She squeaked.

  "Quiet," I said.

  Her eyes dashed to the rearview mirror. It was dark in the back of the car but I could see the terror in her eyes easily enough, huge and tearful.

  "I am not going to hurt you as long as you tell me what I need to know. Are we clear?"

  She blinked at me, confusion clouding the terror in her gaze.

  "I need to know about the drugs you're making in there," I said. "I need to know where you keep the records."

  "The records?" she said.

  "Yes, the records, the information on what you're making."

  She didn't answer so I pushed the knife against her neck a little harder, biting into the flesh below her ear. She squeezed her eyes shut. "You know what I'm talking about," I said.

  She didn't respond. Braver than I thought. "Listen, if you don't give me the information I need I'll kill you because you will be useless to me. Do you understand?" She just blinked. "Nod if you understand. Oh right, sorry, I forgot. You can't nod."

  She blinked again. "I'm going to take that as a yes, that you understand your situation. That I will kill you. However, I'm willing to bargain for your life. I'm willing to let you live as long as you tell me what I need to know. Do you understand me?"

  She took a shuddering breath through her mouth. "On Professor Nablestone's computer, in his safe."

  "Where is the safe?"

  "In his office."

  "What is the code?"

  "I don't know. He's in there right now, why don't you go ask him?" She had spunk. And I kinda liked it.

  "Get undressed," I told her.

  #

  I left her taped up in the reeds by her car with Blue watching over her. "If you try to escape, he'll rip your face off," I told her. "If I get caught and he either sees me leave or I'm not back within the hour, he'll rip your face off. Do you understand?" She nodded, the skin around her cheeks bulging against the silver duct tape. "Do you have anything else you need to tell me?" I asked. She shook her head no.

  Her skirt suit almost fit me, though it was a bit baggy. However, my utility belt helped hold it up. With the lab coat over my shoulder holster and buttoned to cover the belt buckle, my face blocked by a baseball cap I found in her car I could pass on CCTV cameras. Hopefully, the blonde, whose name I'd learned was Julia, had told me the truth. Inside were two security guards and five other medical researchers. Hopefully I wouldn't run into any of them. For them, not me.

  I walked over to the front door and swiped her keycard against the entrance. It opened with a click and beep. The light was on in the small waiting room I'd seen earlier. Passing through to the next door I swiped the key card again and entered into a hallway with linoleum floors and fluorescent lights running the length of it. I only passed one door on my way to the elevator and it stayed solidly closed as I pushed the up button.

  There was a thump from a door down the hall and I turned toward it, my heart rate climbing as adrenaline fueled my system. The banging came again and I saw one of the doors rattle in its frame. As the elevator doors opened I stood back, the brim of my hat covering most of my face. I watched the ground, waiting to see feet. But it was empty. Another thump down the hall and I stepped quickly into the elevator, pressing the button for the second floor, keeping my gaze down. Feeling the lens of the CCTV camera on the back of my neck.

  According to Julia, Professor Nablestone's office was the second door on the left when I got out. The door was fake wood and a small plaque next to it identified the occupant. Unbuttoning the lab coat, I pulled out the gun, holding it lightly in my left hand. Reaching out with my right, I tried the knob, and it opened right up.

  The room was large and square with sliding glass doors that opened onto a wooden deck. As I walked in lightning flashed behind the dark clouds that filled the sky. The grasses and low trees stretching across the land looked like a bulging carpet of blackness. The shallow waters weaving through them shone bright silver for just a second before disappearing into darkness again. Professor Nablestone was sitting at his desk, a lamp illuminating his work area. He looked up from his keyboard and seeing me in the doorway, started. "Keep your hands where I can see them," I said as I closed the door behind me with my foot.

  He held them up. "How can I help you?" he asked.

  "Open your safe."

  "What safe?"

  I smiled. "Let's not play games. Open the safe."

  "Or you'll shoot me?"

  He didn't look afraid. I had a feeling this wasn't the first time he'd had a gun aimed at his head before. "Yes," I said. "I thought the threat was implied."

  "You'd never make it out of here."

  "Why would you care? You'll be dead."

  He laughed.

  I walked toward him and grabbing him by the collar, hauled him out of his seat and toward the closet. He followed me, his hands still up. I dropped him on the ground and opened the closet door. Pointing to the safe in the wall I demanded that he open it.

  He smiled and, pushing off the floor, stood. I held my gun on him as he maneuvered into the small space. Nablestone opened the safe and began to reach into it. I saw him hesitate, a twitch in his shoulder. Quicker than average but not quick enough to catch me, he turned, extending his fingers, and with a puff of air from between pursed lips, blew white powder into my face. I knocked his hand down, grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss. I felt him take a sharp intake of breath as our lips pressed together, his dry and open just a hair, mine moist and firmly closed. When I pulled away his eyes were glassy. I wiped my lips with the back of my hand. "I was hoping you might try something like that," I said. He didn't respond.

  "Get me the laptop, I want all your research notes, every little dirty secret."

  He turned around and reaching into the safe pulled out a laptop encased in what looked like military-grade protection. I took it from him. "What else should I take?" He shook his head, standing aside to show me the empty safe. "How long until that stuff wears off you?"

