by Jade Powers
“Shall we take the next step?” Lucas asked. It was a hard question. He hesitated to ask for several minutes, fear nearly stopping him.
“What’s the next step?” Lauren asked.
Lucas was silent for a long time, longer than was probably smart. He said, “Someday I want kids. Sometime I want marriage and a family. I want it with you. Is this something you want, too?”
“Not yet, but yes.” Lauren said.
“With me?” Lucas pushed.
“Yes. I can see a future with you,” Lauren admitted.
“So, do you want to get married or move in together as a test run?” Lucas asked. He was frankly terrified of marriage. The idea of having a wife to protect sounded like a huge responsibility, but for Lauren he would climb Mount Everest.
“Let’s move in together, and when you’re feeling like it’s working out, ask me to marry you.” Lauren said.
“Deal. Where do you want to live? My lease isn’t up for six months.”
“I signed a one year lease two months ago. Wanna move in with me in six months and we’ll go from there?”
“Sounds great.”
That night was a perfect meeting of mind, heart, and body. They fell asleep entwined with one another, their hearts beating together in unison.
Chapter 12
LAUREN’S PERPETUAL grin stopped when she parked her car at the parking lot and walked to SpaceTech the following Monday. Composing herself to greet the day, Lauren allowed her face to go blank, to take on that lonely pained persona of a single person who had recently lost her boyfriend.
Acting had never been one of Lauren’s strengths, but she wasn’t going to give Kendall a reason to go after Lucas. She scanned in and settled into her work. The neuro-robotics puzzle gave her mind a great challenge, and she enjoyed that aspect of her work, but Lauren realized that Vice President Kendall had killed her love of the study.
As if he read her thoughts, Kendall pushed into the lab. He turned to Stephanie and said, “Can give us a minute?”
Stephanie left the room, and Lauren felt as if someone thrust a cold fist in her stomach. She hated Kendall at that moment, because his fierce scowl told her that he knew. And she wasn’t prepared to leave Lucas behind. She just had to last until the FBI jailed Kendall.
“You thought I wouldn’t find out?” Kendall asked. He leaned against the counter, his arms crossed and his anger radiating.
“I love him.” Lauren said.
Kendall’s eyes rolled to the ceiling and he shook his head, “You went back to Lucas. Well, that explains it. I thought you were smart.”
Lauren shrugged, “At some things I’m a genius. At others, just an ordinary girl.”
“I don’t know if it was you, your boy-toy, or Drake who sicced the FBI on my ass, but my contacts go a lot deeper and are a lot stronger than you ever dreamed, so I’ll tell you now. You crossed the wrong person.” Kendall strode out of the room, flinging the door open.
Lauren sighed in relief. Apparently Kendall was all bark and no bite.
He paused with the door open and over his shoulder said, “Call your buddy. Ask after Tom. Also, you might get a copy of The Miami Times in the morning. It will be of particular interest to you. Oh, and you’re fired. Security will see you out.”
The moment the door closed, Lauren opened her mouth in confusion. Fired? After all those threats. To hell with SpaceTech. She quickly gathered her materials in the lab. Lauren hadn’t held back until Kendall’s first betrayal. At that point she allowed her focus to slip, allowed herself to fail. He must have known she wasn’t working at one hundred percent efficiency. She started to leave, but a burly man blocked the door.
He pointed to the box in her arms. “You can take your purse, but that stays here.”
“I came up with these designs. They’re mine.”
“They belong to SpaceTech. Leave them.”
Technically he was right. Lauren felt some sense of pride, and SpaceTech was stomping it flat. Lauren dropped the box on the floor, a bit dismayed when it landed flat instead of tumbling into a mess.
Lauren pushed past the guard, “Fine.”
“Your badge?”
Lauren tugged the badge from the clip on the lanyard and dropped it into the guards waiting hands. “That guy is a psycho. Hope you figure it out before he does something to you or your family.”
“I’ll take you to Human Resources.”
