I pursed my lips. “Would it really help you to have some of my blood?”
Surprised relief shone in his eyes, and he gave me a simple grave nod. “Yes, it would. At the minimum, we are currently at a disadvantage because they have samples of your blood and I don’t—and I don’t know why they wanted your blood, which puts us at even more of a disadvantage.” He exhaled. “Plus, if there is even a trace of the tranq remaining, it could be invaluable.”
“All right then,” I said. “I’ll give you some. Because I really don’t want those fuckers to have any advantage.”
“Angel, I know you don’t know me,” Dr. Nikas said, face and voice serious, “but I give you my word that I won’t use your blood against you in any way.”
“I appreciate that,” I said.
“Thank you for offering it.” He smiled, then looked up as Brian came in.
“Angel, come with me,” Brian said, expression locked in fully-professional, with an added hint of grim.
“Okay, sure thing,” I replied. The grimness bothered me, and I had a feeling it didn’t mean good things for Heather. I returned my attention to Dr. Nikas, even as Brian pivoted and headed back down the hallway. “Thanks for showing me around,” I said. “This has been really neat.”
“It was my pleasure, Angel,” he replied. “I’ll have one of my techs take your blood before you leave.”
With a last quick nod, I turned and hurried after Brian.
I caught up with him easily, then followed him into an area that was obviously set up for medical purposes. A crash cart sat against the wall in the corridor, and a glass-doored cabinet containing drugs and various supplies stood beside a long, built-in desk. A pale, thin man with dark hair and wearing faded blue scrubs, sat at a computer workstation making notes from a series of graphs on the screen. An intricate origami dragon perched atop the monitor.
The man lifted his head as we approached. I watched as Brian met his startlingly expressive hazel eyes and gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head before continuing on. A muscle in the other man’s jaw leaped, and his lips pressed together before he returned his attention to the computer, typing with greater than necessary force.
“Brian? That guy didn’t look very happy,” I said as soon as we were further down the hall. “What’s going on?”
“I can’t say that I’ve ever seen Jacques look happy, but he has reason today.” He opened a door, stepped into a small wood-paneled office, and gestured me in. A compact computer sat on a side countertop with a chair tucked under it. A second chair at the end of the counter gave me the impression that this was a consultation room of some sort. I entered, and he closed the door behind me, still maintaining the stoic and professional air, though I thought I noted a few more cracks in the surface.
Then I saw the hole in the wall with fresh blood on splinters of wood. My gaze went to Brian’s hands, and I spied flecks of red on his right cuff. No sign of damage to his hand now, but there were two empty brain packets on the desk. Brian didn’t seem at all the type to have wall-punching as part of his normal response to dealing with captives. This situation with Heather really seemed to be messing with him.
“I guess it’s not looking so good for her,” I said.
Leaning back against the desk, he shook his head. “No,” he said. “She’s lying. What info she’s given us checks out, but she’s sticking to the story that she’s just a photographer with the Saberton PR department.” Brian’s expression went even more grim, though I hadn’t thought it was possible. “That matches what’s in their official employment records.”
“So what’s the problem?” I tugged a hand through my hair. If it checked out, why was her being Saberton PR a bad thing? “She was sure as hell taking pictures of me.” Then again, for a photographer, she handled herself pretty damn well in the highway fight. “I don’t understand. Who do you think she is?”
Brian exhaled forcefully. “All I know for certain right now is that she’s not just a PR staffer and she’s not coming clean about it.” Frustration colored his voice. “I had a talk with her while you were with Dr. Nikas. Played her a bit and found out she knows a little too much about the late Richard Saber.” He folded his arms over his chest. “You see, he was a recluse in his last decade. However, Heather let slip about an eye patch the man wore after a bout of cancer. That’s something no lower echelon employee would know, and I only know of it because of a single photo one of our operatives managed to get of him.” He flexed his right hand, mouth tightening. “Damn it, Angel, it’s not definitive, but when I put it together with the info she’s dribbled and what I smell from her, it’s pretty damning.”
I could see his point, and my heart sank. “So this whole thing was a ploy to infiltrate Pietro’s operation?”
“That’s what it’s looking like,” he said. “She kept her cool after her comment on Saber, but I smelled the fear on her. She knew she’d screwed up.”
I had no doubt he’d been tanked on brains when he talked to her, which means he’d be able to smell a flea fart. “What did she say to cover herself?”
Brian shook his head. “She didn’t. I walked out to, uh, do some remodeling,” he said with a glance at the hole in the wall, “then went to find you. No more talking for now. I’ll let her sweat.”
I frowned, remembering my conversation with Heather in the diner parking lot. “It doesn’t make sense,” I insisted, though I knew that it was more that I didn’t want to believe it. “Can I talk to her?”
“I’m sorry. The situation has changed, Angel,” he said, voice tight. Frustration tightened the skin around his eyes. He didn’t want to believe it any more than I did, but what the hell else was he supposed to think?
“Yeah, I know, but—” I paused, took a deep breath. “She saved my life. And she didn’t have to. I’d already taken out the two humans, and she could’ve waited for the zombie to blow my head off before taking him out. She’d have been home free then. But she didn’t.” I scowled. “And on a totally personal level, if she’s bullshitting us, I’d kinda like to confront her, because I killed a guy for her.” I wasn’t a wimp when it came to fighting. I’d had to do plenty to survive. But killing took it to another level. “I’m not real happy about that. I just want to know why.”
“It’s not an if she’s bullshitting,” Brian stated. “She is and she called you into it.” He shook his head. “She’s a pro, Angel. I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to get personal information from Dr. Nikas, Jacques, Reg—Dr. Nikas’s other tech—and me. Stuff we don’t talk about, ever. But each one of us spilled it in conversation and didn’t—” He stopped, exhaled. “Add that to what’s stacked in the infiltration corner, and I’m not sending in a visitor right now.”
“Brian, there has to be more to it!” I said, not at all willing to leave it like this, despite the evidence against her. “You didn’t see her out there.” I met his eyes. “Please. Maybe I can get through to her.”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by not seeing her out there?”
I hesitated, trying to think how to put it. “It’s tough to explain. We were a team. I mean, it wasn’t just me helping her out of a fix,” I said with a shake of my head. “Brian, I just can’t believe she’s a bad person. I saw her after she killed the zombie. She looked really torn up about it.”
He seemed to be willing to let me keep talking, so I took that as a sign I might be getting somewhere. I tilted my head. “Look, what do you have to lose by letting me in to see her? It’s not as if she can ferret out any super secret info from me.” I gave him a small smile. “We all know I don’t know shit.”