Page 92 of The Lazarus Protocol

“Johannsen.”

“Wait. He’s a Lazarus Protocol…person? Enrollee?” Dan got up to pace. “He works for Earthnet, right? He was y’all’s contact getting the job.”

Ash said, “He’s the one who hooked us up with it.”

Noah glanced around. “Seems like my parents might be in more of this than we knew. If they’re drawing the team into Earthnet business, they’ve got a man on the inside⁠—”

Marina cut him off. “And they contacted my cousin.”

“It could all be connected,” Adam said. “But how does it help us find Vesper and get Kai back?”

Ash disappeared out the side door, and if anyone noticed, they said nothing about it. Per protocol he’d be reaching out to their contact. Noah’s mom or dad, or someone else entirely.

“The Phoenix Network.”

Dan turned from his pacing the length of the room. “That’s where you got Nix from?”

“The Phoenix Network,” Noah echoed.

Adam winced. He’d really said that aloud? “They said I could use it.” He looked around. “Marina, any idea who sent those drones to kill us in Kyle’s apartment? It looked to me when we were there that he was using it to surveil the ship where they had that lab.”

Dan sat on the edge of a desk. “So he infiltrated Earthnet to find out where their lab was, then he was reporting back to whoever sent him in?”

Adam figured that was close enough.

“My parents are still in the game.” Noah’s tone had a note of awe in it.

“You’re glad about that?” Adam said. “Even if it means you never see them?”

Noah shrugged. “I have to come to terms with it all, but if they’re saving people like you? People like Ash who thought they were serving their country and found their lives destroyed because of their choice? I think I’m going to be okay with it. Eventually, at least.”

Marina turned in her chair. “Earthnet sent those drones to kill you guys.”

Adam nodded. “They were herding us away from the lab, but Steph knew there was something on that ship. She’s the one who turned the boat around to go look.”

“And as a result of boarding that boat, Kai was captured.” Jay leaned forward in his chair, forearms on his knees. “That’s why I didn’t say no when she took off with Ice to chase after them.”

“Kai being captured isn’t her fault,” Adam said. “Earthnet is up to something, and whatever Vesper is doing, she needs to be stopped. We need to know what happened.”

“And we need to get Kai back,” Jay said. “Before this Vesper woman does something we’re going to have to kill her for.”

THIRTY-TWO

Baltimore, Maryland

Dr. Emanuela Peraya slid out of her car into the rain, raising her umbrella before closing the car door. Police and crime scene technicians had long since vacated the premises. The body had been carted away.

Division Chief Thomas Kraus met her at the end of the front walk. He raised the crime scene tape on the front door, and they stepped inside the small house that had belonged to Simon Gaines.

“What are the odds the police will actually come up with a suspect?” Emanuela looked around at what remained of Simon Gaines’ life.

Kraus made a noncommittal noise in his throat and pulled out his phone. Well, a phone. Not his personal one.

This wasn’t a job they could entrust to anyone else at the CIA. Not when the stakes were as high as she believed they were. “You really think that tip from the Division Zero team was correct?”

He turned in the center of the living room, allowing the scanner time to find a signal.

“Are you going to answer any of my questions?”