With a handful of paperwork, Lauren was free again. She couldn’t get out of the building fast enough. Now that she was a pariah to Kendall, her shoulders itched with the feeling that at any minute, one of his goons would grab or shoot her. Either way, Lauren didn’t feel at all safe.
Her hands shook as she started the car, and she looked around the parking lot twice. No one pursued her. Her nerves were on edge as she drove home. Fumbling with the keys, Lauren pushed the door open. Kendall said to call her buddy, so Lauren did exactly that. She dialed Sven’s number.
A woman answered, “Minka here.”
“This is Lauren. I used to work for the AIT Spokane branch. Is Sven available?” Lauren felt her heart in her throat. She couldn’t bear the thought that Tom was dead. It was her fault. She should have done what Kendall said. It was the ongoing circle of thoughts that had been going through her head ever since she found out. But he didn’t even know she was with Lucas at the time. He said, ‘that explains it’. Kendall attacked Tom because someone went to the FBI...it could have been anyone, so Lauren wasn’t the cause of Kendall’s actions. She still felt responsible.
“Sven isn’t here. There was an emergency. He’s at the hospital in Spokane.” Minka said.
“Is he okay? It’s Tom, not Sven, right?” Lauren’s guess was less than a guess. She knew.
“Yeah. He was beaten Saturday night. Two days after Thanksgiving. His wife, too. She’ll be okay. Tom might not make it.”
“Can you tell Sven I called? Tell him that someone reported Kendall to the FBI. Kendall did this to Tom in response. He said we’d never connect it to him, but he admitted to me that he was behind it. And he has friends in the FBI, so we can’t report him through proper channels.”
“What about you? Are you in danger?” Minka asked. She sounded tired.
“Maybe, but I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me. Keep yourself and Sven safe.” Lauren wasn’t into a new friendship-bonding moment. She was strong, tough. She didn’t need Drake or Sven protecting her, especially when the danger seemed to be focused on Tom and his family.
Lauren quickly extricated herself from the call and hung up. She tried Lucas. He wasn’t there. He was probably still at work. Now that they were together, Lauren had his work phone. She couldn’t make it a habit, but this single time, Lauren figured it would be okay to call.
The receptionist answered.
Lauren said, “Is Lucas there?”
“No, and he didn’t call in either. If you hear from him, can you let us know? The office is worried.”
“Okay, I will. Thanks.”
Lauren hung up the phone. Damn it. What bad timing. She tried Lucas’ home number again, but no one answered. Unwilling to wait, Lauren grabbed her keys and drove over to his apartment. She pounded on the door long enough to wake Tutankhamen in his burial shroud.
When Lucas didn’t answer, Lauren started to worry. She checked the parking lot, searching for his car. It definitely wasn’t at his apartment, and she’d already checked her own. Lauren drove to his work. His car wasn’t there, either. So where was he?
Lucas liked to stop at Duncan doughnuts for coffee in the morning before work. It was a stretch, but Lauren drove by the one that they visited sometimes on lazy Saturday mornings. His Saturn was parked across the lot. After what Lucas went through to get his car back after the Hiram fiasco, she knew he wouldn’t just leave it parked at a donut shop. Lauren pulled into the next parking space over.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was around four in the afternoon. With a sigh, Lauren walked into Dun
can Doughnuts. If Kendall’s goons grabbed Lucas, there was little chance that he was alive. Lauren couldn’t bear the thought, so she stepped into the doughnut shop intent on tracking them down before they hurt him.
Lauren stepped up to the counter and ordered a honey-glazed chocolate doughnut and coffee. Then she said, “Did anything unusual happen today? My friend’s car is out in the lot, and I’ve been looking for him.”
“Yeah, I remember you. You used to come in with him last month. He was here. It was quite the to-do. The police came in not ten minutes after he settled down to drink his coffee and arrested him.” The woman leaned forward, her eyes wide and her face flushed. Lauren thought the woman had probably told every customer who wandered in the story.
“Arrested for what?” Lauren asked.
