Long After Midnight (3 page)

“What the hell is going on out there at GeneChem?”

She sighed. “Hello, Michael.”

Charlie shrugged and ambled back to his own desk.

“What are you doing beating up on those nutcases?”

“Trying to keep them from beating up on me. Administration called the precinct?”

“They want police protection out there tomorrow. For God’s sake, are you an idiot? You could have been hurt.”

“But I wasn’t.” She paused before saying deliberately, “And neither was Benny.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. “She told you?”

“Was it a secret?”

“No, I just—I don’t know. It’s damn awkward. I need to talk to you.”

“No, you don’t.” She felt raw and vulnerable, and the last thing she needed was to listen to Michael make excuses for becoming involved with one of her friends. “It’s all been said.”

“I’ll pick you up at four out front and drive you home.”

“I can’t leave my car here. There’s only a skeleton Security crew at night. It would probably be trashed.”

“I’ll bring Alan. He can drive it home for you.” He hung up.

She should have kept her mouth shut. She should have known Michael would react like this. He had always insisted on having every issue on the table and shredded into neat pieces. Well, four o’clock was hours away, and she couldn’t let her dread at the coming meeting with Michael distract her.

She lowered her gaze to the report, and the excitement flared again. “We did it, Rudy,” she whispered. “I think we did it.” She stood up and walked quickly to the adjoining room. Rudy was scampering about his large cage, alert and bright-eyed and . . . healthy. So healthy she wanted to hug him. A white lab rat wasn’t precisely huggable, so she fed him a piece of lettuce instead. “Eighty-seven percent,” she told him. “I think it’s time you retired from this job. There’s not much future in it. How about coming home with me next week? Joshua would love you.”

Rudy didn’t appear too excited at the prospect. Well, she was excited enough for both of them. She’d study the comparisons for a few more minutes, then put them aside. It was time she set herself to the work for which GeneChem paid her.

God, she hated to do it.

She was coming so close.

Seattle
3:35
P.M.

“You wanted me,” Seth said as soon as Noah picked up the receiver. “So here I am.”

“Just where are you? Venga?”

“My condo in Miami. Venga became difficult. I had to crush a local insect and thought it best to leave. I flew in late last night.”

“Christ, I don’t need this. Legal trouble?”

“No, actually, the local
policía
declared Namirez had suffered an unavoidable accident.”

“What kind of accident?”

“He fell face forward into a bullet,” Seth said cheerfully. “Funny how that could happen. Must have something to do with equatorial balance.”

“Who was Nam—Never mind, I don’t want to know. You’re sure the police aren’t after you?”

“They wanted to give me a medal. Maybe even put up a statue in the town square.”

“Then why are you on the run?”

“I don’t run. That’s undignified. I just walk quickly, very quickly. Namirez had partners who wouldn’t appreciate his demise at a very sensitive time in their endeavor.” He paused. “Why did Tony call me? RU2?”

“Things may be coming to a head. I wanted you where I could get in touch with you.”

“In Seattle?”

“No, stay where you are. I’ll call you when I need you.”

“Good. I could use some R and R after being in the jungle for the last six months. Hey, do you want a puppy?”

“What?”

“Well, not right away. Customs didn’t like the fact that he didn’t have shots and I found him running around in the jungle. I had to put him in quarantine.”

“I don’t want a puppy.”

“I think you should have a dog. It goes with pipe and slippers and hearth and home. He’d be an asset to a sedentary type like you. Maybe stir you up a little.”

“
No,
Seth.”

“I’ll try you again when he gets out of quarantine. Give a holler when you need me.” He hung up the phone.

Noah found himself smiling. Where the hell had Seth picked up a dog? He probably wouldn’t find it so amusing when the pup was cleared from customs, he thought ruefully. If Seth had gotten it into his head that the dog was going to belong to Noah, then he’d shake the earth on its axis to make Noah accept it.

But he did find it amusing. Seth always made him feel safer, lighter, better able to cope. Though God knows Seth’s method of coping wasn’t always to be recommended. It was too simplistic.

I had to crush a bug.

Well, that was certainly simplistic enough.

The phone rang again.

