Chapter Forty-One

Thorn

Paris, France

Monday, Zero Three Forty-one Hours

"T horn," Lynx said quietly in his ear. "Deep is doing logistics while Nutsbe's at the meeting. He's indicating that there's a series of cars driving in tandem up the highway, moving in fast. If you go now, you can get out of their way."

"What are you seeing?" Thorn asked as Gage and Honey spun into the room, grabbing up the computer, his duffle, and the supplies that where easily at hand.

"Seven cars racing our way at this rather shitty time of night," Brigitte said. "I think we need to head to the border."

"Why not the American Embassy in Paris?" Honey asked. "It's closer and puts us on American soil."

" Because, that's why," Brigitte said.

Thorn had roused Arya. "We need to move you again."

Her eyes were held wide as her gaze swept the room full of people. "Those guys are Honey and Gage. They're on my team. That's Brigitte." Thorn didn't know what team she was on. He'd been trying to get a good look at her left wrist but so far, he hadn't been able to see if she wore the Rex Deus tattoo.

Arya held still as Thorn unfastening her IV line, then reached out shaking hands to pull on the clothes Thorn held out to her. If they were headed to the border, Arya's being in a hospital gown would make things delicate. The air force base in Belgium would have everything they needed. It was the better place to be. But the closest harbor might be the best thing. They could argue about it once they were under way.

"Ready?" Thorn bent to pull her arm around his neck. With one arm supporting her back and another hand scooped under her knees, he rolled her in until she rested against his chest. He stood and everyone in the little clinic room peeled out into the hall and jogged up the corridor.

"Five minutes." Nutsbe was back in his ear. That was good. Deep was a pro at his job, but Nutsbe was his teammate. It was just a more comfortable dynamic.

Bursting through the doors, the Panther Force found that a row of cars were lined up, drivers behind each wheel, doors opened and ready. Lights extinguished.

The Panthers came to a screeching halt.

"What's going on here," Honey said. "That's our car there in the middle. I drive."

"We don't have time," Brigitte said. "My team is trained to work together to lose a tail ? even if they have eyes in the sky. Get the fuck in the car."

Honey nodded toward Thorn and Thorn bent to get Arya in the car, moving her over and climbing in beside her.

Before Honey could climb in the front, Brigitte, gun in hand, moved to the front seat and pulled on her safety belt. "Buckle up," she told Thorn. She turned toward Honey and Gage who looked unsure how to proceed.

"One in front. One in back," Brigitte ordered. "We're the filling in this sandwich."

Honey and Gage took off together to the car that was behind them.

"They don't really listen do they?" Brigitte asked.

The door slammed. The engines revved. Their driver pulled night vision goggles from his lap and strapped them on his head.

They proceeded on without lights.

The drivers moved in a tight formation at a fast clip through the black of night. Training. And tons of it.

As impressive as that was, it actually set off Thorn's warning system.

He didn't like being separated by from his team.

Arya was trembling beside him. He wanted to reach out and comfort her, but his attention needed to be outward. He needed his head to be disengaged from emotion. It was time to be coldly calculating, and, by all measurements, this scenario was off.

"How do you know Brigitte?" Arya whispered. "She's on your team? Why don't you want this man to be driving?"

"It's a control thing," Brigitte answered. "Thorn doesn't like it much when someone else is at the helm. Do you, darling?"

"Funny," Thorn said, but he knew that Arya would be searching for clues on who to trust and who not to. Brigitte was playing games. That endearment would have an effect on Arya. He needed Arya to trust him, even if he was a stranger. And there was Brigitte casting her seeds of doubt.

Arya cleared her throat, looking toward Brigitte, she said, "I really need to understand what's happening here. I recognize your voice. You were on the roof after the fight."

"That's right." Brigitte's voice came from the front seat. Her silhouette just visible from the gauge lights.

"You're American?" Ayra asked.

"I'm Israeli," she answered. "Only Honey, Gage, and Thorn are American. You are right now in the custody of Israel."

"Custody," Arya whispered.

"And Thorn is my boyfriend," she tossed out. "He handed you over to me."

Thorn could feel Arya shifting beside him. "I'm no such thing, Arya. It's a lot to take in but there are four groups that I know of who are involved here. There's Iniquus, which is my team, we were sent by the United States government to find you, protect you, and bring you home safely. There are the two scientists that kidnapped you, and they are associated with both George Matthews and David DuBois. There is another set of operatives ? very much like Iniquus in training and expertise ? who are somehow linked to David DuBois, they're called Omega. And then there's Brigitte."

"But why?" She gasped.

"I'm guessing it has to do with CHAMP and the possibilities of the other neuroweaponry systems."

"Oh." She breathed out. "Then as long as I know what I know, people will be chasing me down."

"They'll stop chasing you now," Brigitte said. "It's not going to be a problem anymore."

"Why should I trust you?" Arya asked. "You lied about Thorn. I…he's not…he's…"

"Oh sweetheart, you are so na?ve aren't you?" Brigitte tsked. "I knew it when I watched you two on the roof and in the clinic. You think that this big handsome soldier boy swooped in as your hero, and that he would be your new pet. You've convinced your little heart that you love him."

