I’ve come to love the smell of Cannon being disgusted in the morning. It’s like napalmed bodies only better. “Send it to my office. I’ll watch this from there.”
It’s easier to snort something in my office. My body is already abuzz, and I can taste it all hitting my nose and bloodstream.
“Don’t pull him apart until I give the okay, guys!”
“Yes, sir.” McClaren waves. “I wasn’t aiming to for a week anyway. He is fascinating.”
The man is almost licking his lips over this. I’m still smiling when I enter my office and head for the drawer where I keep the good stuff. On the glass table in the center of the room, a bottle of champagne sits in an ice bucket with a goblet chilling beside it. Nothing better than drugs and success. We are on the way.
By the second glass and with the first line of coke up my nose, I lie back to watch the scene downstairs on the overhead screen. McClaren thinks this will advance research by four months. We could be making our own in two.
I grin at the possibilities. Two, fucking months! The power that will come from having these things obeying me, and from being the sole owner of this knowledge.
And if Hailey Tarrant dares show her face here, I will stuff my cock in her so far she’ll be taking it at both ends at once. And then I will have her put on ice…after I have her killed somewhere less…conspicuous and have her thrown in the sea to wash off any residue.
It’s like laundering money, really. “Laundering women?” I chuckle at the word play and almost inhale champagne, then have to brush it off my shirt. “Fuck!”
I swallow another sip of the Bollinger and eye the bottle. Two thousand a bottle for this? Worth it.
46
READY TO ROLL
I roll my shoulders, straighten my long-sleeved, black, figure-hugging top, and check the mic on my wrist. It’s disguised in a bracelet with pink cat faces. The micro speaker is nestled behind my ear but hidden under my wildly styled hair. Apart from that, I feel like, maybe look like, a ninja about to scale a building. “Ready, Rasmus?”
“Yep. You’ll see if it worked in five, four, three, two, one. That window, top right, with the bright light showing. The sign on the building too. Are the lights gone?”
TheREVENANT INSTITUTEsign fades and turns pale.
“Fuck, yeah. We have a go. Tell R and M that I am going in.” I rev the Phyllis’s engine and ease onto the street leading to the institute.
“The fire alarms will be going off. Take care. People will be leaving in vehicles due to the building evacuating.”
The gate leading through the main wall slides open as I drive up. People are indeed flooding the outside and the underground area, jogging to cars, and staring back at theirworkplace. Some are pouring out through the front doors. The sensible ones do that. The ones who value their cars more than they should are down here in the garage.
There’s a bump under the wheels as I drive down the ramp and go over a drainage grill.
I drive past the people, smiling, and swing into an empty park near the elevator. I get a few odd looks as I walk in the opposite direction to those obeying the alarms.
Ignoring the flashing warnings on the left-hand display and the blaring noise—and god, those alarms hurt my ears—I punch in the code to allow my elevator to go anywhere I want it to go. The doors slide open. I wish I was certain enough to head where Rasmus told me Kail will have gone. I cannot be sure, so I punch the button for Clay’s floor.
“Time, Rasmus?”
“Six zero five.”
The display counts upward, accompanied by only a quiet hum and the now muffled alarms. When the doors open, the alarm noise blasts to full volume. A security guard, make that three of them, are waiting for me. All wear the Revenant Institute blue, with the logo on their shirts, a tactical belt, and pistol.
“I have an appointment with Clay Skinner.” I say it loud enough to be heard over the annoying alarm. I smile and wait with eyes narrowed.
Make or break time.
Guard One speaks into a lapel mic while the others stare at me, guns unholstered but not raised.
I made sure to wear something so molded to my skin that weaponry would be instantly visible, if I had any.
“Yes, sir.” Guard One turns to me. “She can go in. Firstthough, spread your arms and legs.” He shoots a glance at the ceiling. “Can’t someone turn those fucking alarms off?”
Haha.I’m smiling. “I can.” I purse my lips and pray Rasmus has this correct, then pretend to count, starting at one. Onninethe alarm falls silent, though the ones on other floors are clearly still sounding. “Magic. Done.”
