Page 33 of The Ghost

By the time I reached him, it was too late. I shoved my gun in his rib cage and grabbed him by the collar. “Hello, Regg. Long time, no see.”

He choked on his reaction. Apparently, I was the last person he’d expected to find that night. Before he could say anything or draw attention to us, I pushed him out the far door into the opposite stairwell.

There was another guard on that side, but he couldn’t see the gun. I muttered something unintelligible, pretending to be drunk. The guard frowned but didn’t react, allowing us to slide by and mount the stairs in peace.

“Theo,” Regg said, regaining control of his voice.

“Not now,” I growled, shoving him up ahead of me.

“Hey, man, I meant to contact you,” Regg tried, apparently mistaking me for some other gangster that he was involved with.

On the ground floor, I found a public bathroom and pushed him inside. Locking the door behind me, I turned on him with a vengeance.

“I bet you never expected to see me alive,” I taunted.

“Hey, I don’t think you understand,” he tried, his brain slowly catching up to the fact that I meant business. “It wasn’t like that. I was betrayed by the same people who betrayed you.”

“Save it,” I snapped. “I’m only interested in one thing.”

“What’s that?” he wanted to know, playing like he was willing to make concessions.

“Where is New Dawn’s headquarters?” I demanded.

“I don’t know,” he lied.

I hit him on the head with the gun, sending him spinning into the wall. He righted himself, putting his hands up to defend himself.

“I’m going to put this in words you can understand,” I said slowly. “If you don’t tell me where I can find New Dawn, you’re never getting out of this bathroom alive.”

“I can’t tell you.” Regg changed tactics, now trying to appeal to my merciful side. “They’ll kill me.”

“I’m going to kill you,” I reminded him. “Your choice: die now or die later.”

“That’s not fair,” Regg complained.

“What’s not fair is you trying to kill me and then framing me for murder,” I replied.

“They’re fighting for a world without borders,” Regg said, trying to convince me to betray humanity.

I shook my head, not wanting this to go any further. I had a certain familiarity with torture, as did every spy, but what I didn’t have was time. I pulled a silencer out of my pocket and screwed it onto the end of my gun. Regg watched me do it in horror, realizing what was about to happen. That act alone loosened his jaw, and he began spilling all the secrets that Ashcroft and others were trying to keep hidden.

“It’s on a remote island in the Norwegian Sea,” he blubbered. “I have the coordinates right here.” He fumbled into his jacket and produced a phone.

“Slide it over,” I instructed.

He lowered himself to the ground, his hand shaking. Pushing the phone across the floor, he only made it halfway. It stopped in the middle near the drain and sat there. Regg got stupid and attempted to use it as a distraction. He darted toward a stall, but I fired off a shot that hit the wall beside him, halting him in his tracks.

“Why did you kill all those agents?” I demanded. Now that he was willing to talk, I wanted all my questions answered.

“Ashcroft ordered it,” Regg said desperately.

“Why?” I snapped.

“Because they outlived their usefulness,” Regg replied.

“And what was in their shoulders?” I requested, eager to know the answer before making quick work of my enemy.

“Implants,” he offered.