The morning sun streaming through the windows woke Aaron and he was instantly aware of the events of the previous night. Sitting up in the chair, he stretched his sore muscles and looked at the young woman lying in the bed. She looked helpless as she lay there sleeping, her chest rising and falling, her breathing slow and steady. He also noticed Rambo had curled up in a ball, fast asleep at her feet.
“Rambo, get off the bed.” He scolded gently.
The cat sat up, meowing coarsely at him as she stretched and flexed her long claws.
“Oh, I get it,” he said in mock amusement, “You’re standing guard, right?”
In response, Rambo puffed up her long white fur from head to tail in an attempt to look bigger and more formidable, a tactic Aaron found funny. He smiled at the feline’s display.
Oh, you’re so tough. You look like a giant cotton ball.”
He picked Rambo up and moved her to the chair. “All right killer, you watch her. I’ve gotta have some coffee.”
Rambo followed him into the kitchen, meowing impatiently for her morning meal.
After he fed the cat, he took his coffee back into the bedroom and again sat down next to the bed. He sipped the steaming brew, looking down at his guest, wondering who she was and how she got in this condition. He’d checked all the news broadcasts and discovered she wasn’t on any of them. It puzzled him that no one had reported her missing. He found the same when he’d read the newspaper.
No mention of a missing woman. How weird, that nobody is looking for you.
He sat at her bedside on and off for the entire day and into the evening. At about eight p.m. he heard a small groan and he went to check on his ward. As he walked through the door, he saw that she was awake, her good eye searching the room.
After taking a brief moment to register his presence, a piercing scream began in her throat, only to quickly die on her lips. She grabbed her chest, hissing in pain and crawled backward on the bed, her face a mask of blind panic.
“Stay back!” she gasped, the effort causing her to cough violently and again wrap her arms protectively around her battered ribs.
He took a step back. “It’s all right. I won’t come any closer. You’re safe.”
She started to get up and he headed her off with an outstretched hand.
“You’ve been injured. Just stay still. You’re safe here.”
She looked up at him, her face lined with fear and pain. She cowered against the bed’s carved headboard.
“I said stay back!” she yelled again, pressing tighter against the headboard as the pain racked her body.
He could tell she was still in a daze, but coming around. He spoke quietly, hoping the calming tones would reassure the frightened girl. “I won’t hurt you. I’m here to help.”
The woman blinked several more times and looked around, trying to understand her surroundings, alarm still evident in her weak voice. “Who are you?” she wheezed coarsely. “Where am I?”
He took a step forward and she again struggled to move away. She jerked the lamp off the nightstand to her right, swinging it menacingly. “Stay back! I mean it!”
“Just stay still. You had an accident, but you’re going to be all right.”
Her speech was slightly garbled, due to her split lip and her broken speech told him she still struggled to stay coherent. “Accident? What accident? Where am I?”
“Don’t worry. You’re safe. My name is Aaron Casey. You’re in my apartment.”
She glared at him. “How did I get here?”
“I brought you here. I found you. You were injured,” he again moved closer. “You can put down the lamp. I won’t hurt you. You’re safe here.”
Her doe-like eyes following his every move, he slowly reached for the chair next to the bed and pulled it to him, retreating a few steps before sitting.
“Just stay over there.” She hissed as she replaced the lamp on the table.
“What’s your name?” Aaron asked.
The woman took a small breath and replied with some difficulty. “Jenny.”
“All right, Jenny. Do you want me to get you a doctor?”
She drew a long, slow breath through clenched teeth. “No doctors or hospitals, please. I just need some water.”
He had a glass ready on the nightstand and held the straw to her lips. She took a small drink, winced in pain, then swallowed.
“You just rest now.”
Lying back down, she nodded and closed her eyes.
He walked to the door and as he stopped to turn out the light, she called to him. “Aaron, is it?”
He turned to her. “Yes?”
“Thank you,”
“You’re welcome.”
She didn’t hear him. She was already asleep again.
Aaron called Carlotta to stay with Jenny, while he went to the store. As he walked the block to the market, he thought about the woman upstairs.
How could someone beat her up like that…and why isn’t anybody looking for her?
