“Giancarlo?”
“He’s ordered that his Cessna be fueled up and put at my disposal.” He paused. “I told him I’d let him know later if I’d actually be using it. I don’t like taking orders, Kendra.”
“It wasn’t an order. It was a request. I just didn’t have time to make it a polite one.”
“And any request should have come from me.” Waldridge stepped forward. “I can understand how you wouldn’t want to be involved, Lynch. You’ve done more than enough for me. Forget this. I’ll handle it on my own.”
“You will not,” Kendra said impatiently. “It would be too easy to get screwed up. And I don’t intend to let that happen. I want to get back to my kids and not have to worry about you.”
“Your kids?” Lynch’s expression changed the slightest bit. “What do they have to do with anything?”
“They obviously don’t. Because I’ve had to put their therapy on hold since all this began. And now Charles is becoming all noble again, and it will probably end up having Jessie slicing me open and putting another disk in me.”
“That won’t happen,” Lynch said grimly. “Never.”
“Never,” Waldridge repeated. “It’s time you stepped away, Kendra.”
“Not until I’m certain that this is going to work out.” She was seething with frustration as she turned to him. “Listen to me. Can’t you see? Lynch is perfect.”
“At last I agree with something you’re saying,” Lynch said.
“Be quiet. I can only deal with one thing at a time.” She locked eyes with Waldridge. “Look at him. You saw what Lynch did at that ridge. He’s a damn rock star. Neither of us have probably ever seen anyone as good as Lynch at what he does.”
“Are you saying I need a bodyguard?”
“Probably. But that’s not what he does. I don’t know exactly what he does myself. I know he fixes things. They send for him when everything goes to hell. When a government is crashing. When a cartel needs to be taken down. When someone needs to be found who people don’t want to be found. I don’t know what else. I don’t know if I want to know. But he fixes things.” She punched her index finger on his chest. “And you need to be fixed.”
He blinked. “Indeed? Not only is that humiliating to me, but there appears to be a problem with the rock star accepting the gig.”
Yes, there did, and she was probably doing this all wrong. But she was tired and worried, and her arm was beginning to throb. She whirled on Lynch. “Look, I know I’m asking a lot of you, but Charles is going to go off on his own and set up a lab to finish the Night Watch Project. He got scared off by some of the potential players whom Griffin’s boss brought into the debriefing yesterday. He thinks that he could be drawn into the same nightmare he went through with Dyle. He’s not going to allow it. He believes he has to go on the run.”
Lynch’s face was totally without expression. “Do you think he could be right?”
“Yes, Charles has been through it all before. He knows the signs.”
“And what do you want me to do?”
“He needs a place that’s totally safe, where he’s protected, where no one will ask questions.”
He smiled crookedly. “What? In this world? You’re dreaming, Kendra.”
“I don’t think so. You have so many enemies, Lynch. You built that gorgeous house here that has every security device known to man and could repel a small army. You did that because you wanted to be able to relax within those walls.” She paused. “But you’re not a man who takes anything for granted. You’d prepare for the day when you might have to leave that house and go on the run yourself. You’d have a place set up for yourself that’s everything I described.”
“Would I?”
“Yes. And I need you to lend it to Charles for a while, then set up everyone surrounding him as if you were the one in hiding.”
“If there was such a scenario, you’d be asking for a lot.”
“I know.” She moistened her lips. “He’s worth it, Lynch.”
“Is he? I really only have your opinion on that. I always like to make judgments for myself.”
“But you know what he’s-”
He held up his hand to stop her. “I’m thinking about it. But I have to know everything connected to the problem. Am I going to have to arrange protection for you there, too?”
She frowned. “No, of course not. Why would you have to do that?”
“It was a possibility. How long will he need to be in hiding?”
“He’s not sure. Possibly a year, maybe longer.”
“Is Griffin going to be involved in a search for him?”
“Charles thinks it likely that-”
“I think that I should speak for myself,” Waldridge interrupted. “This is all judgment calls on my part, too, Lynch. I believe a certain amount of pressure will be applied on the pretext that I could be in danger. Griffin might feel he has to find me. I don’t know about the extent of that search.”
“Griffin doesn’t drag his heels. Your cover would have to be perfect.” His gaze was fixed absently on the airport tech filling the Cessna. “There would be a hell of a lot of loose ends to tie up…”
“Will you fix it?” Kendra asked. “Is there a place?”
His gaze shifted back to her. “It’s a big favor. You’d owe me.”
“Of course I would.” She asked slowly, spacing between each word. “Is there a place?”
He turned on his heel and started toward the Cessna. “There’s a place.” He was striding quickly across the tarmac. “Get on the plane, Waldridge. From now on, you do everything I tell you to do without question. Understand? You may be a god in your particular universe, but from now on your universe is limited to your lab. But if you manage to make it through this mess and win the Nobel Prize, I might even bow down and worship at the altar like the rest of your fans.”
“Not bloody likely,” Waldridge murmured as he fell into step with him as Kendra followed behind. “But I’m not a god, and I’m certainly not a fool. If Kendra says I need fixing, and you can do it, who am I not to cooperate?”
“Kendra needs to do some fixing herself.” Lynch was looking over his shoulder at Kendra. “I take it you went AWOL from the hospital?” When she nodded, he said, “When you leave here, you go back to your condo. Leave Waldridge’s rental car at a metered spot downtown. It’ll be towed and the rental car company will get a call once it hits the impound lot.”
Kendra nodded. “Okay…”
“Then you call your mother and ask her to meet you at your condo. You tell her that she’s to tell anyone who questions her that she received a call from you in the middle of the night and you told her to pick you up outside the hospital. You told her you couldn’t sleep, and you saw no reason why you should have to stay there.” He smiled. “Considering your reputation with the FBI field office, they won’t find it unusual you wanted to run your own show. But Dianne will say she didn’t want to leave you alone. So like a good mother, she bunked down on the couch and was available in case you needed her.”
“As an alibi?”
“Yes, you won’t need one. No crime has been committed. But it might throw off anyone who thinks you have anything to do with Waldridge’s disappearance. I’ll lay a few more false trails for them to follow, but they’ll come to you first.” His lips twisted. “And Dianne will be completely convincing if it means she’s doing something that will protect her hero and still keeping you safely here in San Diego.”
“Yes, she will,” Kendra said. “Though I don’t want to involve her.”
“She was mad as hell that you didn’t involve her the last time. She may forgive you if you let her do this.” He turned back to Waldridge. “And can you give me an idea where those incubators with the organs would be taken in London? Biers said he didn’t know.”