Close Your Eyes

by Iris Johansen

  Her lips tightened. “I can’t. Not now. I’m caught.”

  “And maybe a little charged?”

  “Maybe.” She was feeling a zinging, an excitement that a challenge always brought her but it was mixed with a heavy heart and a sense of impending—what? The depression and urgency that she’d begun to experience earlier was back and growing stronger every moment. But she didn’t want to think about that strange emotional cloud hovering over her now. “This isn’t the time to analyze. It doesn’t matter what I’m feeling. Let’s just get moving.”

  * * *

  “GET MOVING,” SCHUYLER SAID, as soon as Denton picked up the call. “I just heard from Laird that he had a call that the FBI has picked up Briggs. I don’t know how much he’s already told them or if he’ll spill his guts before we can stop him. I told Laird to get that last batch of Project Pegasus loaded on the plane. I’m heading for the airport right now.”

  “You’ve ruined everything.” Denton’s voice was a shrill squeal. “You kept telling me that you’d take care of everything, and all I had to worry about was making sure that the project would work. Now you’re telling me that the FBI may know everything?”

  “I didn’t say that. I said that we should cut our losses and head for Tehran. The FBI is close on the trail.”

  “And you couldn’t even get rid of that woman who was causing all the trouble. What good are you?” he said. “I may not go anywhere. Why should I? You’re the one they’ll blame for everything. The government values my brain and my skill. You’re just a crooked pill pusher.” He added with malice, “And when they find out your fine company is nearly bankrupt and going down the tubes, and you bought that palace in Tehran, they’ll be sure that you have terrorist leanings. They may even send one of those drones after you.”

  Schuyler controlled his anger. It would only be for a little while longer. “And you think that I’m the only one who is in trouble? What about that disc you stole from Homeland Security files at Panama City? How are you going to talk yourself out of that?”

  Denton was silent. “You haven’t found the disc yet. They won’t know about it.”

  “Unless we leave a loose end who can tell them about it. I’m through with protecting you. You can go with me on that plane to Tehran or stay here. I don’t care which you do.” He paused. “I’m leaving for the airport in the next three minutes. I’ll take off within the hour.”

  “I have to have that disc. It’s evidence against me.”

  “Then go to the warehouse and make a last try at getting it.” He added deliberately, “Or tie up that loose end.”

  “Have Laird do it.”

  “No, you’re going to get your hands dirty. I’m not going to let you weasel your way out of this and leave me in the lurch. I’ll see you at the airport.” He hung up.

  CHAPTER

  16

  Rancho Bernardo

  Thatcher Pharmaceuticals

  “SCHUYLER’S NOT HERE,” LYNCH said as he came back to the car after going to the executive suite. “His secretary said he had an emergency appointment and wouldn’t be back for the rest of the day.”

  “Did you believe her?”

  “No, but I went to the executive garage, and the CEO parking spot was empty. The word ‘emergency’ struck me, though. She might have used it because Schuyler’s demeanor was tense or hurried.”

  “Because he might know that Briggs has been picked up?” Kendra said. “It just happened.”

  “It could be that he was being watched. At any rate, Schuyler has flown the coop. Did you locate any nearby warehouses?”

  She shook her head. “I Googled it and didn’t find anything. Then I walked around the immediate area and didn’t see anything but plush office complexes. It’s a very well-to-do little town. I can’t see Briggs or Sanders making deliveries here without attracting attention. The local police would definitely be interested in someone who looked like a Hells Angel.” She frowned thoughtfully. “Let’s try Ocotillo Wells. It’s out of the way. There’s a small airport nearby. It would have been convenient for Sanders and Briggs to make their deliveries. I don’t remember seeing a warehouse, but it’s worth a shot to see if there’s one there.”

  He nodded as he started the car. “Ocotillo Wells it is. From here, it will probably take us over an hour.”

