Read Online A Better World by Marcus Sakey - Free Book Online

know.”
    Quinn cocked his head. “You don’t know?”
    “Like I said, Abe is eccentric. He’s been burned before. He didn’t want to risk someone stealing our research and making an end run.” Ethan had a guess on the identity of their benefactor, but now didn’t seem the time to share it.
    “Wait a second.” Quinn scratched at his chin, a move that looked practiced. “You’re saying that you do research you can’t talk about, for an employer you can’t identify?”
    “We aren’t refining plutonium. And funding is funding.”
Although if our results are accurate, funding will never be a problem again. A whole lot of things will never be a problem again.
He pushed the thoughts aside, said, “I’m not really sure what this has to do with Abe being kidnapped.”
    “Ethan,” West said, “I know this is all very sudden. But I analyze data for a living, and the data here is ugly. Couzen is in danger, and anything you can tell us about what he was working on might save his life.”
    What’s the harm? Knowing the goal doesn’t mean they’ll be able to replicate the results. Shit, even you can’t do that. Abe is the only person with all the pieces of the puzzle—
    Wait a second.
    “Why DAR?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “If he was kidnapped, why would the DAR be involved? Isn’t that handled by the FBI?”
    “We’re working with them. He’s a prominent guy, and we’re doing everything we can to find out what’s happened.”
    “But why would his research help? Epigenetic theory won’t tell you who broke in his house. Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, looking for fingerprints, sweeping for DNA?”
    “We are,” Quinn said. “We’re doing all of the stuff you’ve seen on tri-d. But if you want to see your friend again, we need to know what you know.”
    Ethan stared, his nagging suspicion blooming into certainty. “You’re not after Abe at all, are you?”
    The two agents didn’t flinch, didn’t gasp. But the temperature in the room seemed to drop.
    “DAR agents. Huh.” He smiled. “You’re after our work.”
    “Ethan—”
    “It’s Dr. Park,” he said. “And it’s time for you to go.”
    The agents exchanged a glance. Quinn said, “You know that we can subpoena you, right? That you’ll be legally bound to share any information you have?”
    “And if you do, then I will. With my lawyer. But I’m done talking.” He stood up, his pulse racing. Part of him couldn’t believe what he was doing, but the other part was absolutely certain he was right. These agents didn’t give two collective shits about Abe.
They know what you’re working on. They must. They may even know that you’ve succeeded.
    And that scares them.
    He walked to the door, held it open. After a long moment, the two agents stood up. “All right, Dr. Park.”
    On the porch, Quinn turned, and his amiable pose dropped away. “Here’s something you might want to think about, though,
Ethan.
Everyone we’ve spoken to says that you were his protégé. That he may have been the genius, but that he couldn’t have done it without you.”
    “So?”
    “So, Abe’s blood was spattered all over the walls of his office.” Quinn traced a hand down the doorframe and looked at him meaningfully. “You might want to consider whether you really want the same people to come looking for you.” He smiled without warmth as he made a business card appear. “Call me when you get it through your head that you’re in danger.”



CHAPTER 7
    It had been a lousy day, filled with frustration and burned coffee. But it got better once Cooper landed on the fourteenth moon of Saturn.
    “Enceladus,” his son said, “is the most likely place for life in the solar system. It’s got lots of water and carbon and nitrogen.”
    “Sounds like just the place to search for little green men.”
    “Yes,” Todd said. “But we have to secure the station walls first. It’s negative three hundred degrees outside.”
    “Yikes.” Cooper took one side