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“I shall take it asIwish, Phalen.”
She had to laugh a little. “Fair enough. But all kidding aside, what are we talking about here?”
“Dr. St. Claire’s car. You accused me of lyingabout its location, and then insinuated I was the abductor myself.”
“I don’t think I insinuated the latter. I was pretty up front about it. But I’m very sure you weren’t personally the one taking him out of that condo. You probably don’t even buy your own suits. So you would delegate any kidnapping to—”
“That is quite enough, thank you.” A string of quickly spoken syllables suggested Rhobes was cursing in German. But then he got his control back. “After I could not reach St. Claire for a protracted period of time, I sent a representative to his home.”
“Representative? Again, is that what you’re calling those henchmen you use?”
“And you employ—what do they call them? Boy scooters?”
“Scouts,” Cathy said. “And now I’m picturing a Vespa wearing a sash of camping patches right now, so thank you for that—”
Rhobes cut her off briskly. “The representative was the one who informed me of the car’s location—and after I enjoyed your conversation ever so much, I attempted to reach him. For the last twelve hours, I have been unsuccessful.”
Interesting,she thought. So whoever the guy was was either a deserter or had, in the words of Daniel Joseph, woken up dead. Unless Rhobes was lying again to cover his tracks—which seemed a more reasonable conclusion than him admitting to aperson he considered a professional enemy that one of his private guards had gone AWOL.
“Maybe his phone is charging,” Cathy hedged carefully.
“Do you honestly think we have not been to the man’s abode,” Rhobes muttered. “He had worked for me for about two and a half years. His credentials were impeccable, even if he was… a bit dodgy, shall we say. These private for-hire guards are a bit of a black market, are they not. I am aware you know to what I refer.”
Cathy remained silent for a moment. “What can you tell me about him?”
Not that she expected Rhobes to say—
“We have had no problems with his employment—”
“What’s his name?”
Now it was the man’s turn for a pause. “I am sorry, all employees in that sector are kept confidential.”
“And yet you’re supposedly sharing HR details with one of your competitors.”
“These circumstances are rather unusual, do you not agree.”
Drumming her fingers on her desk, she found herself nodding. “Actually, I do agree.” Then again, they were both running underground research labs. Their version of business-as-usual was anything but, just to begin with. “Any chance the guard went by the name of Kurtis Joel?”
Daniel had brought up the name when she’d had him witness the Vita-12b documents. And if there was any possibility that—
“How do you know that name?” Rhobes blurted.
“Is that your employee?”
“No comment. Now answer me. How do you—”
“No comment.”
There was yet another long moment of quiet. And then Rhobes said in a low voice, “Be careful, Phalen. And I mean that not as a threat, but as a recommendation for self-protection. You know what happened to my lab in Pennsylvania. If that were to happen beneath that house you live in? No one would survive.”
“You’re something, Rhobes. I’m not sure what surprises me more—the fact that you honestly sound like you mean that or the sadness in your voice. Are you saying you’d miss me?”
“No comment.”
“Look at you, going soft.” She found herself smiling again. “You might not be so bad after all, Rhobes.”
“The truth is, Phalen, I rather like having a competitor like you around. You keep me on my toes. May I ask you something?”
