “We have reason to believe he’s working with Thorne,” LaSalle said.

  “Never.” Bear was adamant. “Never. He hates Thorne more than I do. If Jack ever saw him, he’d probably put a gun to his head.”

  “And kill an agent of the CIA?” LaSalle asked.

  “You don’t think Thorne deserves that and worse? He’s been a pain in your ass, too.”

  Neither of the men across from Bear could exactly deny that.

  “And before you ask,” Bear continued, “the answer is no.”

  “No?”

  “I don’t know where Jack is. Haven’t heard from him in months.”

  “Is that unusual?” LaSalle asked. He flipped open a file folder and rifled through the pages like he had Jack’s and Bear’s entire friendship in black and white right in front of him. He probably did. “You two seem close.”

  “It’s been known to happen before,” Bear said. “We check in when we can. Lay low when we can’t. Thorne proved he wasn’t worth the trouble, so both Jack and I decided to take an extended vacation.”

  “And yet here you are,” LaSalle said.

  “Because of Thorne.” Bear tried to keep his annoyance in check, but it was getting harder and harder. “Guess I was easier to find than Jack.”

  “We have reason to believe Jack was in London at the same time you were.”

  “If he was, I never saw him.”

  “Did you know he was there?”

  Bear hesitated for a split-second. They may know about the conversation he had with Dottie. If he lied and they called him out on it, everything he had said previously wo
uld be put into question. If he told the truth, they may hold him even longer just to get a few more nuggets of information out of him. Neither option was enticing.

  Bear went with his gut.

  “No,” Bear said. “I had no idea. If I had, I would’ve stuck around. Tried to find him.”

  “Do you think you would’ve been able to?” LaSalle asked. “Find him, I mean.”

  Bear blew out a big breath. They’d believed the lie. “Doubtful. I’d mostly be walking in circles waiting for him to show his ass.”

  LaSalle and Peterson exchanged another look, but when Peterson didn’t have any further questions, LaSalle shuffled his files and folders together and folded his hands on top. “Daniel Thorne is considered a danger to this country and its allies. Without evidence that says otherwise, it’s our belief that the same word of warning should be extended to Jack Noble.”

  “You think Jack’s a terrorist?” Bear couldn’t help but laugh. “After everything he’s done?”

  “Daniel Thorne was a hero once, too,” Peterson said.

  “Jack’s not a bad guy,” Bear said, knowing how weak his words sounded.

  “We’d like to believe so,” LaSalle said. “But we need to talk to him first.”

  “I don’t know where he is,” Bear said. “I already tried everything I know.”

  “We’re aware.” LaSalle stood up and motioned that Bear should do the same. “When he reaches out to you, we’ll be prepared. It was good talking to you, Mr. Logan.”

  Bear shook both LaSalle and Peterson’s hands, but the exchange wasn’t a pleasant one. It had been a warning.

  But it wasn’t one that Bear had needed. As much as he believed Thorne was insane, he couldn’t help but think the guy was telling the truth, especially after how quickly the CIA had come to collect both him and Sadie. Something was up, and even if the CIA wasn’t explicitly in on it, they could be unknowingly working for whoever this person was that seemed to be pulling the strings.

  Bear needed to talk to Jack sooner rather than later, but he had been honest when he said he had tried everything he knew. Now it was just a matter of time, waiting for Jack to finally emerge from the shadows and explain what the hell was going on here.