“I’m sorry, Mr. Fowler has to go now.” He gave the presenter a tight-lipped smile and nudged him away from the mic. “I’m, uh …” The massive, hushed crowd behind the blinding lights shot up his heart rate and knotted his stomach.
Maybe he hadn’t thought this through.
He forced a smile. “I’m Simon Montague, the CEO. Barged in to give you some extra details, so you don’t say we directors do nothing.”
He paused, his heart beating close to his Adam’s apple.
And then a couple of people in the crowd laughed. And a few more.
Simon relaxed his hands, the smile turning genuine. “Let’s get down to business, then. The 10B model doesn’t have an ultra-wide camera—yet. That’s just something we told you to test your wits …”
As he went on, he spared a glance at Everett, who gave him a double thumbs-up. He must’ve been doing well.
And in the back of his mind, a little worry began to form—did that mean he’d have to keep doing presentations from now on?
***
After one hour at the airport, Simon was severely regretting not being able to travel in his private plane.
He’d finally gotten through the snail-like line at the security check. He waited, with bated breath, for the second after he’d stepped through the metal detector and before the TSA agent gave him a nod to move on, as if he’d expected a hitch—for the security to say, “Hold on, we detect a mismatch between your body and soul. Have you been out of it recently?”
But no such silly thing had happened, and now he stood by the few seats at the end of the security check area, waiting for Shanna and Chris to get through.
Simon wasn’t looking forward to a journey with his almost-assassin, but ultimately, they’d agreed it was theleastbad option. He didn’t want to let Chris go back to San Francisco without supervision, in case the man who’d hired her found her again and got more info about Simon out of her. He didn’t want to leave her with Dolores for the same reason—and he’d never want Shanna’s grandmother to be in danger because of him. In fact, he didn’t want to leave Chris aloneanywhere, in case she slipped through the cracks and left Simon without a lead. And finally, there was the simple matter of efficiency. He needed toget this bond broken, but he also needed Chris’s help to find the man who had it out for him. So he might as well do the latter while he was accomplishing the former.
Chris was currently T-posing as the TSA agent patted down her black hoodie, opened to reveal a graphic tee of skulls and roses underneath, and carefully proceeded down her tights, torn at the knees. The girl’s look was that of utter boredom. “See, told you it was the piercings,” she said as he let her go.
But Shanna was another story. Her hand luggage had been stopped and redirected to another lane to be checked. She stood by the security agent unpacking her bag, smiling as if she had nothing to hide.
At least Simon hoped she had nothing to hide.
The agent started pulling out objects, all carefully wrapped in patterned scarfs. A ten-inch stick made of glass or crystal. A box with small wooden plates Simon thought were dominoes at first, but they had strange markings on them. A small silver chalice with those same strange markings engraved along the border. And a … tiny black cauldron?
The officer held up the wand and said something to Shanna, his expression grim.Oh, shit.Simon headed toward them, preparing words for negotiation. Surely the officer could see Shanna wasn’t about to use the stick to stab the pilot, right?
Shanna laughed and touched the officer’s shoulder, and his expression cleared into a smile. He nodded, and Shanna waved her hands animatedly.
Simon stopped.
“I like bay leaves for protection, but Gran swears by acorns,” she said. “Of course, that’s the Wiccan way. I consider myself more of an eclectic.”
What in the operating system glitch was going on?
“And I’d need one of these?” The officer waved the stick.
“Unless you’re uncomfortable using it. How does it feel?”
“Fine, I suppose.”
“Then you can try.” Shanna beamed at him. “The most important thing is feeling comfortable. If using a wand feels awkward, don’t do it; rather, use your hands to draw connections on the grid.”
Simon cleared his throat, and the other two looked at him.
“Hi.” He raised a hand to greet the officer. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh, Simon.” Shanna’s smile extended to him. “This is Tarik. He’s learning to be a witch, so I gave him some advice.”
Tarik also smiled at Simon. “Your girlfriend is pretty cool.”
