Rogue Operator Read Online Free Page B

other God given parts where they shouldn’t be.
    And the way his head felt now, was exactly how it had
felt that morning on the bathroom counter.
    He forced his eyes open, praying he wasn’t back in
college. They burned and he immediately shut them. Instead he tried to listen,
to cut through the white noise that seemed to consume his thoughts. He could
hear a dull roar. And voices. Two voices. Talking loud enough to be heard over
the roar of an engine.
    The boat!
    He realized he was in the boat, not his college dorm,
and his heart slammed against his chest as the memories flooded back. They had
been rescued, then someone had said his name, then shot him. But hadn’t. It
wasn’t a bullet, it was some sort of tranquilizer.
    That explained the hangover.
    He tried to listen to the voices. He could hear one, but
didn’t recognize it. The other voice he couldn’t make out enough to say whether
it was familiar or not. Straining against the roar of the boat’s engine that
dominated his right ear which lay against the cool, metal surface, he tried to
make out the words, but it was merely bits and pieces.
    “…minutes…plane…to the rally…taken…north…paid…”
    It meant nothing.
    The boat turned, the entire vehicle banking to the
right, sending him tumbling into the gunwale with a grunt. A grunt that
attracted the attention of someone.
    “This one’s awake.” The voice was uncomfortably close.
“Should I tag him again?”
    “Negative. You’re liable to kill him. We need him alive,
and he has a heart condition.”
    How did they know about that?
    He had only been recently diagnosed with a thickening of
the heart wall, caused by high blood pressure, the stress of his job and the
realization he was responsible for what he had created, proving too much. The
moment they had succeeded in their experiment, succeeded in the fifteen long
years of research, he had at once rejoiced, then cried at the horror of it when
activated.
    It had so much potential for good.
    But far more for evil.
    And at that moment he knew how Robert Oppenheimer had
felt when the first nuclear bomb was successfully tested.
    Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
    He felt a hand grab his shoulder, spinning him onto his
back. He looked up, the world still a blur, but clear enough to see something
dark move rapidly toward his head. An intense pain was followed by a sea of
nothingness.
     
     

 
     
    Ogden, Utah
     
    Detective Jack Percy stepped out of the car as his partner checked
her teeth in the vanity mirror, then joined him. The area had already been
cordoned off, and half the precinct seemed already on scene. It was exactly as
described. Two SUVs and a semi-trailer. The scene commander waved at him and
strode over.
    “Detective
Percy, Conway,” he said, nodding to both, his eyes lingering on Jamie’s
model-like physique.
    “What’ve
you got for us, Sergeant Gates?” Percy let his tone indicate the ogling session
was over. He glanced at Jamie but as usual she seemed to be ignorant of what
had just happened.
    When Jamie
had made detective, every married guy had run for the hills, knowing damned
well their wives would never let them work with her. Percy had volunteered, the
poor girl not understanding why no one wanted to work with her, and seeming
genuinely hurt as partner after partner refused the Lieutenant.
    Percy’s
partner was due to retire, so when he had heard what was going on, he walked
over to the desk she was sitting at outside the LT’s office, and sat down
beside her.
    “Detective
Percy. Jack.” He held out his hand. She had taken it, but only briefly made eye
contact, her eyes wells of tears.
    “Jamie
Conway.”
    “So
you’re the new detective?”
    “Supposed
to be. But nobody wants to partner with me.”
    “And you
don’t know why?”
    She
shrugged her shoulders. “I’m guessing they don’t want to work with a woman.”
    “Think
like a detective. This is the new millennium. Most of the guys around