In the Grey (49 page)

“
Sounds like Rita,” Cian
said. “She always knew her mind.”

“
That’s what I did,” Tom
smiled. “Computers became the rage and they wanted me to run a team
of programmers to track the troubles. We stayed in London until I
reached my pension age. We moved to the farm after that – after
Johnny was in the US.”

“
How’d you get back in?”
Cian asked.

“
Two young volunteers
walked into a nightclub,” Tom said.

“
That sounds like a joke,”
Eoin said. “What’s the rest of it?”

“
He means us,” Cian
said.

“
Oh,” Eoin said. “What do
you want to know?”

“
What do you know about
Neev?” Tom asked.

“
Nothing,” Cian
said.

“
Nothing?” Tom
asked.

“
No really,” Eoin said.
“We don’t know a thing. I thought she was programming Sami and
Wyatt. Cian thought she wasn’t. I was right, by the
way.”

“
You didn’t speak to her
about it?” Tom asked.

“
No,” Cian said. “I
haven’t seen her since . . . she left for the
cloister. Have you?”

Cian looked at Eoin. He
shook his head.

“
I used to see Jack kind
of regular,” Eoin said. “When we were home, in Shankill. He came in
for therapy with one of the other counselors. You remember,
Cian.”

Cian nodded his
head.

“
Not either of you?” Tom
asked.

“
Wouldn’t be proper,” Cian
said.

“
Plus, what would you do
at Sunday brunch?” Eoin asked. “Nice to see ya Jackie. How’s your
secret life holding up?”

“
Jack had a secret life?”
Tom asked.

“
No,” Cian said. “Eoin’s
saying we don’t know anything.”

“
You don’t?” Tom
asked.

Cian shook his
head.

“
Neev wasn’t like the rest
of us,” Cian said. “She and Da . . . they were
close. The rest of us were Mum’s kids, especially us boys. But
Neev, she never got over Mum being with . . . well,
Johnny’s da even though our da told her to do it.”

“
What do you mean?” Tom
asked.

“
Our da was in the Maze,”
Cian said. “He told Mum to get cozy with Johnny’s da so he could
get better treatment, more status, and privileges, like she was a
prostitute. I hated Da for that, but Neev blamed Mum. And
Mum . . . well, there was Johnny
and . . .”

Cian shrugged and looked
at Eoin.

“
His mum and Johnny’s da
really hit it off,” Eoin said. “Love at first sight. He took her
everywhere, bought her lovely things, and when Johnny came,
well . . .”

“
He wanted to take us,”
Cian said. “And we wanted to go. All but Neev. She told our da, and
he . . .”

“
Ronan Kelly killed your
mother, Brigid,” Tom said.

“
And the babe?” Cian
asked.

“
Yes,” Tom said. “I
assumed you knew.”

Cian shook his head. They
watched the water for a while.

“
Neev thought she deserved
it,” Cian said. “She took her vows when Jackie went into Maze. I
thought she knew the pressure Mum had to deal with. But she told me
last week that it was Mum’s fault for ‘whoring herself out.’ That’s
what she said. Neev felt like she had no choice but to become a
nun. All these years later, she’s still bitter about it. Rita says,
‘I was a nun for a while, and that was nice; now I’m not.’ Just
something she did, but Neev . . .”

Cian shrugged.

“
That’s what I know,” Cian
said.

“
You think she did this to
get back at John?” Tom asked.

“
We think she did this
because something’s happened to Jack,” Eoin said. “Neev might be
bitter and mean on her own, but when Jackie’s around, everything
was good. He mellows her out; gets her laughing.”

“
Any ideas what happened
to Jack?” Tom asked.

“
We were going to ask our
friend Art, but . . . ,” Eoin
shrugged.

Tom nodded.

“
Do you know what happened
to Jack?” Cian asked.

“
I think it’s pretty dumb
to take out the one person who could find and rescue him,” Tom
said. “That’s what I think. Any ideas who’s behind all of
this?”

