Page 99 of The Lazarus Protocol

“Nice to meet you.” Noah didn’t try to shake his hand. “I’m Noah Rourke, and this is my associate, Ms. Barnes. We really do need to speak with Mr. Bradleigh.”

“He’s a busy man as you can imagine, running a multinational corporation.” Petrice waved them down a hall. “This way.”

He escorted them to a conference room with sparse furnishings and uncomfortable chairs. Petrice sat across from them and laced his fingers together on the table.

“I’m sure you can understand our concerns,” Noah began. “Earthnet hired my team to test security on one of your facilities and retrieve sensitive tech from a hostile area. We’ve incurred considerable expense, suffered injuries, and risked our lives. Yet Earthnet has declined payment for our services.”

Microexpressions of surprise and a little belligerence crossed Petrice’s face before he schooled his features. He wasn’t quite the poker player he thought he was. Marina would’ve made a better spy, in fact.

The head of security sat back in his chair while the clock on the wall ticked away the seconds. “Do you have a contract that outlines your assignment, and the compensation this company is required to pay you?”

“It was all arranged with an intermediary. I’m sure if you contact him, this will make sense.”

Petrice shrugged. “We have a lot of staff. Whoever took it upon themselves to contact you might not work in this building.”

“But Mr. Bradleigh does, so if we could speak with him, I’m sure this whole thing can be straightened out. After all, he probably wants to know that he has rogue staff members making deals with private security teams to fix embarrassing problems.”

The skin around Petrice’s eyes contracted.

“We know you’re looking for this staff member also,” Noah continued. “In fact, when you went after him in Zurich, it was my team you were firing at. So you could say I have more than questions for Mr. Bradleigh. I’d like to know what he was doing in that lab in Zurich—the one under the water in that rusted-out boat. I’d like to know why your drones tried to kill us.”

“I can assure you Mr. Bradleigh has not been in Zurich,” Petrice said. “You only have to watch the news media to know he has been in France for three weeks preparing for a launch, and tonight he’s heading to Florida.”

Noah figured a guy like Bradleigh was the type to have body doubles, or all kinds of scenarios and lies concocted to account for his whereabouts. Alibis. People paid to lie for him. Others paid to spin public relations and make him look like a benefactor who only cared about his charitable giving and not a money-hungry bazillionaire whose only concern was the bottom line.

“Do you have proof?”

When Adam had been winged by one of those drones and cut by whoever attacked him in the lab? Noah said, “I have an injured team leader, cut by a knife with poison on it.”

“Seems far-fetched.”

“That’s why it wouldn’t make sense for me to lie about it.” Noah paused. “What I’d like to know is what computer system your company had in that lab and how it was able to obtain classified information.”

It was risky letting them know that Noah was aware they had the information. Even if Earthnet planned to use it against them, they weren’t going to admit as much to him. Still, he had to at least bring it up.

“Earthnet and its subsidiaries are at the cutting edge of a number of fields in technology. I’m the head of security. You think I understand what they can do? These people are physicists, engineers, and software architects.”

Petrice, on the other hand, was probably ex-military just like Noah.

“One of their state-of-the-art drones drifted into Syria.” He waited a second while Petrice absorbed that, trying to gauge if the guy was aware. “My team was tasked with retrieving it, another incident that resulted in one of my people being injured.”

“Maybe you need better people.”

“What I need is answers.” Noah motioned to Marina, who slid a paper file from her messenger bag. “I need to know where to find Johannsen.”

“Who?”

He was really going to feign ignorance? Noah resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “His apartment in Zurich overlooked the lab you have on that ship. Had. Guess it’s been burned now. Johannsen was spying on the lab, probably logging everyone who came and went.”

“Or his job was to ensure no one approached the vessel without us knowing.” Petrice lifted his brows.

“Then why send drones after us?” Noah leaned over and tapped the paper with his index finger. “This guy is missing.”

“And it’s out of the kindness of your hearts that you’re informing us?”

“It certainly is a courtesy. But more of a chance for you to settle with us before we take this to the justice system. I’m sure there are international regulatory bodies who would be interested to know some of the things Earthnet has been getting up to.”

Petrice leaned back in his chair, a smug look on his face.