She was still scared, the fear plainly etched on her face. However, she persisted in her evasions.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she said, rising from the stool. “I’m very grateful for what you did for me, but I think its time for me to leave now.”
Now he was getting really frustrated and it came out in his voice. He wanted to help her, but she seemed to be fighting him and he wanted to know why. He decided to push her just a little harder.
“Involve me in what?” When she didn’t answer, he went on. “You can trust me. I’m the one that saved your bacon, right?”
“Yes. That you did.”
“All right, then tell me what’s going on. If you don’t tell me, I can’t help you.”
She hesitated, then walked to the sink and dumped the ice from the compress, the cubes landing with a clang.
“You can trust me. I can help.”
She turned to face him, the deer in the headlights look appearing once again. “You’re asking me to trust you and I don’t know you.”
Her silence persisted and he was beginning to lose his patience. He threw up his hands in frustration.
“For crying out loud! You just don’t get it do you?” He finally raised his voice. “Let’s stop fooling around here. You were attacked in a secure building. That means this was no run-of-the-mill mugging. Whoever did this to you knows who you are and where you work.”
She froze and he could see her tremble slightly. She turned to face him and made eye contact for a long moment. “Okay. I’ll tell you everything, but you have to promise me something in return.”
He was still annoyed with her and didn’t want any more evasions. “What?”
She looked into his eyes again and he could almost read the fear. “First, no police, and second, you can’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you. Not a word, not ever.”
He nodded his agreement. “Look, I just want to get the bastard who did this to you, that’s all.”
“All right. Because if what you said is true, I’m putting more than just my life in your hands.”
“I promise.” He said. “No police…for now.”
She leaned back against the counter, taking a deep breath that caused her to wince in pain. “It’s got to be my project. Whoever attacked me must have been after my project. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“What project were you working on?”
She blew a heavy sigh and for the next twenty minutes laid the whole thing out for him. She started from the inception of the Ever-cell project to when she was attacked, what she remembered of it. He listened intently to every word and the more he heard, the more it made sense.
A project like this is a potential gold mine. Whoever had this new process would make an unbelievable fortune.
He began to understand her initial terror, and the reluctance to talk about what happened.
Any one of a dozen groups would kill for this kind of technology.
“So now what?” she asked, moving to the coffee pot and refilling her mug.
“Well, we have to operate under the assumption that the plans were taken by whoever attacked you. We need to figure out who that is and recover the data. You won’t be safe until we do.”
It sounded simple enough, on the surface, but he also knew these things are rarely as easy as they seem.
“But…I don’t know who took them.” She said, shoulders slumping in defeat.
His mind clicked into high gear. Taking a small yellow note pad and a pencil from a kitchen drawer, he began to write. “What do you remember about the person who beat you up?”
“I can’t remember anything,” she sighed, shaking her head. “It’s just a blur.”
“You don’t remember anything about the person who attacked you?”
“No, I really can’t remember much of anything. It all happened so fast.”
He didn’t see any reason for her to lie, and considering the size of the knots on her head, he could believe she didn’t recall the attack.
“Okay. So let’s concentrate on what we do know. You said the last thing you remember is being in your office. That means that the perpetrator gained access to a secure facility…how?”
“Only level five employees have access to the labs,” she thought aloud and paced the kitchen. “Who let him in?”
Aaron scratched away at the pad as she passed in front of him and tried to think of possible ways to get into the building.
“What about cleaning crews?” He figured it was a long-shot, but he had to start somewhere.
“No way,” she protested, “I have to believe they’re thoroughly vetted before they’re hired.”
“I’ll check. Delivery men or messengers?”
“Nope,” she said flatly. “They have to wait down in the lobby or leave packages with the guard.”
Still making notes, he asked a rhetorical question. “What about competitors?”
A puzzled expression crossed her face. “What do you mean?”
“Are their individuals or companies out there who would risk this kind of attack to get their hands on your work?”
She thought about it for a few seconds, rolling the questing around in her head. “Yes, I suppose there are…but how would they get into the lab?”
“One thing at a time. Who might be that ballsy…or that desperate?”
“I can’t think of anyone who would have known about the battery. I just finished the tests.
The admission triggered alarm bells. He scratched away with the pencil. “What tests, and when?”
“The first trial runs, on Friday.”
He raised one eyebrow. “The same day as the attack?”
“Yes. Is that important?”
“Well, I don’t know if it’s important yet, but it can’t be a coincidence. Who did you talk to that day?”
She cocked her head in thought. “Let’s see, I had a meeting with Jack in the morning, and then I went to the lab.”
“Who’s Jack?”
“Jack Verde, my boss.”
“What’s he do?” he asked.
“He’s the head of R&D.”
“Do you think he might have anything to do with it?”
She shook her head. “No,” she said firmly. “I’ve known Jack for years. He wouldn’t hurt me.”
