Taylor continued, “We would also recommend that you release Colonel Howe and the MPs from home confinement. They’re a resource.”
He shook his head. “They have lost my trust and the privilege of serving at this facility.” He added, “You didn’t mention releasing Ms. Dixon. I find that interesting.”
Brodie said, “Don’t read too much into it. All we ask is that we can visit her for questioning if and when needed.”
“You can.”
“And we want all phone service restored.”
Morgan shook his head. “The one thing Howe did right. Until everything’s buttoned up, we’re sticking to walkies.” He leaned down, grabbed the agents’ badges, and tossed them over. “I’m keeping your guns. Because I only half trust you.”
Brodie said, “Sir—”
“End of discussion.”
“We need protection.”
“You’ve got it. Five dozen Rangers are on the hunt for a gimped tin man. They’ll get him.”
Brodie and Taylor walked to the door, and then Morgan said, “It’s hiding. They’ve never done that before.”
Taylor turned to the general. “It’s adapting to its circumstances. It’s injured and alone.”
“But these things don’t care about self-preservation. We’ve all seen that. Why not attack, and see what damage it can do before it’s destroyed?”
Brodie answered, “Maybe that doesn’t fit its objective. Maybe it has other plans.”
Morgan thought about that. “The game has changed.”
Brodie said, “Yes, it has, sir. We just have to figure out how.”
CHAPTER 41
WHEN THEY RETURNED TO THEIRhouse, Major Klasky’s body had been removed, along with the broken coffee table and most of the glass.
Taylor looked around the room, then went to the kitchen and returned with a bunch of wet paper towels. She got on her knees and wiped away some specks of blood. “It’s hard to see against the dark wood.”
Brodie retrieved a broom and pan from a closet and swept up whatever small shards had been missed, then disposed of them in the backyard trash along with the bloody towels.
They both sat down on the couch, looking at the blank floor, and neither said anything.
Eventually Taylor spoke. “This whole place, Scott. All these people, they’re being used. Even Klasky, in a way. He believed in patriotism and honor, or at least he thought he did, but somehow along the way he got lost.” She looked at Brodie, pain in her eyes. “Why else would he do what he did? What drives someone to that place?”
“It depends,” said Brodie. “We don’t know his cause, because we still don’t know what Praetorian is.”
She nodded. “Pitch-black.”
Maggie Taylor herself had been involved in a Black Ops program in Afghanistan. Only on the periphery, and she didn’t really understand what was going on, but that wasn’t an excuse. It’s human nature to stay on the edges of the darkness. But even on the edges you sense there is something deeply wrong in the center.
Outside, they heard the distant chop of the Black Hawk. The search was still on.
Taylor got up and walked to the TV hanging on the wall opposite them. She put her head against the wall and checked the edge of it. “It has a USB port. We should try it.”
“Good thinking.” Otherwise they had to figure out how to get another computer, which might invite more unwanted attention. He said, “I’ll retrieve it from under the stairs. You distract the Rangers next door.”
“No. I’ll retrieve it. You distract.”
“You, Ms. Taylor, are a shinier object to a couple of young men.”
