Why did he do it? Nobody knew for sure, possibly not even him. Dice said he’d been engaged once, but it didn’t work out, so obviously I’d dug back as far as I could, and I found another rumour. One about Priest and a woman he couldn’t save. And if that was true? Whew, it explained a lot.
But for the moment, he was single, which was a good thing. Unfortunately, Nolan wasn’t.
“Well, I can’t stand Marielle. Bad vibes, you know?”
“What do you know about bad vibes? You sound like my mom.”
“I know plenty. Chase made me go to some weird meditation workshop a couple of months ago, and it was all vibes and chakras and energy flow. And I’ve lost count of the number of times Jez has told me to trust my gut. Are you saying she’s wrong?”
“No, she’s absolutely right. So, you and your gut are going to stay here in Vegas and take cyber shots at Marielle from three hundred and fifty miles away?”
“No, I’m going to Oregon.”
“Oregon?”
“I do have a regular job, you know.”
“Yeah, because regular people accidentally start a billion-dollar tech company as a side hustle.”
“What did you expect me to do? Use someone else’s data centre? What if they accessed my stuff?”
“Judging people by your own standards now?”
“Haven’t you ever heard the phrase ‘keep your friends close but your enemies closer’?”
Of course I had back doors into everything, but at least I made sure nobody else did.
“Yes, but it seems like you forget that when it’s convenient.”
“Huh?”
“For a genius, you can be really dense sometimes. Marielle is in California. You are not in California.”
I stiffened. “You think I should go back there?”
“Duh.”
“But I’m no good at dealing with that type of stuff in person. That’s why we make a great team, right? I do the coding and you do the social engineering.”
“So you…want me to hook up with Nolan?”
“No!”
“Pack your bags; we leave at eight a.m.”
“But—”
“Trust me, you’ll regret it if you get an invite for the Marten-de Luca wedding.”
Dammit, Barbie knew exactly how to get under my skin, and I hated that.
But I hated the idea of picking out a wedding gift more.
“Fine. I’ll go, okay?”
“Good. Get some sleep.”
It was almost midnight when Nolan finally replied. By then, I had a dozen suitcases lined up in the hallway at Casa del Gato, Chase was getting his beauty sleep, and one of the Choir’s helicopters was sitting in the backyard, ready to leave in the morning.