  His phone rang after they’d been on the road about forty-five minutes. He made a face. “Griffin. He’s probably going to give me hell for not calling him personally instead of leaving it up to Jamerson.” He accessed the call. “Jamerson told you everything Kendra and I know, Griffin. Maybe you’ll be able to get more out of Briggs than we—”

  “Briggs is dead.”

  He stiffened. “What?”

  “You heard me. He collapsed in the interrogation room while we were questioning him. One minute, he was sitting there spitting out curses and swearing that he was going to sue us all, the next minute his eyes glazed over, and he stopped breathing.”

  Kendra’s eyes were wide with shock. “Did you try to revive him?”

  “Of course,” he said curtly. “Though none of us were eager to get close to that scumbag. Particularly after Agent Deevers diagnosed him as having the same substance in his body as Sanders. He couldn’t be saved.”

  “What happened?”

  “How the hell do we know? Heart attack? He was scared shitless. The presence of that substance in his body was an advanced case. It could have been that.”

  “What does Sienna say?”

  “The same thing I am. She doesn’t know. She said she couldn’t tell until the medical examiner got through with Briggs’s body. When they took him to the morgue, she trailed along with them. She said she’d call me with the results.”

  “Weird,” Kendra murmured. “The whole thing is bizarre.”

  “You think it’s weird,” Griffin said. “I think it’s big trouble. He died under interrogation. There’s bound to be an investigation. They’ll probably accuse us of waterboarding or something. We’ve got to clean this mess up quick. It won’t look so bad if we’ve saved the nation from biological catastrophe. Jamerson said that Charles Schuyler is involved. Have you questioned him yet?”

  “No, he wasn’t at the main office.”

  “Find him,” Griffin said. “I checked him out after I talked to Jamerson, and his company is going bust. Desperate men do desperate things. And I sent a couple agents to pick up Denton for questioning.”

  “Let me know when you have him,” Lynch said. “I think it will all be going down very fast from now on. We’re heading for Ocotillo Wells to check out the airport and any warehouses in the vicinity.”

  “Schuyler’s there?”

  “We don’t know, but we’re going to find out. Rancho Bernardo didn’t look promising, so we’re going to try the desert. It might be a good spot from which to make a quick getaway.”

  “Nothing like being positive,” Griffin said sourly. “Do you need backup?”

  “I have no idea, but it wouldn’t hurt to send them.”

  “I’ll have a team on their way within five minutes,” Griffin said curtly. ”And I’ll yank Sienna off that autopsy and send her with them in case you find any of that substance out there.”

  “I’ll be in touch.” He hung up, and said to Kendra, “We’ll have help, for what it’s worth. You heard Griffin. They’ll be leaving San Diego in five minutes.”

  “We may not need help. Ocotillo Wells is only guesswork.” She frowned. “Briggs…”

  “You’re right, it’s weird.”

  “Dammit, I want to know how he died.”

  He studied her face. “It’s really bothering you.”

  “It may have something to do with that escalation of the effect of the substance. It could be there is a contagious factor involved, it might be—” She shook her head. “I’m guessing. I just want to know.” She reached for her phone. “I’m calling Sienna.”

  “She may not know anything yet.”

  She dialed
Sienna’s number. “Then she’ll tell me that she doesn’t.” She made a face. “Voice mail.” She hung up. “I’ll call her later.”

  “Griffin may have already pulled her away from the examination and sent her our way. Or maybe she’s still in the exam room. I’m sure she’ll get back to you.”

  She nodded. “That sounded both patronizing and soothing, Lynch. Knock it off.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll watch it in future.” His smile faded. “I wasn’t patronizing, but I was trying to soothe you. Briggs’s death seems to have upset you. I don’t like to see you upset. So accept it. My instinct is to try to make your pain go away. That seems to be how it is.”

