Chapter Forty-One
The pungent, salty aroma of cooking seafood hung thick and heavy, permeating the humid air in the dining room of The White Whale restaurant.
A noisy, animated crowd filled the tables, murmurs of conversations surrounding her as Clarissa Geovoni waited for the man sitting across from her to explain himself.
Impatience getting the better of her, she slapped her hand on the table, rattling the silverware.
“What the hell do you mean, she’s gone!” Her eyes burned in annoyance. “How the hell did she just disappear?”
Colonel Alex Freemont didn’t respond to her angry outburst, instead sipping his drink in deep thought.
Her face stiffened in the lingering silence, the classically-sculpted features now hard and foreboding. “This is a disaster!” She took a hurried swallow of her drink, lowering her voice before continuing. “So, not only is Verde dead, but now Ryan is missing as well. We need to find her.”
“No shit.” The tall solider said, finishing his cocktail. He grimaced, the fine liquor now irretrievably watered down by melted ice. “I’m working on it.”
She leaned back in her chair, crossing her shapely legs. “Doing what…and how did they get away in the first place?”
He related the general gist of the incident at Casey’s office, drawing her attention to the butterfly bandage that closed a small wound on his forehead.
She sneered in disbelief. “How could you let yourself get out-smarted by three amateurs?” she jibed, her anger a hot flash. “You’re supposed to be an Army officer. What the hell happened?”
He shot her a hard glare, his dark eyes smoldering with antipathy. “They got lucky.”
“Then arrest Temple,” Clarissa said, the tone harsh and demanding. “If he’s got what we want, make him give it to you.”
“I can’t do that. An arrest means a lawyer…and media coverage. It would attract too much attention…attention we don’t want.”
She leaned forward, the allure of her magnificent green eyes diminished by their cold stare. “I hope I don’t have to remind you, we have four days before the Senate hearing.”
“I’ve got people looking for Ryan.” He said. “She can’t hide for long. We’ll find her.”
“That’s not good enough.” Clarissa said, her calm tone belying her ill-concealed anger. “We’ve got to have that material before that hearing or this deal falls apart…and we can’t let that happen.”
“I know,” he said, signaling a waiter with a raise of his glass. “I’ll have it back before the hearing.”
A grim frown crossed her beautiful face. “You better. There’s a lot riding on this.” She paused for a dainty sip of her drink. “And I’m not talking about just the hearing and the money. You know there are some very powerful people who are heavily invested in this. I can tell you, they will be very unhappy if we don’t lock down ownership of this project before that hearing. For them, unhappy equals dead bodies…our dead bodies.”
He didn’t respond to her morbid assessment of their situation.
The waiter arrived and they each ordered another round and dinner entrées.
She continued her interrogation, watching the waiter’s retreating back move off across the dining room. “What about this Casey guy, where did he come from…and how much does he know?” She asked.
“He found Ryan after that idiot Murphy beat her up,” he shook his head in dismissal. “He doesn’t know anything. He’s a do-gooder that got caught in the middle. Ignore him.”
The waiter returned and she accepted the refilled glass. She paused long enough for him to quietly withdraw before shooting Freemont a withering stare. “At this point Alex, I’m not ignoring anyone.” She paused a moment in concentration. “What kind of ‘people’ are you using to find Ryan…are they any good, or is this something else for me to worry about?”
He sipped the refreshed whiskey then answered. “I’ve got an FBI team on it, headed up by a first-rate agent…and all those resources.” he said. “She seems to think Casey can lead her to Ryan and our missing material. Right now, I’m inclined to let her do the heavy lifting.”
“The FBI? Christ, this just keeps getting better and better,” she hissed, her eyes lighting bright in annoyance “Don’t you think it’s a little dangerous, getting an FBI agent involved?”
As he framed his answer, the shrill squawk of a cell phone interrupted the conversation. Freemont pulled the offending instrument from his pocket.
“Please excuse me for a moment.” He turned his back to her.
Clarissa politely turned her head, looking away as the electronic tone repeated.
Touching a button on the phone’s screen, he answered. “Colonel Freemont here.” He listened intently for a few seconds and she noticed his tone change. “You have an update for me?” he asked, expectantly.
The tinny sounding words of the caller’s reply were not well received.
“How the hell did he get away,” he stopped in mid-rant, then looked at his partner, obviously censoring himself. “Understood. Keep me posted.”
He closed the phone, remaining silent for several tense seconds.
She sipped her drink again, meeting his gaze. “Care to share?”
“That was my contact inside the FBI team, they said they have a lead. Ryan’s brother was snooping around her offices, so they took him into custody, but he escaped before they could get anything useful. They’re looking for him now.”
She rolled her eyes in disgust. “Escaped…from the FBI…How is that even possible?”
“I’ll handle it.” he said in a placating tone.
She wasn’t reassured.
“You’d better. Our lives are riding on it.” she answered.
He took another sip of his drink before chiding her. “Oh, don’t be so melodramatic!”
“You’re kidding, right?” she said, fear coloring her features for the first time. “These people are powerful, and have zero tolerance for mistakes.”
“We haven’t made any critical errors.” He corrected her. “We just have to use our resources and make this happen. We have four days.”
She took another sip of her drink before answering him. “I think I’d call letting our number one resource get killed and the most important piece of the deal disappear off the face of the earth a critical error. Don’t you?”
He took her hand in his and felt her tremble. “Don’t worry. We’ll get the designs back and this deal will go through, just like we planned.”
He kissed her hand, his caress sending chills up her spine. “Then we can figure out how to spend all the money we’re going to make.”
She upended her glass. “You better hope so, for both our sakes.”
Chapter Forty-Two
"Chain Reaction" Power Failure Book I Page 57
