A date? She listened to his message one more time. Yes, Jack was planning a date! She collapsed back on the couch and closed her eyes, enjoying the deep, sexy sound of his voice. Jack wanted to date her, and he wondered if she would agree? She snorted. That was like asking her if she was agreeable with, world peace. Or a cure for cancer.
She glanced at the list on the coffee table, and the title mocked her. You Don't Know Jack. Should she be this eager to date a mystery man with strange powers? But wouldn't dating him give her the best opportunity to get better acquainted with him?
She checked the time of his call. He'd made it at five-thirty that morning. She glanced at the time now. Four-thirty p.m. She had four hours before he would call. It wouldn't take her four hours to get ready.
And what about her plan to go to Romatech? How could she fit that in? She had time to travel to White Plains, but it would be tight getting back in time. An idea struck her, and she called Jack. He didn't answer, so she left a message.
"Hi, Jack. I'll be happy to go on a date with you. And thanks for working on the case. I'm guessing you did all the work at Romatech, so I'll just meet you there at eight-thirty, okay? Bye."
She showered and after thirty minutes of deliberation, finally chose a blue sundress with a white straw belt. She topped it with a white crocheted shrug sweater in case the evening turned cool. She switched to a white handbag to match her white sandals.
She checked her makeup for the tenth time, and her conscience pricked her. There were kidnapped girls out there who needed her help, and all she could think about was this date. She was letting her attraction to Jack get out of hand.
But there will always be bad guys, she argued with herself. How often does love come along? She stared at herself in the mirror. Was it love? Could she really be falling in love?
Her chest tightened with a mixture of anticipation and uncertainty as she gathered her things and left the apartment. She took the subway to Grand Central Station, then boarded an express train to White Plains. It was almost seven when her taxi arrived at Romatech. The facility was bigger than she'd imagined, and completely walled off. The front gate was closed, with a guard station nearby.
When the guard approached the taxi, she rolled down the window and flashed her NYPD badge at him. "Hi, I'd like to talk to your head of security. And I have an appointment with Jack… Venezia, whenever he arrives."
The guard gave her a doubtful look. "I've never known the police to arrive in a taxi. And no offense, but you look more like a fashion model than a police officer."
Her face grew warm. She handed him her badge. "Check it out, if you must, then let me speak to your supervisor."
He studied her badge. "Lara Boucher? I've heard about you."
Heard what? Her face grew warmer.
With a smirk, the guard returned her badge. "Just a minute." He went to the guard station and spoke on a phone.
Lara groaned inwardly. She hadn't realized this place would be so hard to get into. And she should have realized that no one would believe she was pursuing a case when she was dressed like this. It was all too obvious that she was pursuing Jack.
The guard returned to the taxi. "Miss Boucher, Howard Barr will meet you at the front door." He pushed a button on his remote control, and the iron gate swung open.
The taxi proceeded down a two-lane road that cut through a wooded area. Then, around a bend, the facility came into view. A small parking lot was in front and a larger one to the left by a side entrance. The building sprawled from the main entrance with several wings jutting out into the beautifully landscaped grounds.
A large man in khaki pants and navy Polo shirt emerged from the front door just as the taxi pulled to a stop.
Lara paid the cabbie and climbed out of the car. "Hello. I'm Lara Boucher." She extended a hand.
"Howard Barr." Smiling, he shook her hand. "I've heard about you."
"Um… thanks." She watched as he slid his ID card through a slot, then pressed his hand to a sensor pad. "You certainly have tight security here."
"Yep." A green light blinked on a keypad, and he opened the door. "Come on in."
She stepped into a wide foyer and noted a few potted plants resting on the marble floor and beautifully framed artwork decorating the walls. The scent of antiseptic cleanser lingered in the air, reminding her of a hospital. Not surprising, though, since they would need a sterile environment for the manufacture of synthetic blood.
Howard led her to a small table on the right. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to check your bag."
