Attempted Assassination(18)

Sitting back down, she wondered when the doctor had arrived, as no one had told her they were expecting company. After the fiasco with Jordan last night, she'd dozed off pretty quickly and slept soundly.

She glanced over at Joe. He must have seen the questions in her gaze; yet, he turned to the doctor. "Would you like some coffee, Sidney? Or tea?"

Sidney Bullot pulled out a chair at the table and sat down. "Coffee, black, please."

His gaze made her uncomfortable, and she tried to avoid looking at him. She also hadn't seen any of the other guys around this morning. Where had they gone?

"Here you go, Sidney," Joe said from the counter.

After a moments pause, she stood and walked over to get the cup of coffee as Joe wouldn't be able to carry it and wheel himself over to the table. Why the doctor didn't get off his skinny butt to help, she didn't know.

"Thank you, Ava," Joe murmured.

She nodded and set the cup in front of Sidney while Joe rolled over to the table.

Suddenly, panic railed through her. Perhaps something had happened in the night to Jordan, and that's why the visitor had arrived. "Is Jordan okay?"

Joe nodded. "Yes. I had Brody and Ruben check on him this morning. He didn't eat or say much, but he's breathing."

Relief swept through her on an exhale, and she waited for Joe to continue.

"Do you remember when we first met, we discussed MK Ultra and the experiments the government performed with LSD?"

"Of course."

Joe glanced over at the doctor. "Sidney's father happened to be one of the CIA doctors who controlled some of the experiments."

Her gaze slid over to Sidney, unease clenching her stomach. She wasn't certain of the direction of the conversation. 

"Before his father died, Sidney was able to discuss the tests in great length with him. Afterward, he found boxes and boxes of data, notes, and reports about them. With that and his own work in the laboratory, you could say he's become one of the country's foremost experts in LSD, mind control, and hallucinogens in general."

Still unsure why the doctor had been brought here, she remained quiet, but Joe did, as well. Then, it dawned on her. Could he actually be thinking of using drugs on Jordan to try to get his memory back?

Sitting back in her chair, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Please say you aren't telling me what I think you are."

Joe arched his eyebrows. "If you are implying that I want to try to reach Jordan by using this man's expertise, then yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

She shook her head, recalling her friends in high school who ended up in the hospital. "No."

Under no terms would she allow that to take place, and a flash of irritation barreled through. Heat rose in her face and warmed her neck. Jordan used to say she always looked so cute when angered because her cheeks reminded him of a clown at the circus-two bright, red orbs sitting on her face.

"I think once you hear me out, Ava, you'll understand that we're running out of time and options."

Training her gaze on Joe, she shook her head. "No. Using drugs on him isn't going to happen. He's only seen me once since he's been here. I just need to spend more time with him. I'm certain he'll come around."

A moment of silence ensued as she and Joe stared each other down, then he finally turned to the doctor and spoke.

"Could you please excuse us, Sidney? Please stay here and enjoy your coffee. I believe there're some donuts on the counter. I need a moment to talk with Ava."

The doctor nodded, and Ava stood and followed Joe out of the kitchen and into the living room, prepared for a showdown. She would protect Jordan at all costs, especially from this insane plan.

The living room where they had all met on the first day didn't have much furniture-just a cream-colored couch and three matching high-back chairs-but then again, none of the rooms in the house did. It allowed Joe to move around freely in his chair without bumping into anything. The couch faced the floor-to ceiling windows, and the morning sun glistened off the calm, blue Sound. Just a few moments ago, the water had matched her mood, but now, a monsoon brewed within her as her anger escalated at Joe's stupid plan.

Joe shut the door and motioned for her to sit on the couch. He parked his chair directly in front of her, their knees almost touching, and spoke in very low tones.

