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I gently squeeze her fingers one last time before releasing her, grabbing the garment bag with the suit in it, and heading off into the darkness. I need very little light to see clearly, and I glance over my shoulder several times as I put distance between myself and Riley. Each time, she’s still standing in the same place, watching my departure. When I move over the hill and take my final look at her, she hasn’t moved though there’s no way she could still see me from there.
I have no problems navigating my way to Milton or finding the small building near the pharmaceutical company where I am supposed to rendezvous with Taylor Wick.
The place looks like an old fueling station. The walls are cement, and there is a wide open space in the front with broken pillars that look like they might have once supported a carport roof going back to the main structure.
My instructions are to just walk in, but I’m cautious. The front window is dark and I don’t see movement inside. I move around to the back of the place, but there is no window there, just a metal door with a padlock on it.
Returning to the front, I crouch below the window and peer in, watching intently until I see the dark outline of a person in the back. I circle the form with my eyes, calculating height and build. Though I can’t quite make out his face in the darkness, he matches Wick’s description.
I open the door and walk in, heading for the back until I’m standing next to the man.
“Taylor Wick?” I already know it’s him.
He nods at me.
“There’s been a lot of talk about you,” he says. “Your designation has been filling up the airwaves for the past forty-eight hours.”
“Any indication of their plans?”
“There’s talk of a raid on Martinsville,” Wick says, “but I don’t think they’re ready for that yet. If they are, it’s being kept quiet. They’ve been mobilizing specimen teams of three for the last week, but no information on where they’re being sent. I’ve seen several training sessions conducted in the city.”
“I need to get ready,” I tell him as I hold up the garment bag.
Wick directs me to a sink and hands me a couple of towels so I can get cleaned up and dressed. He gives me a razor and a comb as well so I can make myself as professional-looking as possible.
“About ready?” he asks as I adjust the tie.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
“You’ll have to leave your weapon,” he says. “It will be detected, and we don’t want to have to explain ourselves.”
I place my handgun on the table, and we head outside.
I know the route, but Wick has access to the monorail system so we can get there faster. Being on the train makes me nervous though there are only a handful of passengers at this early hour. We change trains once, then leave the station and move to the sidewalk next to a tall brick building.
Mills Pharmco is written in red over the doors, and the Mills flag flies outside.
“You’re on your own from here on out,” Wick says. “I’ll be back at the checkpoint until you return. When you get back to the outpost, look at the back window. As soon as I get there, I’ll put a white index card in the bottom right corner. If I have any problems, I’ll put a red index card in the bottom left corner.”
“Will do.”
The sun breaks over the horizon as I approach the building. It’s still very early, but I’m not the only one heading to Mills Pharmco. Several people move to the front door, but I pass it by. My destination is a smaller door reserved for executives.
Glancing around to make sure I’m not seen, I leap over a fence and drop down into an enclosed parking area and make my way to the elevator. My hacked credentials activate the lift, and I press the button for the ninth floor.
There’s no one in the hallway when I enter, except a young woman at a registration desk, talking on the phone. The lab I need to access is past her, but she doesn’t even look up as I go by. I find the door to the lab, listen closely, and enter when I hear no sounds from the other side.
The layout is exactly as it is displayed in my head. I go immediately to the cabinet where the Seroquel is supposed to be stored, slide the hacked card through the access slot, and the door opens. There are a thousand different vials of a hundred different drugs inside the huge cabinet, but no sign of what I need.
It doesn’t make sense. This is exactly where the drug should be stored, but there’s nothing here. There’s an open space where several vials have been removed, all from one area, but no vials labeled with what I came to acquire. The Seroquel had to have been stored in what is now empty space. Someone has come here and removed it all.
They knew I would need it. They knew I was coming.
If someone knew I would be coming here to find the drugs I need, that means they’ve been watching for me to try to grab them. I have to get out of here immediately.
I spin on my heel, and Isaac eyes me from the doorway.
He’s unarmed but stands with practiced confidence. Nothing about him has changed since the last time I saw him, but he still looks different. There’s remorse in his eyes as he looks at me, and I stand perfectly still, calculating.
