Caesar’s mouth opens, but no words come out. Then, slowly, his lips curve up. “Well, that shines a whole different light on the matter. Are you in love with him, too?” I nod, and he sighs. “Come on,” he says, putting a hand in the small of my back. “Let’s get you into the boardroom, and we’ll see what happens.”
*
Luke
Marcus and I walk across the lobby and head for the security offices on the other side. My heart is banging on my ribs, but I stay calm and pin a smile on my face as we open the door and go in. I don’t want to alert the perpetrator that we’re onto him. This is going to need careful handling to make sure he doesn’t slip away.
Of course he might be one of the agents who’s currently deployed. But my instinct says he’s based in the office. He obviously has access to Aurelia’s calendar and movements, and the freedom to move around when he needs to. He’s here, I can feel it.
When we got in the car, I called Ella and announced we were minutes away, and she said she was going to call everyone in, so we find the main office busy, with agents still making their way into the main briefing room. Rick is at the front desk, watching the security screens, but he lifts a hand as he sees us, his eyebrows lifting with surprise.
“Didn’t know you were back,” he says.
“Just arrived,” I reply.
He nods at Marcus, then gestures with his head toward the briefing room. “What’s that about?”
“Ella wants to discuss an operational incident,” Marcus states.
Rick nods, none the wiser, but doesn’t press him, and he turns back to his screens.
I hang back, waiting for the last agents to enter the room, and then Marcus and I go inside, and I close the door behind me. Twenty or so chairs sit in lines, and most of them are now full. Ella stands at the front and lifts a hand to me, and I nod at her.
“Thanks for coming, everyone,” she says. “First, a couple of small things…” She goes on to talk about the new computer system that’s being implemented, and how training for it will be carried out.
I walk slowly down the side of the room, scanning the faces of the agents present. When I get to the front, she pauses and glances at me.
“How many should be here?” I ask.
“Eighteen,” she replies confidently. “Not including me and you.”
“Including Rick?”
“No.”
“There are seventeen in here.”
She looks back at the team and quickly counts. “Who’s missing?” she asks, raising her voice. Everyone looks around.
“It’s Kai,” Stacy says. “He went to the loo.”
An icy trickle slides down my back. “How long ago?”
Everyone looks at Stacy, and she straightens, obviously aware something’s awry. “A few minutes? He heard Ella call everyone in. I asked if anyone knew what it was about, and someone mentioned that you’d arrived with Aurelia.”
“That was me,” one of the guys says. “Kai just said, ‘Okay,’ and then said he was going to the loo.”
I stride back across the room, fling open the door, and walk across to Rick, Marcus and Ella on my heels. “Did you see Kai go into the bathroom?” I ask him.
His feet are propped on the table, but he lowers them and sits up as he sees our serious faces. “No…” He looks at the screens and points to the one in the lobby. The elevator doors are just sliding closed.
“Fuck.” I run a hand through my hair. “Is he going down to the car park?”
“Hold on.” Rick taps a few buttons, and the camera zooms in, focusing on the elevator. I watch with my heart in my mouth to see what number appears at the top.
The number one lights up.
“He’s going up,” Rick says.
