The Judas Strain

His head cracked back. He tasted blood on his lips.

She leaped on him, pi

She was right.

Gray lowered his arm.

She struck him hard, splitting his lip. His head rang with the blow. She shook the sting from her hand — then raised her fist again.

“And this is for not trusting me,” she said, and lashed out again.

Blood spurted from his nose. He felt himself drift away, then back again.

She leaned down, near his ear. “Do you remember that little promise I made to you at the very begi

“What’s that?” He turned to the side and spat.

“That I’d reveal the mole to you after this was all over.”

“But there was no mole.”

“Are you certain of that?”

Her eyes hovered over his. Suddenly he wasn’t so sure.

She sat back and whipped out with her elbow, a glancing blow to his eye.

“Christ!”

“That’ll swell fine.” She rubbed her lips, studying him, like an artist over an oil painting in progress. Then said, “I’m the mole, Gray.”

“What—?”

“A mole planted inside the Guild.”

She slammed a fist into his other eye. His vision went black for a breath.

“I’m one of the good guys, Gray. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

Gray lay there dazed, from her words, from her blows.

“A double agent?” he coughed out, incredulous. “Two years ago, you shot me! Point-blank in the chest.”

She cocked her fist again. “I knew you had on liquid body armor. Didn’t you ever wonder why I was wearing the same? Catch a clue, Gray.”

Her fist hammered down, rocking his head back. She then pinched the bridge of his nose, plainly wondering if she should break it.

“And the anthrax bomb,” he said. “At Fort Detrick?”

“Already sterilized. A dud. I was pla

“But…the curator in Venice?” he sputtered out. “You killed him in cold blood.”

She slashed her fingernails down his left cheek, digging deep furrows of fire. “If I hadn’t, his whole family would have been slaughtered. Including wife and daughter.”

Wincing, Gray stared up. She had an answer for everything.

Seichan leaned back, cranking the heel of her hand up to her ear, eyeing his nose. “And I’m not stopping…not after five years, not when I’m this damn close to discovering who leads the Guild.”

She punched down, but he caught her wrist this time.

She leaned her weight, pressing down on him.

“Seichan…”

She stared down at him, muscles straining, eyes fiery, as if in pain. Their eyes met. She searched his face, looking for something. She didn’t seem to find it. For a flash, he saw disappointment in her eyes. Also regret…maybe loneliness. Then it was gone.

She slammed him with her other elbow, a blow to the ear, scattering stars across his vision. He released her. She fell back, scrambling off of him.

“That’ll do,” she mumbled, turning away.

She crossed to the clothes, shed her hospital gown, and quickly do

“Seichan?”

Once dressed, she didn’t say a word, only stepped to the door. She wouldn’t even turn, only asked one last thing of him, spoken softly, a lifeline thrown back toward him.

“Trust me, Gray. If only a little. I’ve earned that much.”

Before he could answer, she left. The door swung closed behind her.

Trust me…

Heaven help him, he did.

He shoved up in the bed, his face throbbing, his one eye swelling.

Fifteen minutes passed. Long enough to ensure that she escaped.

Finally Painter appeared at the door, pushing inside.

“Did you get all that?” Gray asked.

“The wire picked up everything.”

“Could she be telling the truth?”

Painter frowned, staring back at the door. “She is a consummate liar.”

“Maybe she had to be. To survive inside the Guild.”

Painter undid the handcuffs. “Either way, the passive tracer we planted in her belly during the operation will allow us to track her whereabouts.”

“And what if the Guild finds it?”

“It’s a plastic polymer, invisible to X-ray. They’ll never detect it.”

Unless they cut her open.

Gray stood up. “This is wrong. You know it.”

“It was the only way the government would allow us to free her.”

Gray remembered Seichan’s eyes, staring down at him.

He knew two truths.

She had not been lying.

And even now, she was certainly far from free.

Epilogue

“The restoration job looks great,” Gray said.

His father slid a cloth moist with Turtle Wax over the hood of the Thunderbird. They had rescued the convertible out of impound, towing it away on a flatbed. Painter had arranged to have the T-bird repaired at the best classic restoration shop in the D.C. area. His father had gotten it back last week, but this was the first time Gray had seen it.

His father stepped back, hands on his hips. He wore an oil-stained undershirt and long shorts, showing off his new leg, another courtesy of Sigma, DARPA-designed, exceptionally realistic. But it wasn’t the leg that concerned his father at the moment.

“Gray, what do you think of these new rims? Not as nice as my old Kelsey wire wheels.”

Gray came around to stand next to his dad. They looked the same to him. “You’re right,” he said anyway. “These suck.”

“Hmm,” his father said noncommittally. “But they were free. That Painter fellow was pretty generous.”

Gray could get a sense of where this was leading. “Dad…”

“Your mother and I talked it over,” he said, still staring at the wheels. “We think you should stay with Sigma.”

Gray scratched his head. He already had his letter of resignation in his pocket. When he had returned from Cambodia, he had found his father in the hospital, his chest burned from Taser strikes. His mother’s arm was in a sling from a minor fracture to her wrist. The worst was his mother’s black eye.

All because of him.

He had almost lost it in the hospital.

What security could he offer his parents if he continued? The Guild certainly knew who he was, where to find his folks. The only way to keep them safe was to resign. Painter tried to assure him that the Guild would back off. That retribution and retaliation were not their methods. In future missions, Painter had assured Gray his parents would be secured before he left.

But some missions came crashing up your driveway in a motorcycle.

There was no way to plan against that.

“Gray,” his father pressed, “what you do is important. You can’t let worries about us stop you.”

“Dad…”

He lifted his hand. “I’ve said my piece. You make your own decision. I have to figure out if I like these rims or not.”

Gray started to turn away.

His father reached out, grabbed his shoulder, and pulled him into a one-armed hug. He gave him one squeeze — then pushed him away a bit. “Go see what your mother is burning for breakfast.”

Gray crossed to the back door and met his mother coming out.

“Oh, Gray, I just got off the phone with Kat. She said you were heading over there this morning.”

“Before I go to the office. I have some of Monk’s stuff on the front porch. Dad’s letting me borrow the T-bird so I can run some errands for Kat this afternoon, too.”

“I know the funeral isn’t for another two days, but I have some pies. Could you take those over, too?”

“Pies?” Gray asked doubtfully.

“Don’t worry. I bought them from the bakery down the street. Oh, and I have some toys for Penelope. I found this cute jumper with elephants and…”