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He crossed the tiled floor to give her the obligatory kiss on the cheek. “Welcome home, my dear.”
“I’m sorry that Carnelian was a disaster,” she said. “There were unforeseen complications.”
“I understand. You can tell me all about it later. You’ve had a long flight. You need to unwind and relax. Why don’t you change into something more comfortable and join me and Benedict and Adriana out on the terrace for drinks?”
Celina gripped the small bag that held her phone very tightly. Her eyes were stark. “Of course.”
“I trust you brought me a souvenir of your time in Carnelian. A lovely little crystal ornament, or perhaps a scented candle?”
“I didn’t think you’d want any reminders of a failed project.”
“Perhaps not,” he agreed. “But tell me, was it fun to play the roles of Serenity and Iona Bryant? I’ve always enjoyed acting. One gets such a sense of power when one assumes another identity.”
“No, I did not enjoy the experience of assuming other identities for all those months,” Celina said, her voice tighter than ever. “It was a very lonely life.”
For a few seconds he allowed his irritation to break through. “Was that why you wasted so much time with those damn video games?”
Celina surprised him with a flash of anger. “You’re the one who told me that the games were a good way to practice and perfect my talent for game theory and strategy.”
“How many times have you been warned that the source of your power is always the source of your greatest vulnerability?”
Celina got her anger back under control but he could sense it burning just under the surface.
“Everything was going as planned until the podcast team arrived,” she said.
“Ah, yes,The Lost Night Files. I will admit I did not think those three women would become a problem. In their case, the enhancing protocol was interrupted by the fire and the earthquake. I assumed that the effects of the drug, if any, would be minimal at best. There has been no indication that they developed strong talents. The opposite, in fact. They appear to be deteriorating.”
“Has it occurred to you that you may be wrong?” Celina asked.
Without warning the rage crashed through the barrier of his control. He seized the teapot off his desk and hurled it against the wall. Celinawatched in silence, speculation heating her eyes. He pulled himself together.
“All three subjects are failures,” he said. “So is Ambrose Drake. It’s obvious they have become unstable. Their lives are in chaos. Their careers have foundered. Their personal relationships are in turmoil. In the case of the three females, they are obsessed with that ridiculous podcast. If they have developed any serious talent it’s clear they are too weak to handle it. I’m telling you, they are failing. They will soon be living on the streets, locked up in a psych ward, or, quite probably, dead.”
“You are overlooking one important factor,” Celina said. “There is a bond between the women, and now Drake has become part of their world. They are close friends, bound together by their secrets. In case you haven’t noticed, they are in the process of forming a family of choice. You are the one who insists that family is everything.”
She turned and walked away.
Steen went back out onto the veranda and gripped the railing. Celina’s project was in ruins, but there was no denying she possessed a strong talent for strategy and game theory. She was the one who had been on the ground in Carnelian. She had watched the carefully planned operation fall apart thanks to a podcaster and a no-name writer. Her observations could not be ignored.
Maybe he should pay more attention to his failures.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
They got togetheron a video chat after breakfast the following morning. Pallas was in her hotel room, packing to leave Carnelian. Ambrose was with her. His duffel was already in the trunk of his car. Talia beamed in from Seattle and Amelia joined from a motel room somewhere off the interstate in Southern California.
“It’s a shame about Serenity or Iona Bryant or whatever she called herself,” Talia said wistfully. “Her ability to manipulate social media and the dark net is extremely impressive. We could have used someone with her skill set. She would have been the perfect virtual assistant forThe Lost Night Files.”
Pallas tossed her nightgown into the suitcase and glared at Talia. “She was running an operation designed to conduct dangerous and highly illegal experiments with unknown drugs on unwitting research subjects. Also, she murdered at least one person that we know of. Granted, Dr.Fenner was not one of the good guys, but still.”
“Yes, well, no virtual assistant is perfect,” Talia said.
Pallas peered closely at her but, as usual, it wasn’t easy to tell if Talia was trying to make a joke or if she was serious.
“I’m not clear on how Emery Geddings died,” Amelia said.
“With the video from room A and the photo of that logbook page he figured he had some blackmail material,” Pallas said.
“For all we know he may have had other incriminating evidence as well,” Ambrose added. “Maybe some of the transdermal patches. Whatever, he wanted to cash out. He set up two appointments at the asylum. The first one was with Guthrie and Moore. He probably promised to hand over all the evidence in exchange for one big payoff. But they had their own plans.”
