[Brainrush 01.0] Brainrush by Richard Bard

Author:Richard Bard [Bard, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, Science Fiction
Publisher: Richard Bard
Published: 2010-03-23T04:00:00+00:00

Part 3

“We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.”

—Albert Einstein

Chapter 29

Venice, Italy - 5:00 a.m.

JAKE SUPPOSED HE SHOULD FEEL LUCKY to be alive after last night’s events. Instead he was miserable. Battista and Carlo had escaped with Francesca and the children as hostages. According to the police, after fleeing the palace in their speedboat, they’d left the country in Battista’s private jet.

Destination unknown.

The dead and wounded from the masquerade ball had been taken to the hospital. The last of the guests had given their statements and staggered home, exhausted after the long night. The police remained downstairs, crawling over the crime scene in the ballroom.

The chief inspector was an old friend of Mario’s. He had escorted him and his unlikely group of costumed American companions to Battista’s office upstairs, where they could avoid the crush of reporters and photographers parked at each of the exits. They were supposed to sit tight and await the arrival of the elite anti-terrorism division of the Italian National Police.

Marshall and Lacey sat behind Battista’s desk. Marshall’s left arm was thickly bandaged from wrist to elbow, held in a sling. His other hand was wrapped from the wrist down to his thumb. It could have been far worse, after his run-in with that bastard Carlo. At the chief inspector’s insistence, Marshall and Lacey had been brought back from the hospital after the emergency-room doctors had sewn up his wounds. Twenty-four stitches. There’d been no permanent damage, but Marshall wouldn’t be making keyboard entries anytime soon. Lacey sat beside him in front of Battista’s computer. She typed in a command using only the index fingers of each hand.

Marshall’s glassy eyes told Jake he was high on pain meds. With a lopsided grin on his face, he nudged Lacey. “God gave you ten fingers. Why don’t you use them?”

Lacey lifted one hand in the air, extending only her middle finger. “Sometimes we only need one to get our point across. Shut up and tell me what to do next.”

Jake watched the exchange with relief. Marshall was going to be fine. And sweet little Lacey? From what he’d learned from Tony, she’d been the glue that held the team together—speaking fluent Italian to pave the way for the alliance with the gondoliers, taking charge of the costumes, and in the end saving Marshall by drop-kicking the shit out of Carlo. Tony was right; the girl has layers. He wasn’t surprised to see Marshall looking at her in a whole different way. The two of them had hacked the institute’s computer files, looking for a clue as to where Battista might have taken Francesca and the kids.

Tony was in the adjacent room trying to make some sense of the unusual glyphs posted on the wall of Battista’s study. Jake sat on a small leather couch in the main office, next to a very distraught Mario.

His voice choked, Jake said, “Sir, I can’t even begin to express my sorrow over what happened to your daughter.

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