Part 34 (1/2)

”And?” The feeling of alarm rose through her like brackish water. ”Does Slick destabilize ordinary plastics?”

”Yes. And when Slick comes in contact with oxygen, the plastics become volatile. Slick encourages even the most innocuous substances, in the right circ.u.mstances, to explode.”

”The hospital will still have his backpack. I'll call.”

In the distance, creeping toward them, came a set of headlights. Jo and Shepard backed against one of the heavy wooden gateposts. The headlights curved along the road. They could hear a quiet motor and the hum of tires on asphalt. Gradually the headlights turned from fuzz to scalpel sharpness.

Through the fog Jo saw a high-profile vehicle pull to the curb and stop. After a few seconds the headlights boomed to high beams.

Shepard exhaled and stepped out from behind the gatepost. ”We're good. That's her.”

”Her? Your right-hand man?”

”Metaphorically. She's my head of finance. Riva Calder.”

Jo put a hand on his arm. ”Hold on. Calder?”

”Riva knows Ian. She can help us find him. Hopefully before he causes a disaster.”

”I met one of your employees today who has only bad things to say about Riva Calder-Ruth Fischer.”

His face soured. ”Ruth Fischer has been fired. Did she critique your moral fiber by a.n.a.lyzing the color of your aura? She's an unreliable judge of character. Forget whatever she told you.”

Jo tried to gauge his face in the fog. She saw annoyance and real worry.

”Riva's the go-to gal in the company,” he said. ”She knows everything and everybody. She'll access Ian's files and records, his contacts, everyplace he's traveled for Chira-Sayf. She can pinpoint where he's hiding. And she'll help keep us away from places and people he's likely to be following.”

”And Ian won't have included Calder in his list of people to follow? He won't be after her?”

”No.”

He said it so imperatively, with a derisive snort, that Jo wondered what lay behind his vehemence. He put a hand against Jo's back and strode with her toward the SUV.

The driver's door opened and a woman got out. ”Alec.”

Shepard waved. ”She's also an old friend of Misty's. She's like family.”

Calder walked around the front of the SUV, shrouded in the fog. Gradually she turned from a silhouette to a three-dimensional woman. Jo halted. The vehicle was a Chevy Tahoe. She saw the woman's chunky boots and white coat. She saw the dried blood on her face.

Shepard sped up. ”Riva. My G.o.d, what happened to you?”

Jo saw the wild heat in the woman's eyes. She saw the red imprint of a steam iron on the woman's forehead.

She shouted at Shepard. ”Alec-no!”

The back doors of the Tahoe opened and two men jumped out.

”Run,” Jo said.

The men sprinted toward them. Jo broke for the bushes. She got ten feet before Calder threw the steam iron at her, holding on to the end of the cord like she was swinging a battle mace. It hit Jo in the back of the knee. Her leg buckled and she sprawled to the dirt.

Shepard said, ”What the h.e.l.l?”

Calder dropped onto Jo's back like a hyena. ”Not so much fun when you're the one on the receiving end, is it?”

* 28 *

Radio mike in his hand, Officer Frank Liu listened to the dispatcher as she relayed more information about the red Navigator parked by the curb ahead of his patrol car.

”There's a warrant for the arrest of Ian Kanan,” she said. ”He's a suspect in the murder at the marina this morning. He's presumed to be armed and dangerous. Approach with extreme caution.”

Liu scanned the street. The Navigator was empty. Kanan might have dumped it or might still be in the vicinity.

”Officer requests backup,” he said. ”I'm going to patrol the street on foot.”

He put the mike down and got out.

Jo kicked, struggling to knock Calder off her back. Calder pressed a hand to Jo's neck and pushed her into the dirt. Jo tried to scream but could only cough.

Shepard cried, ”Riva, what's going on?”

”Shut up, Alec,” Calder said.

He approached. ”This is Dr. Beckett. She's-”

”I know who the h.e.l.l she is.” Calder pointed at her own face. ”She did this to me.”

Shepard frowned. ”She...”

Don't say it, Jo thought. Just get it. Get it fast, and help me.

Calder turned to the men. ”Get her up.”

She climbed off Jo's back and the men wrestled Jo to her feet. Jo's ribs and knee throbbed, but she knew she could run. She had to go and take Shepard with her, into the trees and fog. She shook her hair out of her eyes and got a good look at the men who were holding her.

They didn't look like they'd been hired for their grasp of theoretical physics.

One had a shaved head and the well-packed physique of a kielbasa sausage. How the gold chain stayed around his head she didn't know, because his shoulders sloped and he had no neck. His eyes were the temperature of coals on a barbecue grill. The second man was as slight as a whip of licorice but had a grip like a pair of garden shears. He was bug-eyed and jumpy. Jo wondered if he had a thyroid condition. Or a methamphetamine condition. He had dressed for a desperate attempt to impress Snoop Dogg. A blue bandanna hung from the back pocket of his saggy jeans.

They were the men who had broken into her house.

Calder stepped up, sneering, and slapped Jo in the face. Her cheek stung like wild. The kielbasa's lips retracted with a wet sound and his gums gleamed in the headlights.

Shepard gasped. ”Riva, what are you doing?”