  She felt a surge of warmth move through her. “No pain. Just curiosity and puzzlement. And it wouldn’t be your business anyway.” She was silent, and added, “But it’s kind … and surprising … of you to care.” Her gaze shifted to the scenery flying by outside her window, and her brow once more knitted in a frown. “I just don’t … it’s weird…”

  * * *

  THERE WERE THREE WAREHOUSES a short distance down the slope from the Ocotillo Wells airstrip. As Lynch drove over the hill, they saw that all of the vinyl-tiled warehouses appeared to be deserted. But then so did the rest of the airport, Kendra noticed. There were several small aircraft parked in an adjoining holding area but there was no one servicing them.

  However, no one could say the same for the Gulfstream jet parked in a hangar set off from the runway. There was an aura of luxury, urgency, and speed surrounding the plane. The doors of the hangar were thrown wide. The plane was already being fueled for takeoff. The cargo bay was open, and there were two gray-uniformed men loading boxes from a hand truck. Another man with a blond crew cut, wearing a brown leather jacket, was obviously calling out orders to the men.

  “Oscar Laird?” Kendra asked, her gaze on the man with the crew cut. It was difficult to see his face from that distance, but he resembled the photo of the security head.

  “Good chance. What do you bet some of those boxes have Panama City labels?” Lynch said softly as he pulled the Ferrari out of sight behind the bank of warehouses. “I think we’ve struck pay dirt.”

  “It looks like they’re in a big hurry,” Kendra said. “Tehran express? It’s terrifying. If these formulas work the way they’re intended, entire cities could be infected with Pegasus 1 without the population’s even realizing it.”

  “Making those people susceptible to being murdered with just a whiff of the second formula,” Lynch said soberly. “The idea pisses me off. What do you say we cheat those bastards out of making their delivery?”

  “How?” Her eyes narrowed on the three warehouses. “Which one? It could take us hours to search all of them for those boxes.”

  “Watch the trucks and see which warehouse they go back to after they load the boxes from the hand truck on the plane.” He glanced around the field. “I don’t see any vehicles except that beat-up gray truck over by the fence. Either Schuyler hasn’t shown yet, or we could be wrong about their leaving immediately.”

  “It wouldn’t make sense for them to load those boxes if they hadn’t scheduled an immediate departure,” Kendra said. “They couldn’t keep—They’re coming back.”

  The small truck was speeding back toward the warehouse area. The truck pulled into the loading dock of the middle warehouse and the uniformed men jumped out of the cab. The next moment, they had disappeared inside the building.

  “Let’s go.” Lynch jumped out of the car. “See those metal fire-escape balconies that line the second-floor rear of each of those warehouses? We’ll go to the building on the right, climb to the rear balcony, then swing over to the balcony of the center warehouse. When we get inside, we’ll verify that those boxes are Pegasus Project, then see about disabling that jet.”

  “When we get inside? They’re bound to be locked, right?”

  “I’m not worried about that part of it.”

  “I am. And hadn’t we better tell Griffin to get a move on it?” She was hurrying after him up the four flights of stairs of the warehouse. “Or have your Jamerson stop that plane from taking off?”

  “Griffin already has agents on the way. If he said they’d be out of the office in five minutes, he’ll see that they are. If we get a chance, we’ll try to escalate. And we can’t have Homeland Security scrambling jets to take down a plane until we verify that it’s a national threat.”

  “How sensible and discreet. Not like you at all, Lynch.” She had reached the second-floor balcony and was gauging the open distance between that warehouse and the balcony of the center warehouse. “It’s at least ten feet.” She looked down at the ground at least thirty feet below. “No rope. No ladder. How do we get across?”

  “Jump.” He positioned himself outside the iron railing surrounding the balcony, then turned to face the center warehouse. “I’m six-four. I’ll launch myself and grab the rails.”

  “And how do I—”

  He was already in motion, pushing off with the balls of his feet and flying through space.

  He missed!

  No, he’d grasped one of the rails with one hand and was hanging, swinging, by that grip.

  “Lynch!”