  "About ten minutes," he answered.

  "That quick?"

  "Yes."

  "Do you have more?"

  "Yes."

  "Different kinds?"

  He smiled. "So many different uses."

  "Are they here?"

  "Yes, downstairs."

  I thought about making him take me down there and give them to me but figured I had enough. No reason to be reckless.

  "Escort me out," I said. "If anyone tries to stop us, you tell them I'm okay. Do whatever you have to in order for me to make it out safe."

  "Yes," he said.

  We left the office, Professor Nablestone walking beside me down the hall. Waiting for the elevator I asked him. "Did you kill Lawrence Taggert?"

  "No," he said.

  "Did you make Hugh Defry do it?"

  "Yes," he said, a smile drifting across his face. "It was perfect."

  The elevator doors opened and the man who'd refused me a ride earlier was standing there. "Evening," he said, and began to step out of the elevator. Professor Nablestone walked in but as I passed the guard he looked at me more closely. "Hey," he said, and grabbed my arm. The elevator door dinged and began to close but Professor Nablestone held it open. "It's okay, Gravy, she's with me. We're leaving."

  He glared at me and then looked over at Professor Nablestone. "Who is this, sir?"

  He looked over at me. "I don't know," he answered. "But she knows about Taggert."

  "Taggert? Sir?"

  I pulled my arm free. "Yes, Taggert. Clearly above your clearance."

  The door began to close again but this time it was Gravy who stopped it. "Let us go," Professor Nablestone said.

  "I'll escort you out, Sir."

  "That's not necessary," I said, but he got into the elevator and pushed the door close button.

  "No problem," he said. "How's your car?"

  I didn't answer him. Professor Nablestone stared at the doors and when they opened he walked out first. "Thanks for loaning me your car," I said to him. He looked over at me, his expression blank. "Give me your keys," I said.

  Gravy walked with us down the hall and watched with suspicion as his boss handed over the keys to the Jaguar. I went to open the door to the waiting room but it was locked. Swiping the key card across the pad released it but Gravy grabbed my arm as I pushed through. He snatched the key card out of my hand and stared down at it, reading the name across the top. I twisted my body, bent my knees, and rammed my palm into the bridge of his nose, hard enough to break it but not enough to kill him.

  His head flew back, blood spewing up toward the ceiling. I snatched back the key card and pushed through to the waiting room, swiped the card, and broke through to the outside. The air was moist and it was dark. A strong wind blew from the west bringing the smell of storm with it.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Racing in Reeds

  I ran across the lot to Professor Nablestone's car and unlocked it. The orange of the parking lights flashed across the dark landscape. Jumping into the driver's seat I threw the laptop into the passenger seat well. Backing out I saw, in the red glow of my reverse lights, that the building door was still closed. Switching into drive I passed the other cars, stopping at Julia's Volvo. My headlights caught her figure, wrists and ankles bound, wearing my black leggings and camouflage top, her blonde hair peeking from under the hood, duct tape stretched from cheek to cheek. Blue stood by her side, hackles raised, teeth bared, pupils reflecting red in the harsh headlights.

  I leaned across the passenger seat and opened the door. Blue saw me and, lowering his ears and tail, leapt into the seat. I pulled the door shut and, looking up, saw Gravy standing in the doorway, a walkie talkie in his hand. I started down the driveway toward the highway with the headlights off, hearing the crunch of the shells beneath the tires. Seeing the twinkle of lights ahead, I braked.

  "All right, Blue," I said. "We're going in."

  I opened my door and motioned for him to jump over me. He leapt, his fur coat brushing against my nose. The lights I'd seen were now two clear headlights, coming quickly our way. I reached into the well of the passenger seat and grabbed the handle of the laptop case. Staying low I took my foot off the brake and twisted out of the car, joining Blue in the reeds.

  As we inched into the thick growth my feet sank deeper beneath the water. The grasses scratched against the lab coat and tickled my cheeks. The sounds of nocturnal creatures were louder in the brush. Lightning flashed and the pitter patter of rain began. Blue followed me closely, his nose brushing the back of my calf, reassuring me of his presence, and himself of mine.

  As we came out to a canal, I heard a car engine stop on the road behind us. "She must have gone into the swamp," I heard one man say. I motioned for Blue to go into the canal first. He stepped forward and sank into the black water, his legs pumping and tail swinging back and forth. He crossed the canal and climbed into a hammock of apple trees. I stood on the bank, not wanting to go further into the dark water, not knowing how deep it was or what was down there.

  The sound of another engine and men's voices urged me on. I stepped forward. holding the laptop above my head and preparing to tread water, but my sneakers touched the bottom when I was submerged up to my chest. The water was warm and I could feel grasses gliding against my bare calves, slithering under my skirt and around my knees. I held my breath as I waded across the canal. Blue growled and I froze, following his gaze.

  Small beady eyes rested on top of the water, the hint of a tail close behind. A juvenile alligator. It watched me from ten feet away. I let my breath out slowly, staring at it, waiting for it to make its move. But it just watched me until the sound of men's voices grew louder, then without even the whisper of a splash it ducked beneath the surface.