Aaron put up his hands in surrender. “Okay, Jack didn’t do it. Did you talk to anyone else, even for a minute?”
“Not that I remem…,” she stopped in mid-sentence, then turned to face him, her expression tight in concentration. “Wait a second, there was Sean.”
“Sean, who is that?” he asked as he continued to scratch notes on the yellow pages.
“Sean Murphy, from the mail room, but what would he want with my battery?”
“I don’t know. We’ll come back to him later. Anyone else?”
“No, just Jack and Sean. I don’t think I talked to anyone else that day.”
“Not even on the phone?”
She shook her head, arms crossing over her chest. “Nope.”
“Did you tell either of them that you had tested the battery?”
“No, I was too afraid. I didn’t want my project taken away from me.”
Again the warning bells rang in his head. “Why do you say that? Has someone tried to take it away?”
“No, not really.”
“What do you mean, ‘not really’?”
“Well, Jack did try to get me to let him manage it. He said he wanted to give me a promotion and he’d oversee the completion.”
“When did he say this?”
She hesitated.
He sat back on the stool and met her eyes in a hard stare. “No, let me guess. Friday, right?”
She nodded in agreement.
“And you’re sure Jack wouldn’t hurt you?”
He watched as she struggled to maintain her composure. She wiped a stray tear from her eye, hissing in pain. “I can’t believe he would be involved in something like this.”
“Well, we don’t know that he is. That’s enough for now,” he stood up and moved across the room to stand next to her. He rinsed his mug out and put it in the sink. “I had security pull the surveillance tapes and I’ll pick them up. All we can do right now is wait.”
“Do you think the tapes will help?”
“I hope so, because until we find out who beat you up, you’re stuck here.”
She shook her head. “You can’t be serious. I have to go to my place and get some clothes and get to the office and...”
He held up his hand and abruptly cut off her ramblings. “Jenny, you still don’t understand what’s going on, do you? You aren’t safe outside. Those people could still be after you. If they see you, they might kill you this time. I can’t allow that to happen.”
She turned a new, ghostly shade of white and raised her hand to her mouth in alarm. “Oh, my God! Do you really think someone would try to kill me? Why? Don’t they have what they want?”
“Even if they got what they want, whoever did this to you wouldn’t want you talking to anyone.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “They would kill me just to keep me quiet?”
“Yes. You could cause all kinds of problems for whoever took those plans and that makes you a walking target. I can almost guarantee they will kill you on sight.”
He watched her remaining color drain away as understanding crossed her taut features. He saw her tremble as the reality of her situation slowly began to take hold of her disconcerted mind. She heaved a deep sigh. Refilling her cup, she walked toward the living room with him right behind.
“What are we going to do?” She asked.
“You are going to stay put, where you are safe. I’m going to check out Sean Murphy and Jack Verde and see what I can find out.”
“How are you going to do that?”
He gave her a grin loaded with boyish charm. “I’ve got friends in low places.”
“Oh, very funny.” She groaned. “Aaron, I can’t let you to do this.”
“Why not?”
“Because if it’s as dangerous as you say, you could get hurt. I can’t be responsible for that. I need to do this on my own.”
Aaron saw the pain and fear line her face and didn’t have the heart to argue with her right then. “You rest and we’ll talk later…after we see the surveillance tapes. Okay?”
“No. Aaron I mean it, I can’t get you involved any more than you already are.”
“Look Jenny, I’m in this to the end now. So, just let me help you.”
“What can we really do?” she moaned in growing despair, “A geeky scientist and a construction worker, against someone who is ready to kill for my project?”
He watched as the tears began to well up in her eyes. He moved a step closer, but still hesitated, afraid to touch her.
Jenny put her face in her hands and began to weep. “I can’t let them have my research. It’s too dangerous. I just can’t.”
Aaron put his arms around her and held her as close as her injuries would allow. “It’s going to be all right. We won’t let them have your project.”
She looked up at him, tears running in tiny rivers down her bruised face “But you said they would kill to keep it. I can’t let you get hurt because of me.”
“Don’t worry about me. I can look out for myself,” He grinned. “I used to be a Boy Scout, you know.”
He wiped her tears away and told her he had to attend a meeting with the city inspectors, but he would be back in a couple of hours.
“I don’t want to leave. But if I don’t show up at this meeting a few hundred people are going to be out of work, including me.”
She wiped her eyes again and regained some of her composure. “It’s all right, I understand. You go to your meeting and don’t worry about me.”
“Promise me that you won’t go anywhere while I’m gone.”
She forced a smile. “Where am I going to go, dressed in your bathrobe?”
“I’m serious. I have to know that you’ll stay here, where you’re safe.”
The thought of her on the streets alone filled him with dread. This girl had gotten under his skin with record speed. All he could think about was helping her and getting this stolen technology back where it belonged.
If half of what she said was true, this project is a quantum leap in energy technology. It also makes her a prime target for every low-life in the world. She might as well have a bull’s-eye on her back.
