Page 13 of Black Bay Defender
Chapter Seven
Larkgottheinformationto Grady before the requested twenty-four hours. First thing the next morning, with the sun barely a glimmer on the horizon, she entered his room after a quick knock. Grady turned away from the window and the view outside. She had a laptop tucked under her arm and her stride was purposeful. His guard detail didn’t follow her inside and he wondered if she’d threatened them with bodily harm. The thought was amusing, but that amusement didn’t last. The dark purple smudges under her eyes made him want to growl at her for not taking better care of herself – not getting enough sleep – but that would sound ungrateful considering she’d lost that sleep for him.
Going by the grim look on her face, she’d found something and whatever she learned wasn’t good. But she didn’t draw out the suspense or hedge to soften the blow. “We need to find Doctor Tanner Blackmore,” she announced as she sat on his cot and opened her laptop. “He’s the neurologist who created the chip and that chip is sending electrical impulses to your brain to keep you aggressive whenever you’re not in stasis.”
It made a sick sort of sense. The assumption would be that if he was pulled from stasis it would be for an active mission – they were never meant to have any sort of life outside of that. And Grady hadn’t gone back into stasis since he broke free of the programming and went rogue.
“That’s where the excessive anger is coming from and as the creator of the chip, Doctor Blackmore is the only one who can make any adjustments.” She paused, shot him a speaking glance as she turned the laptop screen toward him, and pointed out the data. “I looked, Grady, I looked hard, but we can’t just disable the chip. That would compromise all of your upgrades.”
Leaving Grady unable to function – if it didn’t kill him outright. Grady nodded as his processor accessed the relevant files on the doctor she’d mentioned and scrolled the information across his ocular upgrades. He’d managed to sweep up certain files from the Sync before the AI had shut him out for the unauthorized breach of information. At the time, he’d only been interested in his personnel file to learn who he was, and the list of scientists involved in the experiment so he could eliminate them. He didn’t have the details of the chip and what it did, or the specific details of any of his bio-robotic upgrades, but he didn’t doubt Lark. He did have Doctor Tanner Blackmore’s last known address, however.
“He’s based in Manhattan.”
“He was,” Lark confirmed. “He recently put his condo up for sale and bought a house just outside Cleveland, Ohio.”
Ohio. One of the two possible locations Doctor Dietrich had given up that could accommodate the Resurrection soldiers after a hasty move. Black Bay had been cautiously looking into both, trying to glean as much information as they could before making a move. It looked like they now had what they needed.
“They must have put him in charge of the program.” With Doctor Jerome’s death and with Doctor Dietrich here, it made sense.
“Very likely,” Lark concurred. “I have the address.”
Grady stood. “I’ll leave tonight. Head to Ohio, grab the doctor and return with him. He can do the procedure here.” He didn’t trust any doctor associated with Resurrection to be messing around in his head, but he trusted Lark. If she was with Blackmore when the procedure was done, she’d make sure it was done correctly. A demonstration of her venom would be all the incentive the neurologist should need not to get creative.
Lark grabbed his hand to stay him and Grady’s fingers curled around the warmth, some of the tension draining from him with the pleasure of her touch.
“We need to run this by the General. Assemble a team and put a plan in place. If we go in and grab the doctor, they’ll move the soldiers again. We can’t risk it. This needs to be full infiltration and extraction.”
She was right, he knew she was right, but it grated on him. More delays. More chances that his rage would overtake him and he’d hurt someone.
Lark stood, her hand still holding his. “We’ll go right now and talk to the General. He knows this is a top priority and he’s been getting a steady stream of intel from both locations we’ve been keeping an eye on. Now that we’ve narrowed it down, we’ll be able to put a plan in place fast and move out.”
Grady nodded. “Let’s do this.”
They left his room together, still holding hands, and that clasp was still in place when they entered the General’s office. The man’s eyes flicked to the link between them but he chose not to comment as Lark immediately informed him of what they’d learned.
“Ohio, huh?” The General pulled out an old-school manila file and opened it, rifling through the papers. “We’ve been unable to get eyes inside, but both the Maine and the Ohio locations we’ve been watching are heavily guarded, both in manpower and with advanced technological security monitoring.”
The General’s eyes raised to Lark. “And this time around, Doctor Dietrich’s credentials will be useless.”
Lark had told Grady of that first attempt to retrieve the Resurrection soldiers. Black Bay had sent a team to infiltrate the Hub where he’d been kept before his defection. They’d used Doctor Dietrich’s cloned retinal scan, voice authorization, and PIN to get inside only to find the Resurrection soldiers had been moved – most likely because of him. With a new location and Doctor Dietrich missing, her information would have been scrubbed from the system.
“I can get us inside,” Grady pointed out. This was just the sort of operation he’d been built for.
The General shot him a glare. “Are you stable? Because I heard about the shit that went down yesterday and honestly, I’m tempted to confine you to your quarters.”
Grady grimaced. “I can maintain.” He’d maintain if it killed him.
The General’s eyes pinned Lark to the spot. “Lark? Can he maintain? And don’t bullshit me because you’ve got some sort of crush.” His eyes skated pointedly to their still-joined fingers.
Lark stood a bit straighter, squaring her shoulders as she glared at the General. Her hand shifted in his and Grady was fully prepared to release her – they were in the presence of her commanding officer after all – but instead of letting go, she laced her fingers through his. A statement.
“He’s got this. We worked out a system last night.”
Grady almost snorted. Their system had been her tackling and restraining him until he got control, but hell, if it worked, it worked.
“Besides,” she went on before the General could ask for details. “With no other viable means to get inside without utilizing brute force – which would potentially draw unwanted attention and shorten the time we need to get the soldiers out safely – we can’t sideline our one advantage.”
General Davies looked like he’d rather chew nails but he conceded. “Fine. I’ll assemble a team. We go in, we do this quickly and quietly. Get those boys home. No casualties, and keep your goddamn faces off the news. The last thing we need is publicity.”
