“Careful now, dear.”
“I’m just saying.”
I hand her the keys and we cross the parking lot.
Glenn could hardly believe it.
The two people angling toward him were the ones who’d been in the chamber last night.
Don’t let them see you!
He slipped into his car and tilted the rearview mirror. Watched them climb into a sedan not fifty feet away.
No indication they’d noticed him.
Good.
He didn’t know if they’d gotten a glimpse of him last night in the Lawson building. He’d kept his light in their eyes nearly the whole time, so it was unlikely they could identify him, but still, it was a possibility. So now as he observed them, he was careful to keep his head turned slightly so they wouldn’t be able to see him if they looked in his direction.
The woman was behind the wheel. She backed the car out of the parking spot, aimed it toward the road that led from the center to Pine Lake.
Glenn took note of their license plate number.
So.
It looked like he had a decision to make.
Yes, he wanted to follow them, of course he did. See where they were going, then corner them, do some work on them. But that would put the time frame with the doctor in jeopardy.
They’ll be back. They weren’t carrying their luggage, the bags they had on the video when they were checking in.
Yes.
True.
You know their plate number now, what kind of car they have. You’ll be able to find them again. Just get to the Lawson Center, check out the reception area, make sure the chairs will work. Take care of the doctor, then deal with them. You’ll have plenty of time.
Okay.
Glenn waited for the sedan to disappear, then left his car. Carrying his backpack with the supplies in it and walking as quickly as his injured leg would allow him, he headed toward the Lawson research building.
First things first.
Visit the maintenance closet on the first floor and disable the building’s sprinkler system.
Two miles from the center, I’m able to reach Fionna.
“Jevin, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you since yesterday. What happened?”
“No cell reception up here in the mountains.”
“So you didn’t get the files I sent you?” She sounds exasperated.
“No. What did you find?”
Her tone changes. I can tell she’s calling to someone across the room. “Maddie, put down those scissors and let go of your brother’s ponytail!”
I hear a faint, disgruntled “Yes, ma’am.”
The joys of being a mom.
I motion for Charlene to pull the car to the shoulder so we can make sure we don’t lose the connection.
“Here’s what I found.” Fionna is back on the line with me. “RixoTray isn’t just working with the Lawson Research Center. They’re working with the Pentagon. DoD.”
“Really.”
“Yes, it has something to do with the president’s speech tomorrow and with Kabul, the suicide bombing attempt earlier this week. The guy who was going to blow up the mosque.”
I hadn’t heard anything about that. “What happened?”
“There’s not much to tell, just that a suicide bombing attempt was unsuccessful. The media isn’t saying much. A couple al-Qaeda cell members were killed. There are differing accounts of how many.”
I couldn’t see how that would have anything to do with what was going on here at the center, but if there was a connection, the timing of the bombing attempt in Kabul and the confrontation with the thug here last night might be more than coincidental.
“You should hear Xavier,” she tells me. “He’s all over this. Conspiracy stuff, you know him.”
“I can only imagine. What else?”
“A few things. That’s the big—” Here she stops again, calls away from the phone to her kids: “I’ll be there in a minute. Just stick the noodles in the pot and cover it.” Then she’s back on the line with me. “Late lunch. We had a field trip this morning.”
She’s in Chicago, where it really would be a late lunch. I would’ve called it an early supper. “No problem.”
“Anyway, I was about to say, the files might be too large for you to download to your phone. You’ll need to use my FTP server.” She gives me the info I’ll need to log in, but it looks like I’ll have to wait to get the files until I can use my laptop after the meeting with Dr. Tanbyrn.
Charlene taps the clock on the front console of the car: We need to hurry.
2:18 p.m.
I give Fionna the quick rundown of what happened last night: sneaking into the center, meeting the assailant, Charlene getting injured. Before I can tell Fionna about today’s tests, she asks concernedly about Charlene, “Is she alright?”
“Yes. Do you want to talk to her?”
“Yes.”
Charlene unequivocally shakes her head no.
I hand her the phone.
She glowers at me, then speaks to Fionna. “Hey… Good.” I try to fill in the blanks, guess what Fionna might be saying: “How’s your arm? Are you sure it’s not serious?”
“Yes… Fine… Okay,” then Charlene hands the phone back to me.
Five words. That’s it. Less than ten seconds.
This woman really does not like talking on the phone.
I accept the cell, tell Fionna, “It’s me again.”
“Xavier’s done getting the B-roll for you. He offered to slip up there, meet with you two tonight, catch up.”
“I’ll call him. Set something up.”
Now it really is time to go.
“So you mentioned the guy looking through the computer files …” Fionna seems to be anticipating what I’m about to ask her. “Let me guess, you want me to dig around, find out what he might’ve been searching for.” It was more of a conclusion than a question.
“Searching for or deleting, yes.”
“I had a look at their files before you went there, Jev. You know that. I didn’t see anything suspicious.”
“Take another look. Go deeper. Explore the military connection.”
A pause. “Alright. Lonnie’s looking for a little extra credit. I’ll get him on it.” Lonnie is her seventeen-year-old son. Not even out of high school yet, and already he’s presented twice at DEFCON.
We end the call, and only after I’m lowering the phone do I realize that I didn’t get a chance to tell Fionna about the test results, about my entanglement with Charlene. It doesn’t look like there’s enough time to call Xavier right now, but I text him, tell him I’ll call him later this afternoon after our meeting with Tanbyrn. I leave out the news about the watch for the time being. Later I’ll drive down here again, download the files from Fionna, and fill Xavier in.
Charlene pulls onto the road, does a U-turn, and takes us back toward the center for our appointment with Dr. Tanbyrn.
Riah locked her apartment and left for her meeting with Cyrus, the twins, and the person named Williamson, whom she had not yet been able to identify. Yes, it was a little early, but if she got there before the twins did, she could spend a little time talking with Cyrus, find out more about the connection with the Lawson Research Center.
As she climbed into the car, she was thinking about all she’d learned over the course of the day concerning Dr. Tanbyrn’s research in Oregon, and she was becoming more and more curious about exactly what the video Cyrus was going to show them would contain.
Cyrus watched as the beautiful Ampulex compressa made her move.