“Let’s get out of here,” she told Shamus.
Cassidy clawed at her, scraping razor-sharp claws down her arms, but Julia ignored the pain. Cassidy continued to growl and struggle against her grip, but Julia held tight. Whatever was happening inside the apartment must be a scary enough sight to cause Cassidy to exhibit such panic.
“There must be a fire,” Julia mumbled.
She felt Shamus try to grab Cassidy by the scruff of her neck with his teeth. “I got her, Shamus. Let’s go.” Remembering her cell phone, she grabbed it from the nightstand, unplugged it from the charger and slipped it into her pocket.
Shamus nudged her slippers onto her feet and led her down the hall. It was warmer here. The fire must be close. Maybe even inside her apartment. The window in the bedroom was too tall to crawl out of, so they had to keep moving.
Trying to remember her emergency training from blind school, Julia stayed low, crouched below a blanket of eye watering smoke.
The smoke was thicker toward the living room, but Julia trusted that Shamus would lead her away from the danger and not straight into it. He barked impatiently and Julia quickened her pace.
The air was hot. Her skin felt like it might singe in the heat, but she followed Shamus’s lead and put one foot in front of the other. Heat licked at her skin and she hurried forward.
As they made their way down the hallway, VINCE squawked from the living room. “The current temperature exceeds optimal performance.”
Julia cursed herself for letting her phone die last night. If it hadn’t been turned off and charging, VINCE would have alerted her through the device. But, because of how soundly she slept, she probably wouldn’t have heard it anyway.
When they turned the corner, the heat subsided substantially and Julia took her first full inhale and exhale of the last five minutes. Inside the bathroom, she let go of Shamus and felt for the toilet. There was a window directly above it and she fumbled with the lock. Shamus must have realized it would be just big enough for her to squeeze through.
With one arm, Julia held tight to Cassidy and with the other hand she worked on getting the window open. She pushed as hard as she could and finally got the window unlocked and up. Luckily, the screen popped out easily.
At the first sign of freedom, Cassidy growled and clawed Julia, slipping out of her hold.
“Cassidy!” Julia cried, but the cat had already jumped out the window and was gone.
Crap. Julia grabbed a fistful of her own hair and tugged. Cassidy was strictly an indoor cat and probably wouldn’t know the first thing about defending herself or surviving in the great outdoors. Julia hoped she hadn’t gone far and that she’d be able to find her once she was outside.
Shamus barked, reminding her that this wasn’t the time to worry about the fluffy deserter. She could feel the heat at her back and knew that Shamus was right. There wasn’t much time.
She crawled on top of the toilet seat and knelt on the tank. She could feel Shamus bump into her from behind, urging her on. Gripping the window ledge tight, she took a deep breath. She’d jumped out of an airplane on her birthday last year and had hiked to the top of August Falls the year before that. Climbing out of a one-story window in a burning building should be a piece of cake.
Swinging one leg out the window and then the other, she slowly lowered herself the few feet to the ground. When her feet touched the grass, she sighed in relief. Quickly, she stepped aside so Shamus could get out behind her. She heard his claws clatter on the porcelain, a grunt, and then another grunt along with a whimper, as he landed on the ground. He nudged her leg and she took hold of the scruff of his neck and he led her away from the building.
Just then a loud explosion rang out behind her.
* * *
“Funding was reallocated to a distribution program for merchandise distributors and we have decided to terminate the project.”
Gabe’s throat was too dry to speak. VINCE had been terminated before he could show them how amazing it could be.
It was over.
Just like that, Killingsworth had swatted VINCE away like it was a pesky fly trying to ruin his picnic. And then he had the nerve to sit like a lion in his big leather executive chair and eye Gabe like he was a lame gazelle.
