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I sprinted across the lot, almost collapsing by the time I reached them. I bent over to catch my breath. “Stop. This isn’t open combat, it’s the parking lot of a trendy restaurant. Put him in the car.”
Ellis punched the man one last time, grinning as Mr. Gray Hoodie’s head lolled back. He tossed me the man’s gun and stuffed him into the backseat, following close behind.
I cursed as I got behind the wheel. “We have two cars packed with agents watching us—you better hope they don’t report you to Levi. He’s not in the business of publicly beating people.”
Ellis breathed hard, but he didn’t look at all sorry. “You better hope I don’t tell Hannah you ran at a full-out sprint.”
I pulled out onto the road, eyeing him in the rearview mirror. He ignored me, inspecting the nearly passed-out man next to him, taking his wallet and examining his identification.
“Who do you work for?”
The man moaned.
Ellis put his Sig Sauer pistol against his temple. “Quit your crying. Who do you work for? You might as well tell me. It’s not like they’re going to come and rescue you from where you’re going anyway.”
The man cursed. “I don’t know the client’s name. I work for a service. All I know is the client’s Chinese.”
“Ding ding ding. We have a winner.” Completely in his element, Ellis sounded gleeful.
“What’re we going to do with this winner?” I asked.
Ellis’s gaze met mine in the rearview mirror. “I haven’t decided what I can use him for yet. I’ll figure something out.”
Unsure of what that meant, and unsettled by my brother’s tone, I warily steered the car toward home.
* * *
LI NA
Once upon a time, Lauren Taylor bored me to tears. Her technology sparkled, but she was your typical American engineer: two-dimensional and obsessed with quantitative analysis. Such individuals were useful, but too narrow-minded for my taste.
I dated one once, at university.
I ended up giving him my virginity to shut him up about our mutual statistics class.
It was a good thing he’d been so well endowed. University would have been extremely boring otherwise, although I had enjoyed statistics.
I’d almost enjoyed it when Lauren blew up our last deal—finally, some colorful language. A spark rose to her surface. She’d exhibited some fight.
And then just this week…a new discovery. I’d assumed Lauren had continued to focus only on the patch, but during my regularly scheduled hack of Paragon’s system, I’d found prototype plans for a new device. The plans were for a mini-sensor that monitored metastasizing cells using similar technology to the patch. If this prototype worked, it was going to revolutionize the cancer industry. The sensor would firmly cement Paragon as the world’s leader in biotechnology.
Unless, of course, I appropriated the groundbreaking design and used it first.
I would have to move quickly. I watched Paragon’s files daily, hacking in on a regular basis and monitoring for any new activity. The sensor’s prototype, its supporting specs, and the related government filings were all uploaded to the system on the same day. I needed to understand why. Had Lauren been developing this privately? Was she about to begin clinical trials?
I had another thought. Her team hadn’t been able to keep me out of their system. They had to know I watched them. Was Lauren Taylor trying to play me?
I thought back on that American engineer I’d dated. He didn’t understand sarcasm or most humor. When I’d broken it off with him, he wanted a reason. I told him we lacked longterm potential, but that didn’t compute. So I explained that statistically, we were at a disadvantage because not only were we an interracial couple, we were international—the empirical data indicated the likelihood of our success was miniscule. Pursuing the relationship would waste time that we could both put toward our studies or a relationship with better probabilities. Finally, he understood.
Did Lauren possess the ability to try to trick me? I didn’t know if her brain could function that way—it seemed more the mark of a creative mind, one that didn’t necessarily adhere to rigid rules and structures.
With only one way to find out, I?
??d copied all the new sensor’s files.
My people were already working on a prototype based on the stolen files. I was busy preparing all the necessary documentation for a fast-track government approval process. The Chinese government understood the need to provide innovative medical technology to the public. An approval that would take months or years in the United States would be given in a matter of weeks.
In other breaking news, Fiona Pace had agreed to exclusively license her antibody therapy to me. It appeared her husband’s untimely death had finally given her the proper motivation.