"I understand." She set her white straw handbag on the table. Thankfully, she'd left her handgun at home. "Jack mentioned that you have some enemies."
"Yep." Howard fumbled around her handbag with his huge hands, then refastened the clasp. "We've been bombed a few times, so it pays to be extra careful."
"Why would someone bomb this place?" Lara swung her bag onto her shoulder. "The synthetic blood you're making here is saving thousands of lives."
"Yes, but there are some… weirdos out there who object to it not being real blood. So, Miss Boucher, how can I help you? Jack won't be available for another hour or so."
"I'm investigating a college student who disappeared Saturday night."
Howard nodded. "Jack was working on that last night. He left the information on a laptop. Did you want to see it?"
"Yes, please."
"This way." Howard led her down a hall to the left. "I'll let you use a conference room. Jack mentioned that he was working with you, so it should be all right for you to look at the information he found."
Lara felt a twinge of annoyance. Of course it was all right. The missing girl was a police matter. "I suppose Jack was here Saturday night, working security?"
"Yes." Howard frowned. "Why do you ask?"
"Standard procedure," she murmured. She noted the labeled doors that they passed. Restroom, Storeroom, Conference Room. Nursery? She thought she heard a child's laughter behind that door. Dental Office. "You have a dentist here?"
"Yep. Shanna Draganesti." Howard motioned to the office. "She provides dental care for all the employees here for a fraction of the normal cost."
"That's nice. So what time was Jack here Saturday night?"
"All night long." Howard stopped. "You don't seriously consider him a suspect, do you? Jack's a great guy. And if he were guilty, why would he help you work on the case?"
Lara shifted her weight. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but it would clarify matters if you could provide actual proof that he was here that night."
Howard scowled at her. "Fine. I'll show you the security tapes from Saturday night." He led her to a door labeled MacKay Security. Once again, he swiped his ID card and pressed his hand against a sensor pad. "We've got a few weapons inside, so we have to keep it locked up tight."
"I understand." Lara followed him inside.
At first, it looked like a normal security office: desk, computer, file cabinets, a wall covered with monitors linked to surveillance cameras. But then she spotted the caged-off area in the back. Her mouth fell open.
A few weapons? She walked toward the padlocked cage, counting the assault rifles lined up on a rack. Twelve. Numerous handguns on a shelf. Bins filled with ammo on another shelf. But what really caught her eye were the swords. Gleaming broadswords and foils filled the wall on the left. On the right wall, lethal-looking daggers and knives were on display.
She curled her fingers around a chain link of the cage and studied the swords. Some of them looked really old. And what an old-fashioned way to protect a building.
Old-fashioned. Those words were starting to haunt her. "What's with all the swords? Are you expecting a horde of Vikings to attack?"
Howard snorted as he sat behind his desk. "The guys like to collect them." He typed on his keyboard. "Okay, I've got surveillance video coming up from Saturday night."
Lara turned to look at the monitors. They went fuzzy for a second, then cleared up. The numeri
cal date for last Saturday was printed in the bottom right corner along with the time. Twenty-one hundred hours. Nine p.m.
Howard joined her by the monitors, holding a remote control. "As you can see, the building's fairly empty on Saturday night. Just security, and people going to Mass."
"I see." Lara had noticed that most of the monitors showed empty hallways. She recognized the main foyer. A few people were congregated there.
A blur of movement on a different monitor caught her attention. It looked like someone racing at warp speed through the wooded grounds. "How fast is that guy going?"
"Oh, it's just on fast forward," Howard muttered.
She wondered if one screen could be on fast-forward while the others weren't.
Howard pointed at a screen. "There's Jack, leaving this office."
She watched his graceful, long-legged stride. "How long have you known him?"
"Since I started working for MacKay S & I," Howard said. "About ten years, I guess."
Lara saw a little boy run into the hall. Jack swung him up into his arms. "Who's that?"
"Constantine Draganesti. Roman and Shanna's son," Howard explained. "That's Shanna coming out of the nursery with the new baby."