  He didn’t answer as he reached up with the other hand and grabbed the rail. “It’s—okay.” He pulled himself up to the floor of the balcony and lifted himself over the rail. “Piece of cake.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Her heart was beating so hard, she could scarcely breathe. “You’re an idiot.”

  “I only misjudged by a little.” He took off his jacket, shirt, and gun holster. He tied the arms of the two garments together. “I’m going to swing this jacket over to you. Try to grab the arm of the jacket, and I’ll pull you across. You’ll have to get on the other side of the railing.”

  She was already climbing over the railing. “And what if that shirt tears away from the jacket?”

  “I won’t answer that. You seriously object to soothing. Well, maybe a little soothing. You have a good chance. I don’t buy cheap clothing, and the material is good.” He swung the jacket.

  She reached out.

  She missed it.

  He swung the jacket again.

  She lunged and grabbed a bit of the material. The weight of the jacket pulled it out of her hand.

  “Again,” she said.

  This time, she grabbed it and held on tight with both hands.

  “Are you ready for me?” she asked.

  “Most of the time. But you’ve been known to surprise me.”

  “Lynch,” she said through her teeth. “If you drop me, I’ll not be pleased with you. I’ll be so displeased that you’ll be in grave danger of extinction.”

  He smiled. “Come ahead. You’re safe with me.”

  “Like hell.” But she took a deep breath and jumped into space.

  Her palms were burning with friction.

  She was dangling, her arms almost jerked from their sockets.

  Hold on tight.

  He was pulling hand over hand.

  She was moving upward.

  “Got you!” He released the jacket and grabbed her arms and pulled her over the railing. He held her close for an instant and then released her. “I did that rather well. You may compliment me now, Kendra.”

  She could scarcely breathe, and her knees were weak. “You may still be in danger even though you didn’t drop me.” She took a step back. “See if you can get us inside this warehouse.”

  He nodded as he fastened the holster with his .44 Magnum back on over his white T-shirt and moved along down the balcony. He checked two windows and stopped at a narrow door. “The security system is probably off since those guards are going in and out packing and loading…” His gaze narrowed on the lock at the door, and he bent above it. “We’ll know in a minute…”

  He swung the door open.

  No alarm.

  “Come on,” he whispered. “Let’s find those boxes. Quiet.”

  It was hard to be quiet
as she moved through the halls of the building, which seemed to squeak at every other step. Though Lynch seemed to move with catlike litheness as he led her down the staircase from the second floor to the first. The place was like a rabbit warren, with the huge area divided up into crude wooden-walled compartments of various sizes, demarked by a series of mazelike corridors.

  She froze as she saw daylight pierce the dimness across the huge room as the massive doors were thrown open.

  Sounds suddenly assaulted her.

  Curses.

  The creak of wheels on the loading dock.

  Then the light disappeared as the guards slammed the door shut. The next minute, she heard the roar of the truck.

  Lynch held up his hand, listening.

  No sound.

  “I think we’re okay,” Lynch whispered. “You take the compartments on the left. I’ll take the ones on the right. Call if you run across the stash. Now’s the time to take the safety off the gun I gave you. Be careful.”

  As if she needed him to caution her. She was wound as tightly as a violin string. She only wanted this to be done. She took the safety off her gun and shoved it back into her jacket pocket. She moved toward the first compartment.

  Trash.

  A few magazines.

  An ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts.

  The second compartment.

  An old Domino’s pizza container.

  She tensed, her eyes widening.

  And a surgeon’s scalpel stained with dried blood lying on the floor.

  She moved slowly toward the third compartment.

  Even in the dimness, she could see the bloodstains on the rough wood floor.

  She could smell sweat and blood and pain.

  It was all pain.

  She could hear the sound of it in the breathing that came from the figure huddled in the corner of the compartment.

  She came slowly toward that corner.

  It was too dim to see clearly.

  But she knew. Oh, God, she knew.

  “Jeff?”

  She fell to her knees beside him. His clothes were ripped to shreds.