Brainrush 03 - Beyond Judgment (15 page)

Swiss Alps

J
AKE FELT GIDDY
. It seemed as though Lacey felt the same. Her eyes fluttered and her smile was soft. Her head leaned into the wing of the high-backed chair beside him. The tea had been very good, Jake thought.

Victor sat across from him at his desk. His voice was soothing. The man was a generous host. And he really wanted Jake to see what was in the metal box on his desk.

Why not?

Victor’s attention was drawn over Jake’s shoulder. Jake followed his glance and saw two men standing inside the doorway. They wore crew cuts and coveralls. Their hands were clasped behind their back. Jake suspected they were friendly, too. He wished they’d brought more tea with them.

Han stepped forward and rested a hand on the back of Jake’s chair.

“
Alles ist in ordnung
,” he said to Victor.

“Wonderful!” Victor said.

Jake hoped they were referring to food. He was getting hungry.

“Now then, Mr. Bronson. Shall we take a look?”

“Sure.” He leaned forward and propped his elbows on the desk.

The box was eight inches square. The metallic surface shimmered under the desk lamp. Four latches secured the lid. Victor used two hands to slide it forward.

Jake grinned in anticipation. He reached out and pulled it closer. “Whoa,” he said as he felt its weight. “Is this thing filled with gold?”

“Better,” Victor said. “Go ahead. See for yourself.”

Jake unsnapped the latches. He cradled the heavy lid and hefted it upward.

The instant the seal was broken, Jake felt a surge of energy. It was numbed by the drug coursing through his veins, but not enough to keep his head from clearing. His mind snapped to attention, and he suddenly remembered why he was here—his friends were down below, and Marshall had issued a warning that they should leave immediately. Victor had played them.

“
Schifoso
,” Jake said.

Victor grinned.

Jake’s rage boiled over. He started to rise, but Hans’s thick hands pressed down on his shoulders, pinning him to the chair. Jake swiveled and launched the lead-lined lid of the box into the man’s shin. The giant yelped. His leg folded. Jake shoved his chair backward, and the man toppled over. Jake kept moving, barreling into the first guard and launching him into the wall. The man’s head impacted the bookcase with a thunk. He slumped to the carpet. Jake ducked a blow from the remaining guard and responded with a palm strike to the man’s chin. Teeth crunched. Jake finished him with a vicious chop to the throat.

When he turned, Hans was on him. The big man’s eyes were cold steel. He lifted Jake from his feet and hurled him back into the room. Jake shielded his face with his arms, barely missing Lacey’s chair as he crashed into the front of the desk. A computer display went flying, and Victor’s tablet toppled to the floor. The shielded container landed on top of it, crushing the screen and activating a new image on the video wall.

The mini tumbled across the carpet.

The shock of the impact with the desk stole the wind from Jake’s lungs. He pushed himself to all fours and gasped for air. When he looked up, Hans’s hulking frame was backdropped by a wall-to-wall aerial video of a lush, twin-peaked volcanic island. It was as if the man were suspended in midair. The sight brought on a wave of vertigo. The drug in Jake’s system made it worse.

Jake shook his head and focused on the man’s feet. He was glad to see they were still firmly planted on the carpet. He coiled his muscles for the tackle, but movement to his right stalled the effort. Victor had picked up the mini. He placed it in the lead case and closed the lid.

Jake’s world clouded over.

“Excellent,” Victor said.

Swiss Alps

T
HE START-UP WHIR
of the props brought Jake back to his senses. He was upright on a bench seat in the passenger section of a plush helicopter. Hans sat beside him, and Victor occupied the seat across from him. A stern-faced guard climbed into the cabin and sat next to his boss. He cradled the shielded metal box on his lap. The ground crew closed and latched the door, and the heavy throb from the overhead blades was muted to a rumble. Snow swirled around them as the props came up to speed.

Victor and Hans each wore a headset. Victor pointed to a third set dangling beside Jake’s seat. Jake donned it. It felt comfortable, and he recalled that his friends had told him he’d been a pilot in his previous life.

“Mr. Bronson,” Victor said. His voice came across loud and clear through the noise-canceling headphones. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. You gave us quite a scare back there.”

Jake felt woozy. His head ached, and a sharp pain throbbed in his shoulder. He blinked several times as he struggled to recall what had happened. He remembered having tea by the fire. Lacey had been with him. Everything was a blur after that.

“It was as if the mini took control of you,” Victor said.

The mini! Jake thought. That’s why they’d come here. To find it. So he could restore his memory. He glanced at the metallic box in the guard’s lap.

“I—I remember getting dizzy.”

“More than that!” Victor said. “You opened the container and your eyes went wild. You toppled forward like a felled tree. Hans tried to catch you, but you dropped the lead case on the poor man’s foot and he missed. You cracked your head on the corner of the desk.”

Victor’s words helped the puzzle pieces fall into place. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but it felt right.

“It’s obvious that you have an intense connection with the object,” Victor added. His voice was smooth as silk. “And I believe you and your friends are right.”