Lara smiled when she saw Jack step back. He'd looked perfectly comfortable around the toddler, but the baby seemed to terrify him. Shanna handed the baby to an older woman who had also exited the nursery. While the older woman returned the children to the nursery, Shanna strolled down the hallway with Jack.
"They're headed to the chapel for Mass," Howard explained. "I'll fast-forward."
Lara noticed Howard was wearing the same sort of clothes that Carlos had been wearing at the townhouse. "Are you wearing a uniform?"
"Yes. For MacKay guards."
"I've never seen Jack wear the uniform."
"Jack's one of our top investigators, and he works under cover a lot. He can do pretty much whatever he wants." Howard punched a button on the remote control. "You'll see them coming out of the chapel soon."
"It strikes me as a bit odd to have a church service here."
Howard shrugged. "Roman likes to do it. Okay, here they come." Howard motioned to the monitor as everyone exited the chapel. Most of them went into a room on the right. "That's the fellowship hall where we go for refreshments. There's no camera in there."
Lara spotted Jack in front of the chapel, talking to the kilted Scotsman she'd met at the wedding. Robby. The two of them strolled into the fellowship hall. The time in the corner of the screen said twenty-two hours. It looked like Jack did indeed have an alibi.
The older woman showed up on the monitor displaying the hall outside the nursery. She was walking with the baby in her arms, and the little boy was skipping by her side. They soon appeared in the monitor outside the chapel. The little boy jumped into his daddy's arms. Roman Draganesti hugged the boy, and Shanna took the baby. They were a lovely family and looked so normal.
All the people seemed normal and nice. Lara wondered if she was being too suspicious where Jack was concerned. Maybe she should just relax and enjoy being attracted to him.
She blinked when Jack suddenly walked into the hall. He had a glass in his hand, and he sipped from it. At last! Proof that Jack actually drank.
She pressed closer to the screen. "What is he drinking? Wine?"
The screen went blank.
"What—?" She glanced back at Howard and saw him set the remote control down on his desk.
"I assume that was enough to prove his alibi." He typed on his keyboard, and the monitors went back to real time. "Now would you like to see the information Jack compiled last night?"
"Yes, I would. Thank you."
"It's all in here." Howard picked up a laptop and strode toward the door. "You can use the conference room across the hall."
Lara grabbed her handbag to follow Howard and glanced back at the monitors. Was she just being paranoid, or had he tried to keep her from seeing something?
CHAPTER 12
Lara sat at the end of the long conference table and waited for the computer to boot up.
Howard hovered at the door. "Do you need anything to write on? Maybe something to drink?"
"I'll be fine, thank you." She did a double take at the computer screen. The desktop was surprisingly bare. There was only one non-system file, and it was labeled Apollo.
"I need to make a round," Howard said. "I'll check on you in fifteen minutes." He strode away, leaving the door wide open.
Security was certainly a priority around here. Lara turned her attention back to the computer. Jack had made sure there was nothing on this laptop pertaining to Romatech Industries or MacKay Security and Investigation. He obviously didn't want her trying to snoop around their business. What could they be hiding?
She'd gotten the feeling that Howard hadn't really liked her being in the security office or looking at the surveillance tapes. And what was the deal with all those weapons, especially the swords? She sighed. More questions to ask Jack.
At least he wasn't trying to hide anything from her regarding the Apollo case. Lara clicked on Apollo and two folders came up titled Negative and Positive. She opened the Negative file and found a brief description of five local women who had been kidnapped. She scanned down the page and realized they were all the wrong age or wrong hair color for Apollo.
She opened the Positive folder and gaped at the screen. There were twenty more folders. Jack had uncovered all this information in one night?
She opened the first folder and found a photo and brief report. A female student with dark auburn hair had disappeared from NYU last month. April.
Lara opened the second folder. A strawberry blonde had vanished from NYU the year before in June. The third folder showed Brittney Beckford from Columbia University, who had disappeared last July. The fourth and fifth folders showed two redheaded students who'd gone missing from Syracuse University.