"Ava, the CIA used MK Ultra to try to gain control of their subjects' memories. What I want to do is approach it from the other end. Somehow, someway, Group Nine has erased Jordan's memories and replaced them with a different truth. They've changed him on a very fundamental level. However, we've seen his reaction to you, and it's almost as if a part of him is fighting to get out from under this  …  blockage that they've installed in his brain. I'm proposing using the LSD to see if we can get past that blockage and bring him back for good."

Never in a million years would she allow them to shoot Jordan full of LSD, or any other drug. He'd always lived a fairly clean life, only imbibing in a few beers every now and then.

"Ava, if we can't get through to him, what do you think is going to happen to him? Do you think I'm just going to let him walk out of here, knowing that he's been assigned to kill me? Do you think I'm going to put the other men's lives in danger? Brody? Lucas? Zachary? Ruben? And what about you? Do you really think that he'd just go on his merry way and forget all about you? Just you being near him brings him to his knees. He's a killer. He's not going to let the one person who can seemingly destroy him just by being in his presence live."



       
         
       
        

A lump formed in her throat as her stomach churned, and she stared down at her hands. Although Joe was probably right, she couldn't help but think there had to be another way.

"One other thing to consider is what will happen to Jordan."

Glancing up at him, her heart raced. "What do you mean?"

"I know for a fact that Group Nine requires its agents to check-in a maximum of forty-eight hours after their hit. We've now hit the twenty-four hour mark. If we keep him longer than the forty-eight hours, what do you think will happen to Jordan once he does walk out of here? I'm sure Group Nine would love to know where he's been, what he's been doing, and who he's been doing it with. If he doesn't give up the information willingly, I have no doubt interrogation will happen."

"How do you know that?"

He said nothing, just stared at her. After a moment, she realized he wouldn't be answering her.

"Then, Ava, once Group Nine has the information on who, what, and where, I'm sure if they don't send Jordan to kill all of us, they'll send someone else. You'll never see it coming; you'll never know what hit you. You'll be walking down the street, or snuggled up in your bed one moment, and the next, you'll simply be gone."

Tears stung her eyes. This rabbit hole she'd willingly jumped into had grown far deeper and wider than she could have ever imagined. Not only that, but she found herself incredibly ill-equipped to survive and understand this new world.

"And of course, that's if they send someone who does their job quickly and efficiently. There are many out there who like to drag out the death process through other means."

Bile rose in her throat as her imagination ran wild at the possibilities, everything from rape to having her fingernails removed. Then, she wondered if Joe just tried to strong-arm her into doing what he wanted-plying her husband full of hallucinogenic drugs.

"You don't know that."

Joe shrugged, but his face remained impassive. "You can choose to believe me or not, but think long and hard why I operate the way I do. As you've seen for yourself, I am terribly careful about who I trust, where I'm going, and I take precautions at every turn to make sure that I stay alive."

Ava stared at him a moment, then scoffed. "You made yourself a target to get Jordan! That's not being safe or taking precautions!"

"You're correct. That was one of the riskier things I've done, but I knew I could trust the men in your husband's unit with my life. I saved theirs, and they saved mine. Now, I'm going to do anything in my power to do the same with Jordan." 

She stared at him a moment, noting his deadly serious gaze. Usually, a bit of a twinkle held in his eye, but the smart, blue orbs had become flat and grim. He meant every word he said, and a trickle of fear went down her spine, not only for the danger she found herself in, but for the rest of Jordan's unit, and for Jordan himself.

Yes, Joe Smith lived an incredibly dangerous life; a life where playing cat and mouse seemed to be norm.

"Why do you do this?" she asked. "Why do you put yourself in danger for these men?"

He folded his hands on his lap, never looking away from her. "Because I was once in their shoes. I was in the service, and experiments were done on my unit and me. At that time, Ella-who is now Zach's significant other-we were lovers. We discovered what the government had done. It led to me being in this chair, and Ella in Zachary's arms. I will continue to look into finding the rest of Jordan's unit and bringing them under my wing where they can be protected, and also work for me."

His past with Ella was none of her business, though curiosity ate at her for the details. However, she assumed she could ask what the men did for him.