"I…" Arya's voice wavered off.

Brigitte was laughing. "Oh I know, you thought that Thorn felt the same. And he does. Which is equally laughable."

"Tracking. We put out a May Day. The French police are gathering a team," Nutsbe said. "So far, Gage and Honey are still in the car behind you."

"But Thorn is a dessert loving man," Brigitte was saying. "Aren't you Thorn? You just love to get a piece of pie. You don't even care about the flavor. Just pie. Yum."

Thorn heard a click to his left. He slid his hand over and felt Arya's seat belt, and she'd unfastened herself.

"Here," Brigitte said. "I'll show you." She was quiet for a moment, and Thorn knew exactly what she was doing.

He filtered various ideas for handling this through his head and all he could think was that he was the wrong man for this mission. It should have been Honey all along. He was emotionally compromised. He couldn't think straight. He had to put this to the side and be calculating. He could worry about Arya's heart when he was sure he'd kept the rest of her safe.

Brigitte held up her phone. "Check the date and time stamp." And there he was screwing around with Brigitte.

"Shit, is that what I think it is?" Nutsbe said as the moaning and sighing filled the car.

"This is FUBAR." Thorn mouthed. "That's enough," he said to Brigitte. Though he couldn't see Arya, he turned her way. "If you saw the time stamp, you'll see that I was with Brigitte before I was assigned to this mission."

"You love her? You're a couple?" Arya asked.

"No." It was as simple as that. He didn't have any other way to talk about this – bad timing, bad company, really bad choices. "Lights," he called.

"That's not from the team that was heading to the clinic," the driver said.

"What do you mean?" Brigitte asked.

"That group is heading up behind us. Those lights are on the cross roads. Two cars."

"I have the incoming team that Deep warned you about behind you," Nutsbe said. "I have those two cars coming in from the south. I don't know who they are, they aren't support."

"Just so you're aware," Thorn told the driver. "Those cars aren't associated with Iniquus."

Brigitte and the driver switched to Hebrew.

Their car slowed as it popped over a metal plate. There was a whir beneath them. They must be going over a bridge of some kind.

The driver yelled, "Stop!" then braked the car hard.

Thorn twisted and grabbed at Arya to protect her since she was no longer buckled in.

The car behind them with Gage and Honey slammed into them and pushed them forward. They hit something in front as well. Thorn's night vision glasses were back in his duffle. He couldn't tell what was going on.

Arya's door popped open, and she was clambering out, shaking off his grip.

As Thorn slid along the seat to follow her, he grabbed the shoulder harness of the driver and with a quick yank pulled it to full length, wrapped it around the back of the headrest, looping it around the guys neck and let it snap, locking it in place. It might buy him a minute. Thorn snatched the goggles from the guy's head and jumped from the car.

Quickly he realized that move was wasted. Car headlights beamed out.

Now, he could see that they were on a single lane bridge with grating as a surface. He could hear water racing beneath their feet. The end of the bridge had been barricaded and the first car had hit the barrier. That car was crushed.

Honey and Gage were rounding out of their car, clambering over the roof, trying to get to Thorn's side.

Thorn's eye took all of this in, but what it didn't take in was Arya.

Where had she gone?

His eye scanned the length of the bridge. He saw Brigitte standing by the guard rail looking up. Thorn's eye tracked the trajectory.

There was Arya climbing up the arch.

"Good girl, Juliette. Keep climbing," Brigitte yelled as she walked down the bridge to get under Arya. "Keep climbing. You know what you need to do. This is the time. The higher up you go the better your chances of succeeding."

Succeeding?

Lynx was in her ear. "Thorn, she's going to jump. Talk her down. You're the only one who can."

Thorn thought back to his buddy coming off his detox. He had been suicidal. They had to post two men on active guard around the clock. He remembered his friend had just kept repeating, "I can't handle the pain. I just want it to stop."

"Stop, Arya," Thorn called.

"Climb!" Brigitte countered.

"Arya, this isn't the answer you're looking for. I'm going to get you out of this. You'll see your sisters again. Don't give up on them. Your sisters need you. Your nieces need you. The freaking whales in the oceans need you. I need you. I need you, Arya. Let me help you with the pain."

Arya had stopped and was listening to him.

Brigitte took out her phone and turned on the video of their screwing to its loudest setting. The sounds filled the night.

Arya climbed higher.

And he knew what was going through her head. She'd trusted too many people. Trusted George Matthews. Trusted DuBois. Had even trusted her captors who lied and manipulated her. Trusted that they'd told her the truth about her sisters. There was no reason for her to trust anyone right now. Not even him.

He could bare his soul to her tell her that he'd been fighting his emotions, but to no avail. She was written in his heart. That he wanted her to come down and be safe, because he couldn't lose her.

But all of that was selfish and self-centered on his part and probably meaningless to her.

Thorn did the only thing he could think of, he stopped talking. He jogged down to the other end of the arch and started his own climb.

"Keep going, Juliette. At the top, you can just let go and fly fr?" Brigitte's words were cut off.

Thorn could see Gage's fist following through on a right hook as Brigitte slipped to the ground.