Cian and Eoin looked at
each other. Eoin shook his head. Cian raised his
eyebrows.

“
What’s going on?” Tom
asked.

“
Eoin was just going to
tell you that he made a call after he helped everyone,” Cian
said.

“
To whom?”

“
Paddy Hargreaves,” Eoin
said.

“
The four-year-old?” Tom
asked.

“
Senior,” Cian
said.

“
What did you tell the
General?” Tom asked.

“
That each of them passed
out after finishing,” Eoin said.

“
Shite,” Tom picked up a
flat rock and threw it. The rock skipped across the surface of the
river. “That’s bad.”

“
Eoin was able to modify
the program Neev set,” Cian said. “If he hadn’t, they would have
died.”

“
Tell me,” Tom
said.

“
Samantha Hargreaves was
supposed to beat Art with a baseball bat,” Eoin said. “I got her to
use an aluminum hockey stick. She just hit him the one
time.”

“
Less deadly,” Tom
said.

“
Yes, sir,” Eoin said.
“Samantha, she worked really hard and didn’t want to hurt him, but
we couldn’t get to the kernel. I think it was too real, honest.
Raz, he loves Alex, makes no excuses for it; that’s hard on Sami
sometimes. And Wyatt, he doesn’t like the fact that Max can control
him like he did when he locked him up in the bathroom. The kernel
of resentment was too true for both of them. I had less time with
Wyatt. But he was supposed to hold Max’s head under the toilet
water – drown him.”

“
He just threw him in the
bathroom instead,” Tom said.

“
Maxie would be all right
if he hadn’t had a heart attack,” Eoin said.
“He . . .”

Eoin sniffed.

“
We love Max,” Cian said.
“Mind if we walk?”

“
Sure,” Tom
said.

They walked along the
river in silence for a while.

“
I really tried,” Eoin
said when they reached the top of the ridge. “But, the programming
was too strong.”

“
She worked on people who
were susceptible,” Tom said. “Colin also took blood from each of
them – Samantha Hargreaves, Agent Rasmussen, and Steven Pershing.
They were drugged with a combination of roofies and
amphetamines.”

“
Deadly cocktail,” Eoin
said. “How did Pershing . . . ?”

“
Strength of will and
absolute love for Alex,” Tom said. “Programming creates a
tremendous, almost desperate pressure to do a specific action. In
this case, stab Alex with a specific knife. One of Patrick’s
‘survive programming’ tricks is for the recipient to modify the
program – focus on relieving the tension by committing the action
somewhere less deadly. In this case, stab her on her right side and
not her left side. She wouldn’t have survived the wound if it had
been on her left side.”

Cian and Eoin
nodded.

“
Did Neev have any
interaction with Pershing?” Tom asked.

“
I don’t know when they
would have had time,” Cian said. “Steve arrived on Tuesday night.
He was worn out by travel and went straight to bed. He was in
meetings and doctor’s appointments all of Wednesday. Eoin spent an
hour or so with him at a few different times. Neev wouldn’t have
had access.”

“
Yet he was still
drugged,” Tom said.

“
Right,” Cian
shrugged.

“
And the boy?” Tom
asked.

“
Hector James’s mom died
last year,” Eoin said. “He was terribly victimized by Hector. His
dad wants them to be strong.”

“
We do too,” Cian
said.

“
Cian and me, we can’t
bear the thought that they won’t recover from it all, ” Eoin said.
“We’ve been trying to help them feel safe and like they can protect
themselves if we’re not there. Alex bought the tasers for them. A
green one for Hermes and a blue one for Hector James. Anyway,
they’re little boys.”

“
Meaning?” Tom
asked.

“
They would tase each
other when no one was around,” Cian said. “They would knock each
other out and see how long it took to wake up. You know, ‘Now do
me!’”

“
They’re boys,” Tom
said.

