"We think he left late last night. He had an evening lecture at the university. After it, his GA says he went to his lab, collected some samples and left."
"Shit. Do we have any idea where he went?" Where would I go if I wanted to release the second Black Plague?
Harper grumbles next to me and starts to say something. I quickly place my hand over her mouth as I listen to Henry. Glancing down I find two very sleepy, annoyed, blue eyes looking back at me. I shake my head, but remove my hand, when she nods her understanding. She crawls quietly out of bed, heading for the bathroom.
"Are you absolutely sure?" I ask when I hear him say that he thinks Dale is headed for New York City.
"That’s what my contact at the university said. He told his GA that he was going up to do a presentation at the U.N."
"Henry, I hope your contact was right because millions of lives could be at stake." Jesus, the thought is incomprehensible.
"I know, Kelsey. You’ve got to stop him."
"We’ll do our best. See you soon, Henry."
"No, you won’t. Just remember I love ya too, Little Girl."
"I will. Good-bye, Henry."
"Good-bye, Kelsey."
"I don’t care what it takes!" Harper yells into the phone as she zips her jeans. "We need to be on the next damn plane to New York City! I don’t give a rat’s ass which airport we fly into, just pick one of them, for Christ’s sake!"
I’m packing us up so fast, I’m not sure I’m keeping all our stuff separate. If it weren’t so critical that we get to New York, it wouldn’t be so bad. This is most definitely a pack and dash. I hate it when a story goes like this.
Of course, I love it too, but that’s beside the point.
"Then get me a goddamned private plane, you moron!" she yells again, waving her hands, which is a dangerous thing because she’s holding the phone in one. I’ve had to duck twice to keep from getting hit.
Man, is she in her element.
I finish zipping the last suitcase when she slams the phone down. "Idiots!" She grumbles, grabbing for her boots.
"Are we…?"
"Yeah, we’re on the next flight out, but we have to hurry. Jims and Conrad are already downstairs with the car. You ready?"
"Oh yeah, we’re ready. We’re gonna have to sort things out in New York, but I figured, no big deal." I shoulder our carryons, she takes our bigger cases.
"Very true, our underwear are not strangers anymore." She winks at me. "Let’s hope there’s a New York to sort things out in."
I grab the door, holding it for her as we begin our mad dash. I love this job. And I love doing it with her.
We’re sitting in the New York field office for the Federal Bureau of Investigation waiting to see the agent in charge of counter-terrorism. I have an unedited videotape of Kels’ interview with the lesser Professor in my bag and I’ve sent Jims and Conrad over to the network to work on editing the master tape.
Kels is pacing the hallway, burning a groove into it, actually. She does not like the lackadaisical response to our presence. In point of fact, we’ve only been waiting fifteen minutes.
"Miss Stanton? Miss Kingsley? Could you come with me, please?" a secretary asks, stepping out of a nearby room.
Kels mutters, "Finally" and we follow the nonplussed secretary into the adjoining office.
Special Agent Kyle Donovan rises from behind his desk and extends his hand to both of us. After we do the meet and greet thing, we settle down in the chairs across from him. "So, tell me about what brings you here."
I open up my briefcase, pull out the portfolio of information we’ve gathered on Professor Dale Sams and slide it over to him. "We went down to San Antonio a few days ago based on a story lead provided to us …" And I tell him our story.
We leave the FBI with two important objectives accomplished: one, the FBI has taken us seriously and is launching an intensive search for the professor, and two, we got the exclusive. The second wasn’t really that hard. There is no way in hell they want this information to get out.
New York is already on full alert for the holiday season. Christmas is in two days and New Year’s Eve – and one point five million people in Time’s Square – is coming fast. With the nutso arrested in Seattle in the last couple days, security has increased, given the fact he had a plane ticket here.
Maybe there’s a convention of paranoid, psychotics being held in New York?
Well, other than the usual.
We’re heading over to the network to do background work for our story. Finding this guy shouldn’t be too big a problem for the FBI – he sticks out like a sore thumb even in Texas. We’ll need a full background on him for when we run our segment. And I want to find out if he has ties to any other Eco-terrorist organization. I doubt it. He seems like a lone gunslinger, but I don’t want to miss a connection.
And it’s always good to see what’s happening at the network level. Especially when my Little Roo has ambitions for bigger and better assignments. And, well, so do I. It’ll be good to stir the pot a bit while we’re here.
I smile as I wrap my arms around her pillow and crush it to my chest. It holds her scent, like the entire room holds the scent of our loving-making from earlier, before she went out to dinner with one of the high mucky-mucks from CBS.
Funny how after a short time I can miss her like this. Odd really. This is a unique sensation, to actually miss someone. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. Of course not, Harper, you have to know their names to miss them.
Since we checked in with the station, our cell phones and hotel room have been inundated with calls from the networks, ours and the others. And as we work on our story, we’re taking time to be courted. We’ve done some damn good work together these last few months – the library shooter, Omaha, and now this one. If we play our cards right, we’re poised for something big.
I have two or three lunches set up and I know Kels has at least one lunch and another dinner at some point. Of course, nothing says we have to make this move together.
I wonder if she plans on leaving me. Or if she even is considering doing this together. Just because we’re partnered up at KNBC doesn’t mean we would have to be anywhere else. She may just get a fabulous offer and take it and not even think twice about me. It’s not like we’ve made any promises to each other. Of any kind.
I’m surprised when the phone rings, shaking me out of my morose thoughts. I hope it’s Kels, slipping away long enough to call me. God, Harper, get a grip. Repeat after me: I am not in high school. "Hello?"
"Harper?" The male voice throws me a bit before I recognize it. It’s Erik. Great just what I didn’t need tonight. I can’t feel much worse right now, buddy, so lay off.
"Yeah. Sorry, Erik, Kels is out to dinner. I can have her give you a call when she comes in."
"That’d be great." He pauses, then clears his throat slightly. "Look, about the other day…"
"Ah, don’t sweat it." I want to be bitchy with him, but I know that would be so very, very bad. And it’s not like he doesn’t have a point. My track record sucks.
"No. I was a jackass and I’m sorry. I’m really protective of Kels and I …well, never mind. I only wanted to say I’m sorry for the way I acted. To be honest, I haven’t seen her this happy in years."
"Really?" I perk up. Now the conversation is getting interesting.
"Yeah, really." I can hear him settle back into a leather chair. Apparently, we’re going to chat. "Did she ever tell you our story?"
"No." Can’t say I’ve ever cared enough to ask.
"You interested?"