He knew that he had to see this through. She was a lamb in a lion’s den and someone had to look out for her. He decided that someone would be him.
“Please listen to me. We’ll go and pick up your things later, but for now you have to stay here. I think this was an inside job and that means they know a lot about you. Right now, they think you’re dead…and we want them to go on thinking that.”
Too tired and in too much pain to argue any more, she acquiesced, but not without one last jolt of sarcasm. “All right, I’ll stay here. Like a good little girl.”
Aaron smiled, immensely relieved. “Good. Do you want Carlotta to come and keep you company?”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll be all right.”
Hearing the front door close, Jenny went to the desk and picked up the phone. As she dialed, the phone suddenly felt very heavy in her hand.
Chapter Fifteen
Hell hath no fury like an upstate New York blizzard. The phrase “lake-effect snow” takes on new meaning when it accumulates at more than a foot an hour.
Outside Ithaca, New York, the campus of Cornell University was already under more than two feet of new snow and the forecast called for another sixteen to twenty inches in the next twelve hours.
Brent Ryan looked outside and watched the white flakes blast against the frosted window pane, the howling wind rattling the glass in the frame.
Just under six feet tall and weighing 185 lbs., Ryan possessed the physical skill and talent to earn a full-ride scholarship, courtesy of the school’s ice hockey team. He was well aware a degree represented a huge advantage in life and he worked very hard to parley his natural athleticism into a masters degree in economics.
Sitting on an end table in his dorm room, Brent’s cell phone began vibrating in rhythmic pulsations, signaling an incoming call.
He put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
“Brent, it’s Jen.”
“Hey, where have you been? I tried to call you yesterday. I was starting to get really worried.”
“I was...umm…busy. Sorry.”
Irritated by her indifferent attitude, he bit back a scorching retort, instead letting the slight wash over him.
“Yeah? Well, I was about to send out a search party.
“I’m fine…well sort of…” She hesitated and a wave of concern splashed over him like cold seawater. “What’s up?”
“I need you to come to Boston.”
His sister’s halting tone caused his pulse to spike in alarm. “When? The weather’s really crappy here. I don’t know if I can get a flight.”
“Can you come today? It’s important.”
He agreed without hesitation. “I’ll catch the next flight…or I’ll drive if I have to. What’s going on?”
“I can’t talk now. Just get here as fast as you can. Please, I need your help.”
“Come on, I can hear it in your voice. Tell me what’s got you so upset.”
“I don’t want to get into it on the phone. I’ll tell you everything when you get here.”
“Whatever it is, you can tell me. We’ll sort it out.”
“All I can tell you is that it’s serious. You’ll just have to trust me on the rest.
He hesitated before answering, not liking the foreboding chills her words sent creeping up his spine. “Okay. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“One more thing,” She interjected.
“Yes?”
“When you get here, I need you to go to my office and pick up my laptop
. Talk to my assistant. She’ll get it for you. Speak to no one else.”
“What?”
“I need you to get it for me,” she said. “I’ll meet you at the offices of Casey Construction. It’s in the Tower building. I’ll explain the rest later.”
“Do you need anything else?”
“No, if you can get my computer that will be enough. And Brent, be careful…this is serious.” she said, the fear in her voice giving him all he needed in the way of warning.
“Hang on sis, I’m on my way. I’ll be there in about three or four hours and we will figure out whatever this is.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you this afternoon then.”
He hung up the phone and called the airline. While he was on hold, he contemplated the cryptic conversation.
Whatever’s bothering her must really be big if she’s calling me in from New York.
Giving up the view outside the window, he opened the closet and began to throw some clothes into a small duffel bag.
Brent Ryan had spent his entire life in his sister’s shadow. She was the brilliant one, truly gifted, and for a long time his resentment of her caused a burning friction between the siblings that singed them both.
All of Jenny’s academic life she had been at the top of her class, while Brent worked almost manically to keep his 3.85 GPA. Cornell University was no picnic, and as Brent filled his days with classes, hockey practice and studying, he grudgingly developed a healthy respect for his sister’s academic achievements. He also realized that while she was undeniably a scientific genius, she was also painfully shy, lacking the social grace and self-confidence he found easy to summon. That knowledge, and a little hard-won maturity, made it possible for the two of them to grow much closer in the last few years. The past evaporated as he zipped the bag, clearing his mind.
Concentrating on the present, he began punching the buttons on his cell phone’s keypad.
Ryan knew his sister was obviously scared and he had to go and help in any way he could. He just wished she would have confided in him…given him a little more information.
If she’s having trouble with some boyfriend…I’ll just lay a beat-down on him.
His hockey team’s “enforcer”, Brent was well-versed in the proper application of fisticuffs and would simply pummel any low-life who dared to bother his sister.
Chain Reaction Power Failure Book I Page 10