“
Exactly right,” Eoin
said. “Alex took the tasers away and put them in her bottom drawer
along with what she called their “ninja supplies” – untraceable
phones, coagulant, medical supplies, black clothing, and the
protein bars they like. Once a month or so, they’d get them out and
practice. They both have access to the office, but only the
drawer.”

“
Why?” Tom
asked.

“
They were badly hurt,”
Cian said.

“
They almost died,” Eoin
said. “In the hospital after they were rescued. They wouldn’t have
made it if their mum hadn’t been with them.”

“
And then she died,” Cian
said. “We want them to grow into strong boys who aren’t afraid
or . . .”

“
Mean,” Eoin said. “Like
Neev.”

“
We specifically didn’t
want them to grow into Neev,” Cian said. “Johnny used those exact
words.”

“
So, if no one liked Neev,
even Johnny who technically owns the house, why did you let her
stay?” Tom asked.

“
Alex wanted the best
person in the world to help Wyatt with his deprogramming,” Cian
said. “She’s the best according to everyone.”

“
What about Eoin?” Tom
asked.

“
Alex didn’t know,” Cian
said.

”
My skills aren’t exactly
public knowledge,” Eoin said. “Didn’t want the Proddies to come for
me.”

“
We were going to tell her
when she got home from this last trip,
but . . .”

Cian raised a shoulder in
a sad shrug.

“
The boys have worked
through scenarios with Colin,” Eoin said. “He’s been teaching them
martial arts. Hector James knew exactly what to do.”

Tom nodded.

“
Did they really cheer?”
Cian asked Eoin.

“
When they knocked her
out,” Eoin said. “They were pretty excited.”

“
Why did Hector James come
down?” Tom asked.

“
He’s been having
nightmares,” Cian said. “He’s just turning eleven and starting to
have some sexual stirring. It’s all very normal, no acting out,
nothing disturbed, but at night, he has horrible nightmares. He
comes down and sits on Alex’s lap. She shows him that Hector is
dead and that his mother loved him.”

“
What does he do when Alex
isn’t awake?” Tom asked.

“
Hasn’t happened,” Cian
said.

“
Is Alex awake every
night?” Tom asked.

“
No,” Cian said. “A lot of
nights, but not every night.”

“
I wonder if there’s
something there,” Tom said.

“
He might hear her go
down,” Cian said. “The house is insulated, but it’s old; we mostly
know what’s going on all over the house.”

“
Makes sense,” Tom nodded.
“How’d you wake them?”

“
Implanted the smell of
their favorite thing as a wake up,” Eoin said. “Wyatt, Samantha,
Steve; they didn’t want to be controlled or manipulated into
hurting anyone. They fought hard. I can tell you that; they fought
hard.”

“
But each of them was
susceptible to programming due to previous mind control
experiences,” Tom said.

“
Yes,” Eoin said.
“Samantha was drugged and manipulated by that ex-senator; Wyatt was
programmed in the military.”

“
And Steve?” Tom
asked.

“
Military,” Eoin said.
“That’s what he said.”

“
Huh,” Tom nodded. “When
did you plant the wake up in Pershing?”

“
Last night,” Eoin said.
“He was really open. Wyatt too.”

“
You’re saying that
whoever programmed them is not done with them,” Tom
said.

Eoin nodded.

“
Good to know,” Tom said.
“Can you help them?”

“
I washed away Wyatt’s
programming,” Eoin said. “I’ll go by the hospital and do it again.
He desperately wants this part of his life to be over and done
with. We’ll get it all washed away.”

Tom nodded. They turned
around and started back.

“
Is there anything else
you can tell me?” Tom asked. “Anything.”

Cian and Eoin shook their
heads.

“
What are you going to
do?” Cian asked.

“
I need to visit with
Neev,” Tom said. “She’s already tried to suicide. Twice. She’s
being held in a federal psychiatric hospital. Rita’s with her
now.”