He got a few things at the store, bandages and antiseptic for Jenny’s cuts and a bottle of rum for himself.
After all I’ve been through in the last forty-eight hours I’m entitled to a drink…or two.
He returned to find his housekeeper sitting on the bed, trying to spoon-feed his guest a bowl of soup.
“Feeling better?” He asked.
In a voice still slightly slurred but stronger, she answered. “Yes. A little, I guess.”
As Jenny continued to eat, Rambo jumped up on the bed and meowed, sniffing at the bowl of soup, her little pink nose working overtime.
“Hi there kitty.” Jenny said.
Aaron laughed. “I think she wants your soup.”
“She’s beautiful. What’s her name?”
“Her name’s Rambo.”
“How did she get a name like that?”
“It’s a long story. But if you want, I’ll tell you later, when you’re rested.”
“I’d like that.”
“Okay.” Aaron agreed, “But first, I need to make sure you’re all right. Do you want to see a doctor? I asked you before, but you were still kinda out of it.”
“No, I don’t think I need a doctor. I’m feeling much better. Just got my bell rung, that’s all.”
“Bell rung is right.” he said, not falling for the transparent lie for a second. “Are you sure you don’t want a doctor? You have some cracked ribs and a sprained wrist…along with a bunch of bumps and bruises.”
Carlotta interrupted, “Well, I’m going to leave you two alone now.”
As he walked her to the door, he thanked Carlotta for staying with Jenny, and offered to pay her.
“No way, Aaron. I know all about being beaten up,” she said, referring to her ex-husband. “I’m just glad I could help. If you need me again, just call.”
Carlotta went home, leaving Aaron and Jenny to their individual thoughts. He felt like now would be as good a time as any to ask her some questions.
“Jenny, do you remember how this happened to you?”
She hesitated and he saw the fear splash across her face like paint. “No, I don’t remember much. How did I get here?”
“I brought you here. You didn’t want to go to the hospital.”
“Where did you find me?”
“On an empty floor of my building. Do you remember how you got there?”
“The last thing that I remember is going back to my office to get my keys.”
“What time was that?”
“It was a little after seven. I know because I was late for a date.”
He nodded in understanding. “Well, I found you at a little after two a.m., so that leaves seven hours unaccounted for. Where is your office?”
“It’s in that new building downtown, the Boston Tower.”
“That’s where I found you, in my building.” he repeated.
“What do you mean your building?”
“I me
an I built it. I introduced myself earlier, but you may not remember. I’m Aaron Casey, owner of Casey Construction.”
She tried to reach up and shake his outstretched hand, but pulled back suddenly. “Owww, God, that hurts.”
“Just take it easy. You’re banged up pretty good.” he said.
She slowly eased her arm back down. “I’m Jennifer Ryan. Thank you for what you did for me.”
“You’re welcome. I’m just glad I found you when I did. Do you have any idea how you were injured?”
“No. No, I have no idea. Somebody hit me from behind. It must have been a mugger or something.”
He noticed her clipped response came just a little too quickly. “Well, it’s late and you need your rest. Is there anyone you want me to call for you?”
“No. I live alone.”
“Well, you are welcome to stay here tonight, if you want to. I can take you home in the morning.”
“Thank you. That’s very generous.”
“Well, Okay. Do you need anything before I go to bed?”
“No, I’m fine, but I do need to use your bathroom.”
“It’s the first door on the right, do you need help walking?”
“No, I think I can make it.”
As Jenny started to get out of the bed, she moved the blankets and suddenly realized she was nearly naked underneath, wearing only her panties.
She gave him a sheepish look, pulling the covers up to her chin. “Excuse me Aaron, I don’t want to sound ungrateful or anything, but where are my clothes? And more importantly, who took them off me?”
Aaron’s face reddened and he held back an embarrassed chuckle. “Your clothes are in the trash. They were ripped, and covered with blood. Mrs. Nunez, the lady with the soup, she took them off and covered you with the blankets. I wasn’t even in the room.”
She looked at him, one eyebrow raised in disbelief.
He held up his hand in a three-finger salute. “Scout’s honor. I’ll get you something to put on.”