“You’ve been avoiding me, Noah,” Raymond Ogden chided when Noah picked up the receiver. “Is that kind?”

All amusement vanished. “I have nothing to say.”

“But I do.” He paused. “You don’t have the facilities and contacts to produce RU2. I think you need to sell out to me. It would be much better in my hands.”

Noah’s hand tightened on the receiver. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really, Noah. Do you think you could work on something like RU2 for six years and not have it leak?”

“You’re admitting to industrial espionage?”

“Why, that’s illegal.” He paused. “I wasn’t worried about it at first. I didn’t think you could pull it off.”

“What makes you think I did?”

“Let’s call it intuition.”

He could be bluffing. Noah had kept close rein on every aspect of the testing, never letting one department have more than one portion of the whole. Ogden’s call could be a reconnaissance ploy to see if Noah would confirm his suspicions. “Just what do you think RU2 is, Ogden?”

“Don’t play with me. Will you sell or not?”

“Let me think about it.”

“You’re stalling,” Ogden said softly. “I’m not going to sit and let you ruin me, Noah. Sell me RU2.”

Ogden wasn’t bluffing, Noah realized. He knew exactly the threat RU2 posed to him. “And what would you do with it?”

“What do you think? Make a potload of money.”

“I don’t think so. I think you’d bury it.”

“So? You’d still have the millions I’d give you for it.”

“True. And what will you do if I don’t sell it to you?”

“Destroy you,” Ogden said casually. “And your friend Lynski and your little cohort in Oklahoma. I won’t hesitate to wipe all of you out of my path.”

Oklahoma? Shock rippled through Noah as he realized Ogden was talking about Kate Denby. How the hell had he found out about—

“I want an answer, Noah.”

“Give me time to think.”

“I can’t oblige you. You’ve been moving too fast lately. You’ve made me feel most insecure.” He paused. “I think you’re trying to buy time and play me for a fool. I was afraid you’d take that path. In fact, I expected it. I’ve always known that beneath that bad-boy persona, you were something of an idealist. Are you at your desk?”

“Yes.”

“Look out the window.” Ogden hung up the phone.

Noah slowly returned the receiver to the hook and stood up.

He was knocked to the floor.

Glass shards from the broken window pelted his back.

An explosion. Some kind of explosion . . .

He crawled toward the window. He could hear screams.

He pulled himself up by the windowsill.

“My God,” he whispered.

The east wing of the plant was engulfed in flames. People were running from the ruins. His people . . .

He had to get down there. His plant . . . his people . . . He had to help. . . .

The floor was heaving beneath his feet.

Another explosion. He hadn’t heard it.

Damn you, Ogden.

Searing heat.

Pain.

Darkness.

Dandridge, Oklahoma
4:10
P.M.

“Hi, Kate.” Alan Eblund got out of the Chevrolet, a smile illuminating his dark brown face as he watched Kate coming down the steps. “Good to see you again.” His gaze went to the crowd cordoned off several yards from the GeneChem building. “What you doing stirring up all these nice folks?”

“Those ‘nice folks’ were trying to take my scalp.” Her gaze went beyond him to Michael sitting in the driver’s seat. He was frowning. Not good. “I’m sorry Michael thought it necessary to inconvenience you, Alan.”

“No problem. What’s a partner for?” Alan opened the passenger door for Kate. “Much nicer work than that drug buy we staked out yesterday.”

“Thanks . . . I think.” Alan had been Michael’s partner for the last six years, and she had always liked him. “How are Betty and the kids?”

“Great. Betty’s always talking about calling you and asking you to meet her for lunch.”

But the call would never come. Her friendship with Betty Eblund had been one of the casualties of the divorce. Betty was a policeman’s wife, and her loyalty was with her husband’s partner. “That would be nice.” She handed Alan her car keys. “Third row back. You’ll recognize it. It’s the same gray Honda I’ve been driving for five years.”

“Right. I’ll see you at the house.” He loped away from the car.

“Are you trying to make me look bad?” Michael asked moodily once Kate had settled herself in the passenger seat. “I send you child support every month, and you return the checks. You could have gotten a new car.”

She sighed. “I didn’t want child support and I don’t need a new car. The Honda runs fine. And I had no intention of making Alan think you weren’t a good provider.”