  I lunged for the hammock where Blue crouched. Pushing the laptop up between two trunks, I grabbed at the exposed roots and pulled myself up onto the dry bed of decaying leaves. I picked up the laptop and then followed Blue through the tangle of trunks. Pulling off the lab coat and dragging myself between the narrow spaces, pushing the laptop ahead of me, I didn't feel the rain anymore. But when I turned back to look at the water it was dappled with rings of disturbance.

  I heard the engine of an airboat start. It sounded far away. Blue and I pulled deeper into the hammock, gathering the darkness around us. The air was wet and heavy, smelling of bark and dirt. The airboat got closer and I gripped a tree trunk watching. Was it the professor and his minions or some fishermen like the ones I'd met earlier? The airboat’s engine slowed as it approached and I pulled my knife out, holding it loosely in my hand, ready to use it and the forbidding terrain to my advantage.

  The engine stopped entirely and I saw the fan boat drift into view. Laughter rose above the sound of the rain and I took a chance, stepping forward to get a better view. I recognized Carl and his tobacco-chewing friend. A flashlight beam cut through the grasses. I slunk back into the trees.

  The two fisherman turned to look at the approaching light. It danced through the reeds and then stopped, centering on the fishermen.

  "What are you doing here?" a voice asked.

  "I'd ask you the same thing," Carl said. "You wandering around in the reeds?" He was holding his hand up to block the light from his eyes.

  "Did you see a woman wearing a white lab coat?"

  Both men laughed. "Yeah," Carl said, his voice breathless. "And she was walking an alligator." This brought on a new wave of laughter.

  I heard another airboat engine start up in the distance. The light jerked off the men and into the stand of trees, barely penetrating past the first row of trunks. "How long have you been here?" the man with the flashlight asked.

  "Just arrived," Carl answered. "We would have got here sooner if we'd known there was a lab-coated woman on the loose." They started laughing again and I wondered if perhaps there was a bit of drinking going along with their fishing.

  "The woman is dangerous. Do not approach her."

  Their laughter faltered. "Hey, now, what's going on?" Carl asked.

  "Perhaps you two should head in for the night. Looks like a storm is coming."

  The flashlight turned back into the grasses and I watched its glow as it headed toward the driveway.

  "Well, what do you think of that?" Carl's friend asked.

  "Think it has anything to do with that lady we saw?" Carl answered as I worked my way back to the canal.

  "She wasn't wearing a lab coat," his friend pointed out as I stepped up to the water's edge.

  "But ain't it awful weird?"

  "Hey," I whispered.

  Neither of the men turned. Carl was doing something with a fishing rod and the other man was sipping from a small silver decanter that the rain pinged off of as he raised it to his mouth. "I guess you're right," the friend agreed.

  "Think she was dangerous?" Carl asked, looking up from his hook.

  The other man gestured with his canteen toward the reeds. "I'd say that guy was dangerous."

  "Excuse me," I said louder.

  They both turned. I waved. They squinted against the darkness. "Hi," I said. "Can you give me a lift?"

  Carl dropped the rod he was working on and it fell to the boat’s floor with a rattle. The other man froze, the silver decanter paused just before his lips.

  I came out of the grove further and with a wide step alighted onto their boat. Blue followed closely behind me. They both continued to stare. "Please take me back to the launch."

  The steady whine of approaching airboats hummed in the air. "We better go," I said.

  Lightning flashed across the sky and thunder sounded quickly after. A gust of wind whipped down the canal, rustling the leaves of the apple trees into a blur. A giant, white spotlight lit up the canal behind us, cutting through the protective darkness. "Boys, we need to go now," I said.

  "Now wait here a minute," Carl said. "We don't want any trouble."

  "You've already got it. Now you need to start up that engine or the people on that boat will probably kill you, and if they keep you alive they'll probably frame you for my murder so," I made a pushing motion with my hands, "let's go."

  The other airboat was slowly going down the canal, its spotlight scanning the grasses on the one side and then the apple trees on the other. Carl opened his mouth to speak again but the other man, the one whose name I still didn't know, interrupted. "I think we better go," he said, his eyes watching the purposeful scanning of the approaching light. Carl bent down and secured his fishing rod to the hull.

  "Now," I said, urgency in my voice.

  "I'm going, I’m going," Carl said, jumping into his seat. I sat on one of the free chairs and clutched the laptop case and lab coat across my lap. Blue hunkered down at my feet, pressing his back against my legs. The fan whirled to life and the boat smoothly glided forward. Carl kept at an easy pace, continuing down the canal, away from the searching light until the hammock of apple trees ended.

  Lightning crackled as we entered a field that existed both above and below water. Grasses, some tall, others low, still more beneath the water, shifted with the wind, whipping back and forth. The surface of the water blurring with each gust. My hair, wet from the rain, clung to my face and wrapped itself around my neck.

  As we raced across the grasses, barreling through the tall and skimming over the short, I blinked against the rain drops. Another airboat mounted with a spotlight shot out from behind a hammock of apple trees and flew across the water toward us. I looked back at Carl. His jaw tensed before hurling a loogie overboard, the wind taking it the moment it left his mouth.

 

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