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Doctor O turned with a scowl, like he was going to bite Jared’s head off—until he saw her. His face went blank. Then he smiled.
Cindy’s neck prickled. She was used to attention from guys, but this felt different. And that toothy grin as he strode across the room did not reassure her one bit.Oh, my, what big teeth you have.
“And this lovely young lady’s name is…?” he asked.
She shook his hand. A warm, strong grip. A nice, manly-man handshake, and yet, she suddenly wanted to pee again. “Um…Mina.”
“Wonderful to meet you, Mina. I hope Jared’s treating you well.”
“Oh, he’s been great,” she assured him.
“I’ve been explaining the testing phase,” Jared told him. “I figured, since it’s so late, we’ll have dinner and get started tomorrow.”
“No, Jared. I need her today,” Dr. O said.
Jared looked bewildered. “But she hasn’t done any of the—”
“No need for pretesting,” Dr. O said. “She specializes in acoustic physics, right? Give your cell phone to Jared, please, Mina.”
She blinked at him. “Huh?”
His smile was stern, but charming. “House policy. It helps us all concentrate. You will have one half hour period every day to answer messages and phone calls. Don’t worry. Jared will keep it safe for you.”
She passed it over, with fingers that shook. Last hope lost.
“Come along, Mina. I’ll show you the rest of the facility. We’ll see you at dinner, Jared,” Dr. O said.
Jared blinked at the dismissal, turned, and hurried out. Cindy was crushed to see him go. With her cell phone, too. Her last two allies.
Dr. O led her down a long breezeway, down a path through towering trees towards another building complex. Down several flights of stairs, into an underground building that had been cut right into the slope of the hill. They went in. The corridor seemed incredibly long.
Their footsteps echoed in the silence. Dr. O swiped a card, and put his eye up to a machine that shot a beam of red light into it.
The door hissed, clicked, opened. He led her into a big room with no windows, shut the door, and looked into the retinal scan thingamabob again. Big bolts slid, deep into the heavy door.Ka-thunk.
“My lair,” he said, in a joking tone.
She tried to smile. “Uh, wow. It’s an amazing place.”
He perched on the edge of a table. “Welcome to the Haven, Cynthia.”
The words sank in. She had to fight to keep from passing out.
Davy didn’t botherto knock on Beck’s door. He just turned the knob and pushed it open, using a tissue he’d gotten out of the car.
It struck Miles as strange that it wasn’t locked, but the McClouds just went on into the house. He scurried after them. Davy stopped, turned, waved his hand at Miles to go back outside. Like hell. No way were they cutting him out of the action now. He sidled along the wall after Con, ignoring the squinty glares and the frantic hand gestures.
They rounded the corner. Marble steps led down into a vast sea of pale beige, with couch and chair islands adrift in it. The main island had a huge black coffee table. A vase was knocked over on it, pointy red flowers scattered across the light-colored rug—oh. No. Oh, shit.
A foot stuck out from behind the coffee table. Bare. Bluish.
They circled the room in absolute silence, and stared down at what had once been Professor Beck.
His head was half gone, and part of his face. His blood and brains were scattered in a dramatic, fanlike arc behind him.
Con let out a long, careful sigh. “This, we did not need.”
“No,” Davy agreed. “I don’t think things could get much worse.”