“Just because we’re divorced is no sign that I intend to evade my responsibilities. Nothing will change that.”

“I know that’s the last thing you’d do.” Michael had always been arrow straight and almost fanatically conscious of his duty. He had been very upset when Kate had refused child support. “I just didn’t need it. Can we go?” She nodded at the crowd. “I’m tired of looking at those vultures.”

“Then you should get a job where they don’t target you.” Michael started the engine and backed out of the parking space. “And they must not pay you much if you can’t afford a new car.”

He seemed fixated on that blasted car. “They pay me enough. The fringe benefits are worth it.”

“You mean they let you work yourself into a stupor,” he said sarcastically. “Joshua says you work every weekend at home now.”

Bristling, she said, “I don’t neglect Joshua. You know I always put him first. It’s just like you to—” She broke off as she realized she hadn’t been in the car five minutes and already he had put her on the defensive. “Stop it, Michael. I’m not going to let you upset me just because you feel guilty.” She gave him a weary glance. “Particularly when there’s no reason for you to feel you’ve done anything wrong. You’re free to form new relationships. For God’s sake, we’ve been divorced for two years.”

“I don’t feel guilty. The one has nothing to do with—” A reluctant smile curved his lips. “Smart. You always did see right through me.” He paused. “I didn’t mean it to be like this. I wish it had been anyone else. I know Benny’s a friend of yours.”

“These things happen.” She looked away from him. “Is it serious?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I like her and it’s been a long time for me. She makes me feel good, Kate. She makes me feel ten feet tall.”

She forced a smile. “I’d say that’s a great start.”

“Yeah.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “If I’d thought there was a chance for us, I would never—It’s really over, isn’t it, Kate?”

“You knew that.”

“With my mind, maybe.” He shook his head. “I did love you, Kate. I just wish you weren’t so damn smart. Did you know that you intimidated the hell out of me?”

“What?”

“You scared me. In college you were some kind of whiz kid and I just plodded along.”

“You didn’t act scared.” She added dryly, “As I recall, you tried to lure me into the sack on our first date.”

He grinned. “Well, I’m never that intimidated. You were little and cuddly and sexy, and we had great chemistry.”

“Cuddly?” she repeated indignantly. “Teddy bears are cuddly. I am
not
cuddly.”

“Sorry, but you are. I wanted to snatch you up and take care of you.”

Which only showed how faulty Michael’s image of her had been, she thought sadly.

He said, “Hell, we had some great times together.”

“But I never made you feel ten feet tall.”

“Only in bed.” His smile faded. “But then it was over and you went your way. I was never important enough to you.”

“You were important. I just couldn’t make you the lodestar of my existence, and you wouldn’t accept that. I wasn’t the wife you wanted.” She turned to him. “We made a mistake. Don’t make another one because you think Benny’s my opposite. Make sure this time.”

“We’ve not gotten that far along.” He paused. “But she’s crazy about Joshua. I wonder if you’d mind if she came along with us to his game tomorrow afternoon.”

She felt a flare of anger. It was all very well for her to give up Michael to Benny, but she’d be darned if she’d give her Joshua. “Let’s take it slow. You take Benny to the game instead of me. We’ll sit together in the bleachers to show Joshua that her being there with you has my stamp of approval and then I’ll drive Joshua home after the game.”

“If that’s the way you want it.” He drew up to the curb in front of her house. “I want to make it as easy as possible for you.” He turned to face her and said haltingly, “You know I want the best for you, Kate.”

The exasperation she felt with him faded as she gazed at him. With his sandy hair rumpled and his brown eyes slightly squinted, he looked like Joshua in one of his more earnest moments. It was hard to hold on to anger when Michael didn’t even realize he had been clumsy and tactless. In many ways he was like a big kid, and the boyishness that had first drawn her to him softened her now. “I know you do. I want the best for you too, Michael. You deserve it.” She opened the car door and got out as Alan pulled into the driveway. “The coach will be driving the team from school to the field so they can get in some batting practice before the game. You can pick up Benny from work. I’ll see you there.”

Michael was frowning. “You’re sure it’s okay?”