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“She’s coming here today,” Shane said.
“Good,” the doctor said, looking relieved. “In the meantime, as I said last night, I strongly recommend that you admit Regina to the hospital.”
“She doesn’t want to go to any hospital after what she’s been through,” I said firmly. “Unless the circumstances are dire, I don’t want to insist on it.”
Demiguel let out a sharp, frustrated sigh. “Then I just don’t know what to say.” He shoved the files of bloodwork to the middle of the table. “I’ll leave these with you. Look them over at your leisure. Let me know if you change your mind, and I’ll expedite everything for you. Please. Consider it.”
He stalked out, his mouth tight, and shut the door smartly behind himself, right in the face of Trey, the security guy who had gotten up to escort him.
Trey opened the door and followed the doctor without comment.
I let out a slow breath. “Shit,” I whispered.
“Why do you say that?” Freya asked. “She’s stable, right? So it’s a no-news-is-good-news situation.”
I shook my head. “Halliwell’s not done fucking with me yet. I’d like to just kill him now, but I can’t until I know how he made Reggie sick. And how he makes it stop.”
Shane’s hands clenched and flexed. “Ethan?” His quiet voice asked the question he didn’t have to put into words. It was hanging in the air all around us.
“It’s too dangerous,” Ethan said grimly. “He could be luring us into a trap. If he gets his hands on SmokeScreen, he’s one of the few people in the world with the resources to actually use it. And he would have absolute power. All the money, all the information, all the access, all the time.”
“It’s hard for me to care, if Reggie is the sacrifice I have to make to prevent it.” I got up, shoving my chair back.
Shane put his hand on mine. “Red?—”
“Don’t.” I shook his hand off. “I’m sorry. I know I’m being bitchy and unreasonable, but I’m just scared. I feel helpless, and I need a minute. So if you’ll all excuse me. I’ll let you all talk this through without me.”
“Wait,” Ethan said. “Just wait, Cass. Please.”
I let out a shaky breath, and waited.
“We are on your side,” he said. “We will help Reggie in every way we can. We’ll find out everything there is to find about the Coatesworth Facility. We have skills, and we are going to exercise the shit out of them for Reggie. We won’t let you down. I swear. Please, trust us.”
“Okay,” I said, in a small voice.
We got down to business after that, and several hours of hard, focused research followed. I had never worked on any project with people who were as skilled, or perhaps even more skilled, than I was. I’d pretty much concluded that I was a top-shelf, shit-hot hacker, but Ethan and Freya Masters were neck and neck with me, keeping pace. Plus, they were accustomed to the way each other’s minds worked, and brainstormed ideas and solutions with blinding speed. Shane wasn’t shabby either, and the Drakes also had their moments. It was a formidable group.
After a while, Kat got up, shaking her head. “My eyes are crossing,” she said. “Call me when there’s some ass to kick. I’m going to go check on the girls.”
The day flew by. Coffee and sandwiches appeared, at one point. Eventually, the personnel winnowed itself down to Ethan, Freya, Shane, and me, deep in the weeds of the Coatesworth Facility databanks. But Halliwell’s cybersecurity was of the highest order, as I well knew. I’d done some penetration testing on his security myself when I was testing Glow-worm.
The day began to dim. Angela gave us a heads-up about dinner, which would be served in about twenty minutes, and I was a little horrified to realize that I’d spent all those hours in hyper-concentration mode and had not checked on Reggie once.
“Where are the kids?” I asked.
“Last I saw, they’d gone to the gym with Kat, who was going to teach them a martial arts kata,” Angela said. “They were making Bruce Lee battle yips, and karate-chopping at each other, having a grand old time. Don’t worry about Reggie.”
“Where’s the gym?” I persisted. “Just tell me where. I’ll find it myself.”
“I’ll take you,” Shane said swiftly. “Follow me.”
He led me across the inner courtyard, which was enormous, with gorgeously landscaped gardens. I’d been so busy and distracted, the luxurious details of the place had not registered in my mind at all.
He led me across the huge inner courtyard garden and past a swimming pool to a building on the other side of the quadrant. Inside, in a huge practice room, Kat was slowly demonstrating a graceful crouching move in a karate form.
The two little girls tried to imitate her, Holly with more success than Reggie, who was weaker and frailer after her illness and captivity. Then the girls caught sight of us and came running full tilt. Holly barreled into Shane and Reggie into me, both of them chattering about their ninja training.
“We can do somersaults, Daddy!” Holly said proudly. “Kat’s been teaching me, and I love it, but it’s going to be a lot more fun to have someone to spar with. Want to see my somersaults?”