While he explained, he retrieved a robe from a hook on the back of the closet door and handed it to her. “You can wear this until tomorrow, then we’ll get you some new clothes.”
Jenny accepted the robe and noticed his face had progressed to a very bright red. He turned his back while she slipped it on.
He waited for her at the bathroom door, in case she needed any help getting back to bed. After he got her settled in again, he said good night and was about to leave when she spoke. “Are you going to tell me how Rambo got her name, like you promised?”
He was surprised she remembered. “Sure. If you’re up to it?”
Rambo heard her name and came trotting into the room as if on cue. She jumped up on the bed and meowed softly.
He reached out and scratched the cat behind her ears. “This little hairball came into my life almost a year ago. I found her and two litter-mates abandoned on one of my construction sites…half frozen. She couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old.”
Jenny listened intently as he continued.
“The little monster caught a mouse and was trying to figure out how to eat it. Her eyes weren’t even completely open, and already she hunted for food. That’s why I call her Rambo, because she’s a fighter. We’ve been together ever since.”
Jenny tried to smile, and Aaron visualized for a moment what she would look like without all the bruises.
“I guess you have a habit of picking up strays on your job sites.
“No, just damsels in distress.”
“Where are the other two?”
“The other two didn’t make it.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
He stood and moved toward the door. “I’m going to take a shower and hit the rack. If you need anything, just ask. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight Aaron, and thanks again… for everything.”
The heat of the shower relaxed him and as the water rained down, he thought about what she’d said. He didn’t believe for an instant this was a common mugging…and he wanted to know the truth.
He walked to the kitchen, still wrapped in a towel, and pulled the bottle of rum from the freezer. He stared at the bottle for a long moment before dropping some ice into a glass and pouring it full.
He thought about his guest in the next room and wondered how to get her to trust him. Everything she’d told him pointed to a simple mugging. Everything except where he found her, on the 31st floor. He assumed if she were the victim of a street crime, she would have been left on the street, not inside the building. The Boston Tower had a state-of-the-art security system and no common thug would dare try anything there. He thought the surveillance tapes might shed some light on what happened to her. He decided to have the guards pull the tapes and hold them until he got there. Finishing his drink, he crawled into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
He arose at his normal six a.m. the next morning and started the coffee. He waited until seven before phoning Diane. “Hi, Di. I just wanted to tell you, I won’t be in today. I’m not feeling too good.”
“Are you all right, do you need anything?” his assistant asked.
“No, just going to stay in bed for today.”
He could almost feel her protective instincts peak, but he fended off her well-meaning barrage of questions and hung up the phone.
While Jenny slept, he went to the corner diner and ordered breakfast for the two of them. When he returned half an hour later, he found her in the kitchen sitting on a stool at the breakfast bar gingerly sipping a cup of coffee.
“Good morning. How are you feeling?” he asked, surprised and pleased to see her up and around.
“Not too bad, for someone who’s been pulled through a knot-hole.” she said, wincing and touching a cold compress to her swollen lip between sips.
He had to smile at the bad joke. “That good? Really? I’ll ask again if you want to see a doctor.”
“No. I’m sore in places I didn’t know I had, but other than that I’m all right. By the way, thanks for making the coffee this morning. I can’t function without caffeine.”
He poured a mug for himself and sat next to her. “Me either.”
They sipped for several long moments in awkward silence, “I hate to bring this up,” he said. “But don’t you think we should call the police?”
She answered him in measured tones. “Please, no police. I don’t want any trouble.”
Frustration caused his voice to waver slightly. “What do you mean, you don’t want any trouble? Jenny, you were the victim of an assault. Somebody nearly killed you. Don’t you want the police to find the man who did this to you?”
He was really confused now, first she wouldn’t go to a doctor and now she resisted calling the police. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know she was hiding something.
He continued in a more firm tone, “All right, tell me what’s really going on here.”
She paused for a second then sipped her coffee again before answering. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
Her tone and demeanor confirmed his suspicions.
This was no random act of violence.
He tried again. “Look, I can’t help you unless you tell me what’s going on.”
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 hesitat
ed, 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 yo
u. 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.
"Chain Reaction" Power Failure Book I Page 20