Free The Orphan Uprising (The Orphan Trilogy, #3) by James Morcan, Lance Morcan

unconscious and would remain that way for several minutes at least. Now the former operative could turn his attention to dealing with the Omega staffer whom he guessed was downstairs.
    A quick search revealed the staffer was in the kitchen. Nine wasn’t surprised to see it was the young driver who had delivered Naylor to the house a short time earlier. He was making a coffee for himself. Nine had no doubt the man was an operative. Tall and lithe, he had the air of someone who knew how to take care of himself.
    Not willing to risk a physical confrontation, Nine drew out his Glock 18 machine pistol from the holster hidden beneath his loose-fitting Hawaiian shirt and stepped into the kitchen. The young operative did a double-take and immediately reached for his firearm.
    “Don’t do it,” Nine warned.
    The surprised operative deliberately placed both hands on the tabletop in front of him so as not to prompt the stranger with the gun to do anything silly – like shoot him. “Who the hell are you?”
    “I’ll ask the questions,” Nine said. “Now stand up and turn around. I want to frisk you.”
    The young operative did as he was told. He stood up and turned, expecting to be frisked. Instead, Nine reversed his grip on the pistol and whacked his opposite across the back of the head. He caught the unconscious operative before he hit the floor so as to minimize the noise and not attract the attention of the staffer patrolling outside. That done, he tied the operative up using a dressing gown cord he’d brought from Naylor’s bedroom, and he gagged him using his own handkerchief. As a precaution, he removed the operative’s firearm, a Magnum .44 revolver, from its holster and hid it in a cupboard.
    Nine had planned to deal with the other staffer outside, but changed his mind. He wanted to get back to Naylor, and was prepared to gamble that he could extract the information he needed from the old man and depart the premises before the other staffer knew anything was amiss.
    The former operative quickly returned upstairs armed with a jug of cold water he’d poured from the tap over the kitchen sink. Reaching Naylor’s bedroom, he tipped the water over the still unconscious man, waking him. Startled, Naylor tried to sit up, but Nine restrained him. “Just catch your breath for a minute,” Nine said quietly. He knew from experience it would take a few moments for Naylor to come round fully.
    As his senses slowly returned, Naylor could only stare up at Nine and wonder what the rogue operative had in store for him. He didn’t have to wait long to find out.
    “You know why I’m here, Naylor.” Nine didn’t wait for a response. “You took my son and I want to know where he is.”
    “I don’t know- -”
    Nine rammed the end of his Glock’s barrel into Naylor’s open mouth. “Don’t tell me you don’t know where he is!” he hissed.
    Naylor’s eyes bulged with fear. Unable to speak, he could only shake his head impotently.
    Nine withdrew the pistol from Naylor’s mouth. “You have one more chance to tell me the truth. Otherwise you’re dead.”
    “I have some files down in my den!” Naylor blurted out, his lazy eye twitching violently.
    Nine yanked Naylor out of bed. Only now, did he realize the old man was naked. Screwing up his nose in disgust, he retrieved Naylor’s dressing gown from the foot of the bed and threw it at him. “Put that on before I’m sick.”
    Naylor hurriedly donned his robe.
    Nine then pushed him out of the room toward the stairs. “You lead the way. And quietly.”
    As Naylor led Nine down to the den, he wondered why his staffer wasn’t coming to his rescue. He had his answer when they walked past the kitchen. Through the open door, he saw the young operative – trussed up and still unconscious.
     

 
    14
    On reaching Naylor’s den, Nine quickly checked that there were no windows or other openings to the outside of the house. He needn’t have bothered: the den was below ground