Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
“It’s a digit. In my opinion it’s the fifth digit of the subject’s right hand. It was excised at the distal phalanx. I would be way more freaked out if it was a head.” Tucker continued pacing.
And then there were times that he thought Tucker remembered far more than any of them imagined.
Taggart glanced up at Steph. “Distal phalanx?”
“He means it’s only the tip of the finger. The digits are composed of three segments called phalanxes. He’s referring to the portion of the finger that contains the nail. They cut off the tip of her pinky finger and sent it to us in a box.” She’d paled, but her tone remained calm. “He’s had medical training. Likely a lot of it if he recalls those kinds of facts easily. I know doctors who would have called it the pinkie finger. His training was hardcore.”
Taggart lifted the box lid and looked inside, his expression never changing. “Well, we’re still learning a lot about the drugs that were used on him. The doctor who experimented on those men was a genius. An evil one, but a genius all the same. She managed to wipe out personal memories without getting rid of important functions like language skills and how to fight. And it seems like a good portion of the puppy’s medical training stuck, too.”
“Personal and emotional memories are stored in different sections of the brain,” Steph replied. “She obviously figured out how to chemically alter the section that holds personal memories.”
“She messed with my limbic system,” Tucker said with a shake of his head. “That just came to me. Limbic system. I know that’s the word to use. How do I know that? How do I know what to call a pinkie finger in a box, but I can’t tell you who my mother was? I’m sorry. This trip was apparently more stimulation than I was ready for. I’m sorry I screwed up the forensics. I should have known better.”
O’Donnell had pulled on a pair of gloves, too, and now he reached into the box. “Not as badly as you thought you had. You missed something in your very reasonable reaction to receiving a body part in a box. There aren’t many people who wouldn’t have a reaction to that.”
“Seriously?” Taggart threw his old friend a questioning look. “You’re getting soft in your old age.”
“He’s practically a toddler, Tag. We have to go easy on him. He’s not a hardened agent.” O’Donnell pulled out a small piece of paper. “And he didn’t lose the note.”
“O’Donnell’s right. We’re actually lucky it was Tucker and not one of the others who came with me. If it had been Sasha or Dante, they would have played with the damn thing.” Brody tried to move closer to Steph, but she stepped away. He thought about forcing the issue, but decided to wait until they were alone. She responded better when they were alone. “We don’t know that’s Anya’s finger.”
“According to the note it is.” O’Donnell’s eyes shifted as he read the note.
“Could you read it out loud?” Steph asked. “I get that you think I’m a delicate flower who’s never seen a lopped off body part, but the least I can handle is reading a few words.”
“They know you’re not a shrinking violet, but they also know it’s different when you know the person.” He wasn’t sure how to deal with her. She seemed to have distanced from everything and everyone.
O’Donnell held the note in his gloved hands. “It’s from de Vries. He says he’s got Anya Shadrova and will exchange her for the thumb drive you took. If you don’t give him the thumb drive by midnight tomorrow night, he’ll send a bigger piece next time. If we call in the feds or any reporter, he’ll put us all on a hit list.”
Taggart rolled his eyes. “Like that’s never happened before.”
“This is serious,” Steph said.
Taggart shrugged. “You’re used to body parts. I’m used to people trying to murder me.”
“Did he leave us a time and place to meet him?” Brody would be there. Eagerly. Happily. He was ready to get in a room with that fucker.
“There’s a phone in here along with his present,” O’Donnell explained. “It’s a burner and he says he’ll only talk to Steph. If anyone else answers the phone, Anya…well, we all know where that’s going. He claims he’ll call sometime in the morning and set the meeting for tomorrow night. He won’t tell you where until thirty minutes before.”
“We’ll figure it out before then. There are only so many places he can go,” Taggart pointed out. “Now that we have a name, we should be able to find the fucker. We need time though.”
“I won’t let anyone die because of me.” She’d gone even paler than before and her voice finally shook.