No Man's Land

49

PULLER ROSE AND stared at Knox.

Knox kept her gaze on the floor.

Puller said, “How?”

“They’re not sure. It could be suicide.”

“Gun?”

She shook her head. “They don’t know what exactly. But from the little I heard there was no outward wound or signs of foul play. Mack might have taken poison.”

“Or someone might have fed it to him,” countered Puller.

“I don’t know,” said Knox distractedly.

“Was he found at home?”

“Yes.”

“Did he live alone?”

“Mack’s wife had died. His kids were grown.”

“If they suspect suicide, was there a note?”

“I don’t know, Puller.”

“Did he ever strike you as suicidal?”

“No, but I hadn’t seen him in a while. And I told you this had rocked him. Maybe our conversation led him to kill himself.”

Knox slumped down and sat on the floor.

“If it did, Knox, you had no way of knowing. It was on him, not you.”

“Easy to say.”

“Yeah, it is. But it’s also the truth.”

“Mack Taubman was a tough guy, Puller. He’d seen it all. I can’t believe he would kill himself over this.”

“Did he contact anyone before he died?”

“I wish I knew. But that’s out of my hands.”

“No way to find out?” he asked.

“I’ve made calls, but the gates have already shut.”

Puller stared down at the floor for a few moments. “Okay, Knox, I’m going to tell you something I shouldn’t.”

She gazed up at him. “Why?”

“Because I know how hard this has been on you. And I know you’ve told me more than you normally would. And I appreciate that.”

She wiped at her face and continued to look at him.

“It was the Vice President who got me back on the case.”

Knox stood unsteadily and placed a hand against the wall. “The VP? The VP!”

“Yeah, the guy who takes over if the President goes down.”

“Holy shit. You met him?”

“He called me over for a drink, a free ticket back on the job, and a warning.”

“But why him? Why the hell did he get involved?”

“That one’s easy. My father was his mentor. He was repaying a favor. But that’s as far as he’d go. And just so you know, he’s scared too. And he’s not privy to everything. And he will never officially acknowledge his intervention.”

Knox stared at him dumbly. “The Vice President of the United States is scared?”

“Everybody gets scared from time to time, Knox, even the Vice President. But we need to focus. Some thoughts are coming together for me. Want to hear them?”

“Yes,” she said. “But I have to tell you something first.”

She crossed the small room and sat on the edge of the bed.

“I didn’t exactly show up on your doorstep for the reasons I said I did.”

“Astonishing,” replied Puller coolly.

“When the allegation came out about your father killing your mother I was called in by my boss. He obviously knew that we had worked together.”

“And was it his idea to have you try to seduce me?” asked Puller, his gaze never leaving her face.

Her face flushed. “No, that…that was on me.”

Puller looked a bit taken aback by this. “Okay. Go on.”

“I just thought they wanted me to see if the allegations were true, although I didn’t understand why it was any concern of my agency’s.”

“And did there come a time when you began to understand?” asked Puller.

“It’s why I left when I did. Things were not adding up. We were getting into areas that smacked of a black hole. Federal investigations do not get shit-canned for no reason, Puller. The FBI does not go home with its tail between its legs. A serial murder case doesn’t go up in smoke. There is a cover-up, at the highest levels. So it’s clear now that a government project did go sideways thirty years ago and it resulted in the deaths of those women.”

“Meaning Building Q?”

She nodded.

“They’re still doing stuff in there, you know.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Is it the same stuff?”

“I’m not cleared for that.”

“Well, I know, even though I’m not cleared.”

“You said you told me everything,” she said, obviously annoyed.

“I lied. How’s it feel to be on the receiving end?”

She let out a long sigh. “It feels shitty.”

“Good.”

“Will you tell me now?”

“They’re building exoskeletons to make soldiers run faster, jump higher, and be far stronger. They’re going to make their brains work better while under stress. They’re going to put them in liquid armor that stiffens to titanium when a bullet hits and then repairs itself. And that’s probably just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Super-soldier stuff, then?”

“It’s not exactly a secret. You can Google DARPA and find out that stuff too. At least generally. They don’t tell you how they’re doing it, of course. But they do have pictures. The woman who works at Atalanta Group told me about it.”

“But how they’re doing it is the key. And you can’t just Wikipedia that. At least not the specifics.”

“But this isn’t about stealing DARPA secrets. This is about women who died thirty years ago. So, did a guinea pig go wild and become Ted Bundy, only with super powers?”

“You mean did they have a super-soldier program three decades ago?”

“I think they did. And I think he might have been the bouncer at the bar.”

“We have got to find this guy.”

Puller had a thought. He called the number for the Grunt and was surprised when someone answered. It was one of the bartenders whom he’d met while he was there. He identified himself. “How’s it going?” he asked.

“Well, we won’t be open for a while. In fact, I’m not sure we’ll ever open after what happened. Stupid, senseless violence. If you want to talk to Ms. Myers she’s not here.”

“I know that. I was actually calling about Paul, the bouncer. Is he there?”

“Paul? No. I haven’t seen him since last night. Why?”

“I was just trying to see if he needed anything. He was wounded and then he just disappeared. I don’t think he received any medical attention.”

“Damn, I didn’t know that. There’s just so much going on…” The bartender’s voice trailed away.

“I know, and I don’t mean to add to your burden. I can try to locate him. You happen to know what car he drives?”

“Car? Yeah, I saw him pull into the parking lot last night when I went to take a smoke before my shift started. It’s a white van.”

Puller tensed. “A van. You mean like a soccer-mom van?”

“No, like you see workmen or contractors use. Although there were no signs on it or anything.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know the license plate? I can trace him that way.”

“No, I don’t. I don’t even know his last name. I don’t think anybody here does.”

Puller clicked off and looked at Knox.

“What was all that about a van?” she asked.

He quickly explained about seeing the van at some of the locations where the bodies had been found.

“Holy shit, Puller. He has got to be our guy!”

“It’s looking that way. Now we just have to find him.”

“You know this could cost us both our careers,” she said.

“Personally, I think if that’s all we lose, we’ll be lucky.”

“I was actually thinking the same thing.”

“And knowing all that, why did you come back?”

“I thought that would be obvious.”

“Not to me.”

“I’ve grown accustomed to having you around.” Before he could respond she added, “And I would never go over to the dark side, Puller. I might bend the rules to get the job done, but I didn’t join up to do bad things. Or to see really bad things covered up. Like the deaths of four women. Or the disappearance of your mother.”

A long moment of silence elapsed.

“I appreciate that, Knox.”

“But you still don’t trust me?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. The look on your face says it all.”

“You risked your life to save my brother. Ordinarily, that would be enough for me to always believe you’re on the up-and-up.”

“Ordinarily.”

“Part of your job is to lie, to deceive. I never know when I’m on the receiving end of one of those mortar rounds, Knox. It’s just how I see it. I’m sorry. It’s just how I’m wired.”

She nodded. “I guess I can understand that. So where does that leave us?”

Before he could answer his phone rang. He looked at the screen. “Don’t recognize the number.”

“You better take it anyway. Maybe it’s Super Paul.”

“Hello?”

“Agent Puller, my name is Claire Jericho. I’m with Atalanta Group. And I believe we need to meet.”