Page 92 of PSYCHOlogical

Chapter Forty

Val

Access to New Dawn’s headquarters required entering through a glass door, walking through a vestibule, and then passing through another glass door. Both doors required the use of an ID to unlock the magnetic door locks. After the second door, a short hallway led to a “T”. Supplies, the server room, and the armory were on the left. Offices were on the right.

Vincent was on the left—which was illuminated—waiting for Trevino to walk into the intersection. I was in my darkened office, on the right.

The first magnetic lock deactivated with a loud clank!

Then, the second clank!

I drew a breath and held it.

“Winslow?” Trevino said. “You in here?”

“Server room,” Vincent said in a deep, disguised tone.

I grinned at the resemblance to Jack’s voice. Vincent was very talented at what he did and continued to prove that to me through his actions and ideas.

The humming from the fluorescent lights down the hallway was the only sound. My muscles tensed in anticipation of what was to come.

A bang—much louder than I expected—broke the eerie silence. A crackling sound followed. The unmistakable thud of a body hitting the floor was next. Then, more crackling.

“Briggs?” I said into the darkness.

“Alive and well,” he replied. “Would you be so kind as to bring me my tools of torture?”

With a pistol in my right hand and the bag in my left, I stepped into the hallway. Thirty feet away, on the floor to my left, an olive suit clad Trevino was sprawled out, face down. Vincent was on top of him with his knee pressed into the center of his back. Pink confetti-sized discs of paper covered the floor.

I pointed the pistol at Trevino and dropped the bag at Vincent’s side.

Vincent zip-tied Trevino’s hands and ankles, then dragged him past the entrance and toward the dimly lit side of the hallway. He unfolded a sheet of plastic and rolled Trevino onto it, facing upward.

Vincent peered down at him through narrow eyes. “Might take you a minute to process this,” he began. “But your little mission went to shit. We’ve got two dead undercover DNI operators—one male, one female—and three dead New Dawn operators. Needless to say, your targets are still at large.”

Trevino blinked a few times.

“And, we’re going to stay that way,” I added.

“If he so much as moves a muscle, shoot him,” Vincent said.

I steadied the pistol and gave a nod. “Okay.”

Vincent reached into the bag and removed a pair pruning shears.

He held them over Trevino and looked them over. “I’ll ask a question. You’ll provide a brief, concise response. If it’s a rambling, meaningless information dump of a response, I’ll lop off a finger. If it’s brief and truthful, I won’t. When we’re out of fingers, I’ll start with your toes. Understood?”

Trevino looked at me, and then at Vincent. He nodded.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Vincent said. “First question. Why were you after Doctor Rhoades?”

“The Director of the Office of DNI ordered her to be eliminated,” Trevino replied.

Vincent’s eyes thinned. “The Director? For what reason?”

“She removed sensitive materials from this office. In an effort to prevent—”

Vincent held up his hand. “That’s enough.”