The woman shrugged, “I don’t know. They read him his rights and took him away in the police car. He didn’t struggle or anything.”
“Thanks. Can you make sure the car doesn’t get towed? Maybe keep it a few days?” Lauren asked. It was rather practical, but Lauren thoughts tended toward practical, even with Lucas in potential danger. Maybe real police officers arrested him. Lucas did have a tendency to stray on matters of legality. Maybe he got busted for breaking in somewhere. Lauren found herself hoping that Lucas had been arrested by real cops. The alternative was too dark to contemplate.
The cashier said, “We can do that. At least he parked in one of the distant spaces. I can give you three days. After that, I’ll have to call a tow truck. My boss will start noticing. He’s out on vacation this week.”
Lauren returned home with a sense of unsettled dread. She had just gone to war with one of the most powerful men in the United States. She climbed the stairs feeling uneasy. Every shadow made her jump. Every movement or noise made her do a double-take. She looked over her shoulder, peered behind bushes, just to make sure she wasn’t being followed.
Locking the door behind her, Lauren grabbed the phone. Twenty minutes later she knew that Lucas had been arrested for allegedly making a bomb threat. Lauren knew that it was a bogus charge. She wondered if Kendall had the connections to set Lucas up.
With the stress of the day behind her, Lauren poured a bubble bath and soaked until the water turned tepid. She didn’t feel like playing a computer game or watching television. Another job lost. At least Kendall didn’t have enough cause to actually fire her. She could collect unemployment.
Picking up a Mary Higgins Clark thriller, Lauren settled into her arm chair. Just at the good part, who was she kidding—they were all good parts, the phone rang. It was Sven. Tom was still in critical condition. His son, Bryce, was flying out from the Miami International Airport. Sven asked if Lauren could pick him up at the campus.
That was why at four in the morning, Lauren found herself turning into the campus parking lot. With a carry-on slugged over his arm and dragging a rolling suitcase, Bryce and a woman Lauren had never met came out of the apartments.
“Lauren, this is Gail. Gail, this is Lauren. Lauren used to work with my Dad,” Bryce said.
They exchanged a few pleasantries, and then he climbed into the car to go. Gail went back into the building.
As they pulled out of the campus parking lot, Bryce said, “Sven wouldn’t tell me who did this to my dad. But I’m fairly sure he knows. Do you?”
Lauren turned into traffic, purposely focusing to buy time to answer. Finally her own ethical compass won out over Sven’s caution, and she said, “Kendall, the Vice President of SpaceTech, threatened me. He as much as admitted to getting your dad beat up, and then he told me to check The Miami Times this morning. I think he’s the reason my boyfriend was arrested. He’s a sleaze and untouchable.”
“It doesn’t make any sense. Why my dad? Dad didn’t even know Kendall,” Bryce said. He sat with his hands clenched, his gaze fixed through the window at some point in the distance, past the palm trees and the freeway.
Lauren agreed. It didn’t make sense. But there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. She said, “The guy is a total psycho. I don’t know what purpose it served going after your dad instead of Lucas or someone else, but I know his reason was because of a tip to the FBI that resulted in nothing.” Lauren edged up on the gas. The freeway was busy and moving quickly.
“I’m going to kill him.” Bryce was very calm, very reasonable as he spoke. He meant what he said.
The worst was that Lauren didn’t want to talk him out of it. She said, “You know, I try to tell myself that society is set up to take care of people like this. My rational mind thinks that you should see your dad, care for him until he’s well, return to school and forget all about Kendall. But honestly, when you said that, my emotional self cheered you on.”
“I feel the same way. I know it’s wrong to kill, but someone has to take him down. And if the FBI won’t, how can anyone else?” Bryce asked.
Lauren pressed her lips together and nodded, “I agree but think about the consequences. He’s a powerful man. If you get caught, at best you’ll be in jail for life. At worst, you’ll be dead. If you don’t get caught, you’ll have to live with guilt for the rest of your life, always looking over your shoulder.”
