Page 71 of Knox

I grab the rubber gun, point it at his thigh, and shoot.

THWACK!

“Argh!” He falls to the floor and curls into a ball. “Are you trying to kill me?!”

“You’ll just bruise.” I point the rubber bullet gun at his arm. “Leif will open the door in less than a minute, which means you have less than sixty seconds to tell me who hired you and why the fuck were you asked to follow Cillian!”

“I don’t know.”

THWACK!

A rubber bullet strikes his arm, and Tae claps a hand over his mouth to muffle a laugh.

“Aargh! You’re fucking insane!”

“I am, which is why it’s in your best interest to start talking.” I lower my aim, pointing the gun directly at his dick.

“No! Wait!” He frantically throws his hands down to protect himself.

“How long until you open that door, Leif?” I call out.

“Fifteen seconds.”

“You hear that, Mr. Brown? You’ve got fifteen seconds before I shoot your dick into total numbness,” I threaten, and Tae bursts out laughing.

“Oh, my god, please do,” Tae cries.

“Don’t! Okay! Fine! Jesus!” he yells, now beyond panicked. “I don’t know who hired me; I just know they wanted every piece of intel I could get on the same man I ran the DNA match for, and for me to deliver some creepy letters!”

“DNA? What the fuck are you talking about?” I frown.

“Around ten years ago, the same client who now wants Cillian dead hired me to run a DNA test against Cillian’s… and it was a match.”

What the hell…

CLANK!

“Door is open,” Leif says, taking his shotgun from the floor. “We need to run now.”

“Clear the courtyard to the south wall!” I order, grabbing Brown from the floor and lifting him to his feet. “You better fucking run; your life depends on it.”

The four of us sprint across the open dirt yard toward the perimeter fence we jumped earlier.

The alarm is going full-on crazy by now.

They even have searchlights moving all over the place.

“We’re at the fence!” Tae calls out into his earpiece. “Alexios, where’s the bird?”

“Fifty meters past the tree line! Move!” Alexios replies.

Leif shoots a rope ladder over the top of the fence, hooks it to the chain links, and hauls Brown to his shoulder.

Brown tries to grab the barbed wire to hold himself in place, but Leif throws him over the top, letting him fall onto the grass outside.

“OUCH!” Agent Brown screams.

“Sorry, it was faster!” Leif yells back.