Gabe opened his mouth to speak but then shut it again. The entire reason he’d come back to Chicago had just been terminated. He and Wesley had worked for years perfecting and developing the software. They had put their miniscule lives on hold and devoted too many hours to count on the project and Killingsworth had terminated it without even blinking an eye. There was no emotion on the older man’s face. No flicker of remorse or sympathy for shutting down Gabe’s pet project, his baby.
“Will I still be able to retain the rights to the program?” Something clicked inside Gabe’s brain and he was already thinking ahead. He would feel the anger later, he was sure of it. But for right now, he was in survival mode and there was still time to save VINCE.
Killingsworth curled his top lip. “That won’t be a problem. Intelliteck doesn’t wish to be…associated with the software. I’ll have Jane draw up the necessary paperwork for you.”
Gabe’s hands fisted at his sides. So, not only had Intelliteck stopped work on the program, they wanted to wash their hands of it altogether. At least they wouldn’t put up a fight when Gabe tried to claim what was rightfully his.
“We are moving forward with the CosteMart retrofit,” Killingsworth continued. “I’ll e-mail you and your team the specs.”
Gabe nodded. “I’ll get with Wesley about the details.” Why was he saying this? He didn’t want to get with Wesley about some meaningless CosteMart specs. He wanted to finalize the programming for VINCE.
“Great.” Killingsworth turned to his computer and Gabe was forgotten. “Close the door behind you, please.”
Gabe stood up, left Killingsworth’s office and shut the door behind him like the lackey he was. When he heard the soft click of the door, he forced himself to blink and draw in breath. That was it. It was all over. It had been so sudden that he hadn’t even been able to prepare a rebuttal. But even if he had, Killingsworth’s decision would have been the same. If Intelliteck couldn’t glean billions of dollars from a finished project, then they didn’t want anything to do with it. Whether or not it would actually help millions of people and regardless of the fact that they’d already funded thousands during development.
Back inside his office, Gabe sat and stared at the numbers on his screen until they blurred together. What the fuck had just happened? One minute he was changing people’s lives for the better and the next he was entering codes for a program to move conveyor belts more efficiently. Working on interface for shipping lanes and conveyor belts wasn’t where his heart was. This wasn’t what he was meant to be doing with his life and his skills. Hadn’t Julia told him something along those lines?
Gabe shoved the computer mouse away and scrubbed his hands over his face.
There was a team meeting scheduled in five minutes to go over the specifications for the new software. But he couldn’t focus on a new project. Especially one that required qualifications well below his pay grade. What about VINCE? What about helping Julia and thousands of others like her?
Gabe set everything into motion quickly. He didn’t think any of it through, but he didn’t really have to. He knew exactly what he had to do.
* * *
Outside, on the lawn that stretched across the back of the apartment complex, Julia sucked in a lungful of fresh air. She couldn’t see it, but behind her the entire apartment complex was engulfed in angry orange flames. The fact that she and her pets had managed to escape the inferno was a miracle in itself.
She called out for Cassidy, but there was no response. Julia could faintly hear the voices of her neighbors, but they must have been all the way around the front of the building.
As she walked beside Shamus to put some distance between them and the fire, she noticed that Shamus felt wobbly. Was
he limping?
When he allowed her to stop at the edge of the lawn, Julia bent down and felt for some sign of injury. He whimpered when her hands ran over his belly. Her fingers came away sticky. Was that blood?
“What happened, buddy?” Did he injure himself during his climb out the window? Had the fire been worse than she thought?
His answer was a whine. It was a different sound than she’d heard him make before.
Something was wrong. She needed help. Not for herself, but for poor Shamus. And where in the hell was Cassidy?
Fire truck sirens wailed in the distance, so she didn’t call 911 but called Kate instead. Fortunately, she had thought to grab her phone on the way out.
“Kate, there’s been a fire. I got out okay, but I think something’s wrong with Shamus.”
Kate sucked in a gasp. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Help was on the way.
* * *
Colby sounded surprised to hear from Gabe, especially since they’d just had lunch together a couple of weeks ago. To Gabe, it felt like a lifetime ago.