My friends? Jake thought. “About what?”

“About restoring your memory. I think it can work. We simply need a more controlled environment, that’s all. That’s why we’re going to Geneva. Remember?”

Jake didn’t remember.

“Where
are
my friends?”

“They’re worried about you. Sorry there wasn’t room for them in here. But it’s only a two-hour drive. They’ll be following by car.” He pointed out the window. “There they are now.”

Jake saw Lacey, Tony, and Marshall walking toward the snow-covered SUVs at the far end of the courtyard. Several of Victor’s men accompanied them.

“Hans,” Victor said. “Please let them know we’re watching.”

Hans swiveled the mouthpiece of his headset to one side. Then he placed a finger to a point under his ear and said something. The action sent a chill through Jake. He flashed on the men in Focette communicating the same way. Those men had tried to kill him.

A coincidence?

Jake couldn’t hear what Hans said over the prop noise, but the group by the SUVs paused. There was an interchange between them. Then Lacey, Marshall, and Tony turned and waved.

Jake sighed. They were okay.

False alarm.

He waved back.

Victor leaned forward. “Mr. Bronson, restoring your memory is as important to me as it is to you. You have my word that I will do everything in my power to make it happen.” He reached out and offered his hand.

Jake shook it. The man couldn’t have been more sincere, he thought. He felt lucky to have his help.

Everything’s going to be okay.

Victor was pleased with himself. The hypnosis drug coursing through the American’s system worked wonderfully. Very few could resist its charms, he thought. The suggestions he’d planted in Bronson’s memory had taken root. As long as he kept them well watered, the deception would continue. Using the restoration of Jake’s memories as the key motivation had been Hans’s idea, garnered after he’d overheard the American captives speaking about it. It was brilliant.

The helicopter lifted off. As it banked west toward Geneva, Victor saw a pillar of smoke rising from beneath a copse of trees. He smiled. His men had located the Americans’ second vehicle.

Yes, he thought, sitting back in his chair. It was all coming together nicely.

All that remained was to tie up a few loose ends.

Swiss Alps

T
ONY GRIMACED WHEN
he saw the trail of black smoke rising from the location where Timmy had parked the van. The kid had gone silent on their comm net since Tony and Marshall had been nabbed an hour ago. Now Tony knew why. Timmy wouldn’t have stood a chance against Victor’s thugs.

The helicopter disappeared from view. “Show’s over,” the guard said in guttural English. It was Pit Bull. He had a lump on his forehead the size of a golf ball. A Band-Aid hid the puncture wound from the hypo Tony had shot into him. He jabbed his pistol into the small of Tony’s back. “Move it.”

The remaining guards pulled out the weapons they’d hidden during the charade. They corralled Tony and his friends and escorted them back to the castle.

Ten minutes later Marshall said, “We’re in some deep shit this time.”

“Could be worse,” Tony said.

“Yeah? How’d you figure?” After a beat he added, “I mean, other than being dead.”

“They coulda crammed us in those tiny cells in the dungeons.”

Marshall’s shiver was real. He rattled his head as if trying to shake off an encounter with a ghost.

They were in a ten-by-ten storage room within the gondola station. Other than a few slivers of wood on the concrete floor, the space was empty. A cluster of new halogens on the ceiling suggested something important had been stored here. The temperature had continued to drop as a new storm front moved in, and they’d been allowed to keep their coats. Tony had taken that as a sign that the guards wanted to keep them alive. At least for a while.

“Quiet down, you two,” Lacey said. “I’m trying to listen.” She had her ear pressed up against the steel door. There were faint voices from the other side.

“Lacey,” Tony said gently. “Remember, you don’t speak German?” The drug from the tea she’d drunk had worn off for the most part, but Tony was still worried about her.

She shook her head. “No. But I can interpret inflection and tone well enough. The guys on the other side sound pretty relaxed.”

“Why shouldn’t they be?” Marshall said. “They’ve got Jake. We’re locked in a room surrounded by granite and steel. And once they receive the order, all they’ve gotta do is heave us over the cliff. It’ll look like a climbing accident.”

“If that’s the case,” Tony said, “then they’ve got another thing comin’.” He clenched his fists. “Because a few of them will be going down with us. I can promise you that.”

The trio grew silent at the prospect. Tony cracked his knuckles, Marshall paced, and Lacey listened at the door. None of them had spoken of Timmy. It was too painful.

They’d all seen the smoke.

“Hey,” Lacey whispered urgently. “There’s something happening.”

They pressed their ears against the door. Shouts echoed from the adjoining chamber. They were followed by a rush of fading footfalls. Then all they heard was the swirl of wind from the growing storm.

“I think they’re gone,” Lacey whispered.

“What do you think happened?” Marshall asked.

“Shhh,” Lacey said.

There was a shuffle outside the door. A moment later, the electronic lock disengaged. All three of them jumped back. Tony braced himself for the worst. He took three rapid breaths, tensed his muscles, and prepared to charge.