“There’s only one thing to do. We have to get this tech out in the open, but it can’t be just any smalltime press conference. Nothing would be achieved. Blackwell has a lot of hold in the media.
“We’re going to have to go to Seattle and attend the summit.”
Day nodded. Once that was public domain, the cat was out of the bag, and they’d have no reason to come after Rollie. He gave up the idea of walking away. There was no way he could leave her to face this alone. She could shoot, yeah, but if not for him, she’d be a corpse in a mountain cabin right now. “Then we’re going to need backup and some serious firepower.”
Rollie smiled. “Can’t do backup. Considering you managed to kidnap me so easily—not that I question your skills or anything—I don’t trust my people right now. But firepower? That I can help with.”
Day nodded. “Backup I can do.” His voice was quiet and even he could hear the resignation in it. People owed him favors, yes, but for this kind of backup he needed the help of one man. And Hayden Edge was not a man who owed anyone. If anything, Day would end up owing Edge, and knowing the hard-nosed ex-commando as he did, it would mean a job and all the sorts of things Day had been trying to avoid. A regular job, a house, friends. Normal things a guy like him had no right to.
If Rollie was alarmed at the subtle change in his demeanor, she didn’t show it. “You got a plan?” she asked. “I’m all ears.”
Day’s lips compressed. “Yeah, I got a plan. I need to make a call, but yeah, I got a plan.” A plan that’s going to cost me my soul, but a plan nonetheless. He pushed away from the table and stood. “Come on. We need to find a phone.”
***
“Department of Energy. How may I direct your call?” asked the voice from the other end.
“Experimental Research Division, please. Doctor Chuck Harper,” said Rollie. Music quickly replaced the voice as she was put on hold. Rollie sighed and watched Day out of the corner of her eye. He’d made a brief and terse call before handing the phone over to her. One she could only assume was with a man that Day didn’t feel comfortable with but had no other choice but to call. But Day was right; they couldn’t afford to make mistakes like they had back at the cabin. Mistakes were potentially lethal.
So, Rollie decided to bring in some bigger guns while she was underground. She had a few friends she knew she could count on.
“Chuck Harper speaking,” said the smooth male voice on the other end.
“Chuck! It’s me, Rollie.”
“Rollie? Jesus. Thank God you’re safe,” he said with obvious relief. “It was chaos back at your office ever since your mother…” He paused, sounding uncertain. “Then I heard you were missing. I was tapping my buddies at the FBI to find you. What happened?”
“A friend rescued me.” Rollie glanced at Day standing outside the phone booth. “He knew I would be in danger. He took me away just before Marie was… I didn’t know they would do that to her.”
“Rollie, I’m so sorry about Marie. But things are a little hot right now. My buddies at the Bureau are telling me that someone is quietly looking for you, and I don’t think they’re your friends. What’s this about? Christ, your life could be in danger.”
“It is in danger. Which is why I need your help.” Rollie then told him about Icarus and her plans.
“Damn, you’re going to make a lot of rich, powerful people angry. No wonder you’re being hunted.”
“I know. Chuck, my only hope to end this is to attend that summit and present the reactor there. If the world discovers my creation, they would have no more reason to kill me to keep me quiet. But I know they’re going to be watching the summit, and I’m pretty sure they’ll nab me before I even get to the front doors.”
“What can I do to help?” he asked earnestly.
Moments later, Rollie hung up the phone and stepped outside to join Day. “It’s done.”
Day nodded, just a short, sharp jerk of his head. The lover she’d been with last night was gone, and in his place was the man Rollie had first met, the dangerous loner who’d kidnapped her. Not for the first time, she wondered exactly what Day’s background was, and if Day was even his real name. Didn’t that sort of man always have an alias, a cover identity, a la Bond? But, try as she might, she just couldn’t imagine him as the suave, sophisticated super-spy. Oh, he undoubtedly had the skill, and Rollie could imagine him looking fine in a tuxedo with a martini in hand but she liked Day’s rough and rugged appeal.
“You told him the right time and place?” he asked as they walked away from the phone booth. He’d done something to the phone before he’d let her make the call, presumably concealing their location somehow, but these weren’t amateurs they were going up against. If they were really serious about finding her, eventually they would. She knew that.
“Yes, I did,” said Rollie as she kept up with him. “Day, it’s okay. I trust him. He’s one of the few people who know who I really am, and they’re not that plenty. I’m like a sister to him.”
He shot her a look, his expression hard. “Don’t trust anyone, Rollie. Everyone’s got a price, even me. Remember that.”
