“What show?” Graham asks.
Nolene mimes a bomb blast. “A small, controlled explosion confined to your house. I thought of bombing your workplace, but the risk to the animals is too great. At least this way, only you and your daughter will die. Priorities.” She smiles at our horrified expressions. “An hour from now, all major news outlets will receivea press pack detailing your experiments. All the dirty work you perform behind closed doors will be out in the open.”
“But our deaths will only generate negative publicity for your cause,” Graham says. “Murder will overshadow whatever message you’re trying to send.” When Nolene doesn’t respond, he says desperately, “Amy has nothing to do with this. Why don’t you let her go?”
Nolene turns on him with a scowl. “Why didn’t you do what we asked? Stop your research and free all your lab animals?”
“The deadline hasn’t expired yet,” Graham says.
Scorn sharpens Nolene’s voice. “Please! You were never going to comply with our demands.”
I see the truth of that in the apologetic glance my dad sends me. I frown.He wasn’t planning on meeting their demands? What on earth?I try to make sense of this revelation, but my head is hurting too much.
“Amy doesn’t need to be here,” Graham says again. “Why is she here?”
“I’m here because I’m the competition,” I retort. “And the only way she can win is to eliminate the competition.”
Oh, the sweet satisfaction of seeing Nolene’s face redden with temper.
“Shut up!”
“Or else what? You’ll kill me?”
“Not just yet.” Nolene slaps me. Hard.
My dad gives an angry shout as my head snaps to the side from the force of the blow. Fighting the pain radiating down my face, I glare at Nolene, my body shaking with fury, despair, and an overwhelming sense of unfairness.
I regained consciousness to find myself slumped in the passenger seat of Nolene’s car, which she’d parked outside my father’s house. Iguessed right away what Nolene’s plan was—wait for my father to arrive home and open his automated gate, then slip in after him.
I tried to grab her gun, but Nolene knocked me unconscious again. I can guess what unfolded after that. There’s nothing like seeing your unconscious daughter with a gun to her head to make a father tow the line.
I watch now, angry and powerless, as Nolene dismisses us with a contemptuous click of her tongue and deals with the final preparations on her bomb.
Kane will come,I repeat silently to myself.Kane will come.
68
KANE
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Wednesday, July 21
Trying to ignore the fear for Amy that’s clawing a hole in my gut, I complete my drive-by of Hutchinson’s house and park my Land Rover two streets away. In minutes, I’m out of the car and scaling the neighbor’s wall into Graham’s property. My instincts are screaming that this is where Nolene has planned her showdown. Security is too tight at the Galen Research Institute.
Ross wanted to accompany me, but I refused, and we almost came to blows. Already, I regret dragging him and Mel into this mess of an operation.
“Your involvement ends now,” I told them before I left. There’s no way I’m risking leaving Mel a widow or the wife of a convicted felon.
Feeling the adrenaline pumping through me, hoping my instincts are correct, I cross Hutchinson’s lawn. I debated contacting Andries and letting him know what happened, but I decided not to involve him. This is something I’ll handle on my own. I’ve already kissed the money goodbye. Right now, the loss of funding is the least of my worries.
Locating Hutchinson’s back door, I insert a metal pick into the lock and the door opens easily. I ease my weapon from the waistband of my jeans and slip inside. A faint murmur of voices is coming from the direction of Graham’s study. I head over there and peer around the doorframe, taking in the scene: a still-breathing Amy tied up on the floor, Graham trussed up in his study chair, and Nolene withher back to me standing in front of a large desk. More importantly, Nolene’s .22 lies on the desk, within her reach, but not in her hand.
I cross the room in two long strides and knock her .22 out of reach. I point my own weapon at Nolene, catching sight of what looks like a homemade pipe bomb on the desk. My heart thunders in my chest. Pipe bombs are notoriously volatile.
“Step away,” I order Nolene.
I deliberately don’t look at Amy. I’m afraid she’ll throw off my focus, but the vivid marks on her face are burned into my brain. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how they got there. Rage washes over me.