Was Apollo kidnapping a new girl every month? Lara double-checked the dates. Each girl had disappeared on the fourth Saturday of each month.
How could something so blatant and horrible slip by the authorities? Apollo must be using mind control to cover his tracks so well that no one realized what was happening. In fact, most of these girls were merely listed as runaways. Thank God this criminal was finally coming to the attention of the police.
Lara frowned. Jack had worked awfully hard on this, but it wasn't his case to solve. It was a police matter.
She winced as she scanned the report in the sixth folder. The girl had been a student at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The seventh girl was missing from Princeton, New Jersey. If Apollo was kidnapping girls across state lines, then the case belonged to the FBI.
Even so, she had to hand it to Jack. He was one hell of an investigator. She wasn't even halfway through all the folders, and she was skimming through them fast. She needed hard copies of all these reports so she could compare them to one another. And she needed hours to study the material.
What she needed was a copy of all this. She started to e-mail herself the entire Apollo folder, then hesitated. Would Jack mind? Surely not. He'd said in his phone message that he meant to show her all this information. They were working the case together. She clicked on Send.
"Hello."
She jumped in her chair and spotted a little blond-headed boy at the door. He looked like the boy from the surveillance video. "Hello."
He tugged at his blue-and-green-striped T-shirt. "My name is Tino."
Of course. Constantine Draganesti. "How do you do? I'm Lara Boucher."
He gave her an angelic smile. "I heard about you."
"Great." She turned off the laptop and rose to her feet.
"Tino!" a woman's voice called. "Oh, there you are." An older woman appeared in the doorway and noticed Lara. "I'm sorry. I hope Tino wasn't disturbing you."
"No, not at all." Lara approached them. "I'm Lara Boucher."
"Oh, I've heard about you."
; Not again. Lara extended a hand. "How do you do?"
"Very well. My name is Radinka." She shook hands and didn't let go. She peered closely at Lara, then smiled. "Yes. You and Jack will be very happy."
"Excuse me?"
Radinka released her hand, then yelled over her shoulder. "Shanna, you'll never guess who's here."
"Coming." A woman emerged from the nursery, pushing a baby stroller. She was blonde and a little plump from having recently given birth. The babe was a tiny newborn with pink, delicate skin and a fuzzy cap of black hair.
Lara leaned over the stroller for a closer look. "What a beautiful baby." A girl, she figured, from the baby's delicate features. The pink blanket was another clue. She raised her gaze to the baby's mother. "Hi. I'm Lara Boucher."
"Oh. I've heard about you."
"That's what they all say," Lara muttered.
Shanna laughed. "Don't worry. It was all good. By the way, I'm Shanna. My daughter's Sofia. And you met my son, Constantine?"
"Yes." Lara smiled at the little rosy-cheeked boy.
"She's the one for Jack," Radinka announced.
Lara gulped. "I–I wouldn't say that. I hardly know him."
"Well, we'll just have to gossip about him then, won't we?" Shanna's eyes sparkled with humor. "Robby said you were very pretty. He was definitely right."
"Connor said you were trouble," Constantine added.
"Tino." Shanna frowned at her son, then turned to Lara. "Connor's just worried about Jack getting hurt. We're all sorta like family around here. Would you like to have supper with us? We were just headed for the cafeteria."
"I'm gonna have macaroni and cheese!" Tino pranced around the hall.
"I'd love to come, but Howard might expect me to stay put." Lara motioned toward the conference room.
"Oh, don't worry about that." Shanna waved a dismissive hand. "He'll see you on the monitor and know you're with us. Come on."
Lara grabbed her handbag, shut the conference-room door, and accompanied them down the hall toward the foyer. She hadn't eaten yet, so she was hungry, and she was eager to hear some of the gossip Shanna had referred to. At the same time, she figured she'd better eat light. Jack had a date planned for later that night, and it might involve dinner. And other things…
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