“Does your job offer still stand?” Gabe asked, bypassing the formalities.
“Of course. I like the work you’re doing, Gabe. I think a new division is just what MacDaddy Games needs.”
“Good. I’d like to take you up on your offer.”
Colby chuckled, pleased by Gabe’s enthusiasm. “Whatever you’re making at Intelliteck, add ten percent.”
Holy wow.
When the details were finalized and Gabe hung up the phone, he felt like his feet were filled with helium. Colby said he could start immediately. He would no longer have a steamroller like Bill Killingsworth looking over his shoulder, working the puppet strings.
Gabe wasn’t admitting or even accepting defeat. He was just relocating the battlefield.
Without saving, Gabe closed the files he’d been working on, or more like staring at, and hopped onto the internet to purchase a one-way airplane ticket to Red Valley. The flight left in three hours, which was more than enough time considering he didn’t have much to pack. All he had to do was clean up here and then box up a few things in his apartment to have shipped to California.
Wesley came into his office and leaned against the doorjamb. “What’s with all this CosteMart bullshit?”
Gabe looked over at him and grinned. “I quit.”
Wesley blinked. “The project? Yeah, we’d all like to. It’s boring as hell, but you’ve never quit on a project before.”
“Not the project,” Gabe clarified and began pulling stuff out of his desk. There wouldn’t be much to pack up here either. “Intelliteck.”
“What?”
The way Wesley’s jaw hung open made Gabe want to chuckle. How he could go from complete devastation to wanting to dance an Irish jig on his desk was mindboggling.
He shoved some VINCE notes into a box and straightened to look Wesley in the eye. “I’m heading to Killingsworth’s office right now. I’m going to tell him I quit and then I’m walking out. I’m going to Red Valley. My flight leaves in…” he checked his watch, “two hours and fifty-seven minutes.”
Wesley’s eyes grew wide. “When are you coming back?”
“I’m not.” Gabe waved the airline confirmation at Wesley. “I’m going to be with Julia and I’m taking a job at MacDaddy.”
“You can’t leave. What about VINCE?”
“I’m taking him with me. Colby is creating a new division. I’m taking VINCE and finishing it. I’m seeing this thing through to the end.”
“And what did Killingsworth say about that?”
“He already terminated the project.”
Wesley was dumbfounded. In the span of thirty seconds, he had just found out that the program he’d been working on—a project he actually believed in—had been scrapped and his best friend was quitting and moving thousands of miles away.
Wesley made his way to the chair across from Gabe’s desk and collapsed into it. “You can’t leave me here.”
Gabe tossed him his spare house key. “You can stay at my apartment. The rent is paid through the rest of the month.” Wesley lived with his parents and Gabe knew he’d appreciate the privacy.
Wesley looked down at the key and frowned. “Thanks, but that’s not what I want. I want to go with you.”
Gabe shrugged. “Suit yourself. Colby told me I could put together my own team, but you’d have to move to Red Valley.”
“Sweet. I’m in.”
“You sure?”
“Hells yeah. I only stuck around at this morgue because of you. My mom drives me nuts and—” He waved his hand and shook his head. “Forget it. It doesn’t matter.”
Gabe looked down at the box in his hands. Funny, after six years he thought he’d have a bit more to take away from Intelliteck than a box full of files and a “Hang in There” coffee mug. Then again, he had VINCE and that was worth more than gold. The only thing he needed was the dream of completing it and a girl to come home to.
Wesley sprung up out of the chair like he’d been energized with a power-up from a video game. “I’ll go get my stuff.”
A few minutes later he met Gabe in the hall with two garbage bags full of action figures and as many office supplies as he could make off with. He didn’t know how much Post-its were worth on the black market, but he didn’t care. Killingsworth could suck it. He’d spent way too long wasting his talents at this dead-end job anyway.