She was relieved to see the sign for the airport. Lauren hadn’t spent last evening preparing a talk on the perils of committing murder. It was way too early in the morning to be having rational discussions about the pros and cons of murder.
Bryce asked, “You know it’s Kendall? One hundred percent?”
He searched her face with his eyes, as if to pry the truth out of her. Lauren sighed. She said, “He told me to ‘Call my buddy and ask about Tom’.” That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the instigator. Maybe it was a random attack, and he used it to advantage. But he sure as hell used it against me.”
“What do you think?” Bryce kept pushing. Lauren knew he needed guidance. In the mood she was in, Bryce shouldn’t even be talking to her about this. She was ready to go after Kendall herself.
Lauren thought for a moment, then said, “Kendall is dirty. He might not have hurt Tom, but he has hurt others. He needs to be taken to justice however we can accomplish that, but murder isn’t justice.”
Lauren considered the various agencies, who might be the biggest help with a guy whose money and grubby hands were all over everything. Nothing came to mind. The main problem was that, like the mafia, Kendall used henchmen to deliver his messages. He never got dirty himself. Even if the alphabet agencies got involved, they’d let him go in the end.
Bryce ran a hand through his hair. He said, “Don’t worry, I won’t go after Kendall. I’m just venting.”
Lauren said, “That’s just as well.”
After dropping Bryce off, Lauren felt the day stretching out before her like a spider web filament floating across the grass. She had nothing to do. No place to go. She had already submitted for unemployment the night before.
Lauren parked in her usual spot at the complex. There was some something going on with a crowd of people waiting around the hedges and standing near her staircase. She sighed and turned off the headlights. A part of her wanted to drive off and have breakfast somewhere until the activity died down. At least there were no police cars, so she had a reasonable chance of surviving the walk to her door.
Before she could make a decision, someone tapped on her window. The sound startled her. Lucas! She opened the door and started to get out. He said, “No, get back in the car. Unlock the passenger side.”
She did as asked and he slipped in. “Better drive before they notice you.”
“Notice me? Who is it?”
“The press.” Lucas handed her The Miami Times.
The photo of Lauren was grainy, a distant shot from above. It looked like someone had been stalking Lauren from the roof of a building. She recognized herself, though. The car was too dark to read the fine print, but the headline said it all. “Scientist Shares Secrets with Terrorists”.
“That asshole. I’m going to kill him,” Lauren fol
ded the paper up and thwapped it on the dashboard of the car, pushing open the door.
“Lauren, don’t go out there!” Lucas grabbed for her arm, catching her before she made the biggest mistake of her life. He’d missed her arm though and had a hold of her hand.
“They have to know it’s wrong. I have to tell them.”
“Shut the door and listen for a minute.”
Lauren got back in the car and closed the door. She turned on Lucas, “Tell me why I should let this stand? If I say nothing, they’ll believe it. They didn’t call for a comment or anything. I can sue them for libel.”
“It’s a miracle they haven’t noticed us yet. Can you please just leave the parking lot? We need to be at the airport in three hours. I got us two tickets.”
“I’m not leaving Miami. Not after what Kendall did to me. I need to fix this.” Lauren didn’t start the car and didn’t look like she was going to go anywhere.
Finally Lucas said, “Lauren, I love you. For your safety and mine, Drake put us on the next flight to Sun Valley. He wanted us to go with Bryce, but he found out about everything too late. When he called this morning you and Bryce had already left. He has intel that we’re supposed to take the fall for some miscarriage of justice and then commit suicide, me in my cell, you in whatever hotel room they find you in. We need to disappear.”
Lauren turned the key to the ignition and then turned on the headlights. She slowly pulled out of the parking lot, grateful that she always parked on the backside of the apartments. As she pulled out of the parking lot, she asked, “He thinks we’ll be safe on the plane?”
“No. But his jet is in Sun Valley. He doesn’t think we can afford to wait.” Lucas scratched the back of his neck. When Lauren glanced over as they passed under a streetlight, she could see that Lucas now wore stubble and there were circles under his eyes.
