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McCallister stepped back and shut it, and the magnetic lock snapped closed. Only then did Joe truly relax in his chair. “So,” he said, and laced his hands behind his head. “Nobody looks happy. Were the drinks watered? I hear that place ain’t much for quality. ”
“Someone invoked protocol on her,” McCallister said, and sat down in one of the other two chairs on the opposite side of Joe’s desk.
Fideli immediately straightened up and got serious. “Deliberately?”
“Apparently. ”
“Which one?”
“Sapphire. ”
“Crap. That means whoever our friendly leaker is, they know way too much. And now so does our supplier. ”
“Excuse me,” Bryn said sharply, “but could we please talk about what happened to me?”
The two men exchanged looks, and McCallister nodded to Joe. “Seriously,” Joe said, “this is my job?”
“It is tonight. ”
Joe sighed and opened up a drawer in his desk. He took out a bottle and three glasses, and poured liberal shots all around. He handed one to Bryn as he said, “Tell me how it happened. ”
“I was … finishing my drink,” she said. “And then a man sat down and came on to me. He said I was going to get up and go home with him. ”
“Just like that. ”
“Pretty much. ”
Fideli cast a look over at McCallister. “Any leads from him?”
“He’s been taken in by my guys, but I doubt it’ll go anywhere. According to what they’ve learned, he was paid to grab her and drive her to a drop point; he was told the protocol information, but I don’t think he knows who paid him, or why, or what was going to happen. And he was paid at a dead drop, in cash, no surveillance available on that area. Dead end. ”
Fideli nodded, and transferred his attention back to Bryn. “And then what happened?”
Bryn felt herself blushing, and hated herself for it. “I … I said okay, I’d go with him. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t want to. ”
Joe nodded. “Drink up. ” He passed a glass over to McCallister, and sipped his own. Bryn tentatively took a taste, and almost choked on the rich, smoky liquor. Scotch. Serious Scotch. But it warmed the chilly places inside. “Go on. ”
“He said it again, and said something about sapphire—”
“He specifically triggered the protocol,” McCallister said. “He knew what he was doing. ”
Joe said nothing. He just waited for Bryn to continue, and she swallowed hard and did. “He made me go outside with him and get into the car. It felt like …”
“Like you had no control,” Joe said, when she paused. “You couldn’t stop yourself. ”
“Yes. ” It had felt that way right until the moment McCallister had broken the spell. “Please tell me it was some kind of a drug. ”
“Afraid not, Bryn. ” Joe turned his glass in slow circles as he watched her. “There’s a side effect to the drug you take, Returné. It has some fail-safes built in, and one of them renders you extremely susceptible to following orders. We call these fail-safes protocols. This one is Condition Sapphire. It was developed for military purposes. ”
“You mean it could happen again?”
“It can happen at any time,” he said. “And it’s real damn dangerous, because it means that if someone orders you to reveal things, you won’t have a choice. You’ll just talk. ”
“You said military. What kind of military purpose?”
“You could be given a covert assignment—like, say, an assassination—and you would carry it out without question. You couldn’t talk if they ordered you not to do so. Not even to save yourself,” McCallister added. “It’s the most easily perverted use of the drug we can think of, and we’ve been trying to find a way
to turn off the protocols. ”