Wesley beamed at Gabe and hefted one of the bags over his shoulder like Santa Claus. “This is like real-life Jerry Maguire.”
Gabe grinned. For a guy who loved his life through the computer and video games, the guy had a tendency to exaggerate. “Ready?” he asked.
Wesley nodded. “Ready.”
With his box of belongings tucked under his arm, Gabe stopped by Mr. Killingsworth’s office on his way out. Just as promised, the papers claiming ownership of the software were signed and waiting for him.
“I’m sorry, but he’s on a private conference call,” his assistant Jane curtly informed them.
Right. He was probably discussing imperative conveyor belt strategies.
Gabe nodded and strode past her desk with Wesley behind him, scurrying to keep up. He walked right into Killingsworth’s office and stuck his head in the door. “I just wanted to let you know that I…well, I quit.”
“Me, too,” Wesley added, puffing his scrawny chest out.
With that, Gabe turned on his heel and strode toward the exit. The look on Killingsworth’s face was priceless and they laughed about it all the way out the building.
Actually, Gabe thought with a grin, this did feel like a scene from a movie. This was his life and he was grabbing the wheel. He was making the move to California with his eyes wide open.
Hang on Julia. Red Valley here I come.
Gabe stepped from the building and into the windy Chicago air. It was the first time he’d felt like he was breathing in fresh air in a long, long time.
He thought about calling Julia and sharing the news, but when he called she didn’t answer. It was just as well. How often could he pull off a surprise of this magnitude anyway? He’d much rather surprise her in person.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Unconditional Love
Kate wasn’t prepared for the scene she was met with upon arriving at the East Oak Apartments. Several fire trucks lined the streets, their long hoses extended, and paramedics were loading a woman into an ambulance. It was absolute chaos and Julia was stuck in the middle of it all, unable to see any of it.
Kate ran through the crowd, searching every face for a familiar one. Even knowing that her sister had already escaped from the building did nothing to help unclench the figure-eight knot inside her stomach. The fire looked like a living entity, its orange flames greedy and angry.
Not until she spotted Julia on the back lawn did Kate exhale a sigh of relief. “Are you all right?” she asked, rushing up to her and Shamus.
Julia�
�s face and clothes were smudged with soot and the fabric at the ankles of her baggy pajama pants looked like they had been singed by fire. Kate swallowed down bile and checked Julia for injuries.
Julia waved off the concern for herself. “I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s Shamus I’m worried about.”
Kate looked down. Shamus was standing beside Julia, just like he always was, but his legs were straining to hold his big body up and it looked like he was grimacing.
Julia’s lip trembled. “I think he’s hurt, but I can’t…”
Kate knelt down in front of the dog who had been a part of her family for the past eight years. She swallowed back the tears that bit at her throat and squeezed her eyes shut. “We need to get him to the hospital.”
“What’s wrong?”
Kate grasped Julia’s elbow. “Come on.”
In the car, Kate calmly told Julia about Shamus’s injuries. She’d loaded the poor dog into the seat as gently as she could. She’d taken off the cardigan she was wearing and covered him with it because he was shaking. He was probably in shock from losing so much blood.
Blood.
Kate swallowed. Oh god, how could she have let this happen. She should never have let Julia live on her own, no matter how much she insisted she could handle the independence.
Rather than wait for the paramedics to take a look at him—they already had their hands full with the residents—Kate had called the Red Valley Animal Clinic on the way to her car. Thankfully, they had a 24-hour emergency line.
“How bad is it, Katie?” Julia already knew the answer from the way Kate’s voice had wobbled earlier, but she needed to hear the words. “Tell me.”
“I don’t know. He’s badly burned, JuJu.” Kate pressed her foot down harder on the accelerator. She couldn’t afford to slow down. If a cop tried to pull her over for speeding then they’d just have to follow her all the way to the clinic. A police escort would probably be a good idea right about now.
Blind Ice (Razors Ice Book 5) Page 20