***
The man lowered his headset for a moment as soon as the call ended and got out of the van not far away from a government building. He had been sitting in that chair for the better part of twelve hours, and he was tired, hungry, and needed a drink. As he breathed in freshly polluted air, a refreshing change from the stale air inside the van, he reached for his flask. As he brought the dented metal container to his lips, he realized he had drunk the last of it an hour ago.
“Shit,” he muttered as he shoved the flask in the pocket of his hopelessly wrinkled slacks and opted for a smoke instead. His phone began to vibrate in his other pocket, and he took a moment to take a drag of his cigarette before he pulled his cell out and flipped it open.
“Did we get what we needed?” asked the voice on the other end.
“Yes, we did. She’s doing exactly what you said she would.”
“Do you have any indication that her good friend knows about us?”
“He doesn’t, but if he did, I can always fix that.”
“Don’t be too hasty. Try to avoid racking up the body count more than we need to. We don’t want undue attention on this whole situation.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
“Do you have the details of the conversation?”
“I sent it to you a few minutes ago. It should be there now.”
“I just received it. It looks good. Excellent work.”
“You want me to keep listening here?”
“No, leave that to the rookie. I want you at the site. We need to make the proper preparations.”
“I’ll be there.” He flipped his cell shut, flicked the half-smoked cigarette away, and got back into the van.
A younger man at the surveillance console looked up at him. “What did they say?”
He didn’t answer at first, instead withdrawing his Glock 19 from his shoulder holster and checking the magazine before chambering a round. “You stay here. I’ve got an errand to run.” He holstered his piece and patted his jacket into place to cover it.
“How long do I have to stick around?”
“I’ll let you know,” he said as he stepped out of the van, sliding the door shut behind him.
***
Rollie sat in the passenger seat of the rather nicely restored Charger they’d “borrowed” from the long-term parking garage not far from the diner. They’d been waiting for almost an hour, and she was starting to get a cramp in her leg from her tense position. She wanted to sit on the hood as she waited, but Day had said she would be an easy target for snipers. Not that being in a car was any different, but at least she had something between her and a potential threat.
Day looked across at her, his eyes amused. “You can move, you know. I don’t think wriggling your toes once in a while is going to bring down the wrath of God on us.”
Her gaze swept over him sitting in the driver’s seat as though nothing at all was amiss. One arm rested on the open window. His shirt was open to reveal the toned planes of his chest, while shades concealed his eyes. Damn him. How could he look so calm and collected when her nerves were almost fried to a crisp?
“What’s taking them so long?” she asked, annoyed, as she glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “Leave it to the feds to be late to their own party.”
Technically, the feds were only a few minutes late, but Rollie had insisted on being there early. Day concurred, saying it gave them a chance to scope out the terrain before the meet. Just then, three dark Crown Victorias rolled around the corner and stopped just a few feet away. The cars were stereotypically government types, and she couldn’t ever remember a time when she was so relieved to be meeting with government suits.
Day didn’t move, but she could tell he was alert, ready for anything. She flicked him a glance, looking for something, perhaps reassurance. She jumped a little as his hand, warm and callused, covered hers. He slid his sunglasses down his nose a little to look at her, a nose she noticed had a slight bump in it, as though it had been broken at some point.
“It’s going to be fine. I promise,” he said soothingly. “You just go out there and hand the stuff over, then we can disappear until the furor dies down, okay?”
She blinked, caught by his eyes for a moment. Did he realize what he’d said, there? We. Was he staying with her despite what he’d said about walking away, or was this just a figure of speech, a platitude designed to calm her down enough to go out there and do what needed to be done?
She smiled back, her lips quirking in an unsteady curve, and looked out the windshield. They sat in a nondescript parking lot, like hundreds of others the state over. Dust from the desert rifted across the asphalt in lazy spirals until it mounted up in the corners by the curb. She took a deep breath and reached for the door handle.
As she opened her door, several men in dark suits got out of the cars and stood at the ready. Their apparent leader, a burly older man, threw away his cigarette and sauntered toward her. She was still nervous, more so because she wanted all this to end. But where was Chuck?
“Doctor Gavilan?”
She nodded in response as he took out a leather ID case and flashed his badge. “Special Agent Dan Morrow, FBI. I apologize for our delay, but your friend Doctor Harper was very insistent that I make sure you were safe, so I had to bring along my team. We’ve been making preparations for you. You’ll need to come with us.”
“Of course.” She nodded. “Where’s Doctor Harper, by the way?”
“I’m afraid that he was detained by a loose end he said he wanted to take care of before he saw you. He said for us to meet at the safe house when everything has been secured. We have to go Doctor. This isn’t a secure location and we don’t know if we’re being watched at this moment.” The agent gestured to their surroundings.