“I heard they’re considering manslaughter charges against you,” Alan said.
Maeve shot him a worried look. They hadn’t talked about that.
Joe glanced down at the scene on his wrist. The drone hovered a few feet over their heads for a few seconds, then flitted off like a hummingbird, showing a shot of a walrus.
“I’m sure the investigation will exonerate us,” Vivian said. “Since we’re blameless.”
Alan snorted again. Joe hated that sound.
“I’m taking my sub out tomorrow to have a look-see, Joe,” Alan said. “I suppose you’re too freaked out to join me.”
“I could manage.” Joe worked on his poker face. He didn’t want Alan to know how desperately he wanted to go down and look at the crash site himself.
“No dogs allowed,” Alan said. “But I can bring it to your dock through that old water outflow. You won’t even have to step outside.”
“I’m in.” Now he’d owe Alan. He hated that, but it would be worth it.
Vivian stared at her wrist, as if transfixed by the drone’s-eye view. She looked nervous, probably worried she might have to go back out in the sub. He didn’t blame her. He wasn’t looking forward to his first time back in a submarine either, but he wasn’t going to let his fears shut off another part of the world.
He couldn’t.
Chapter 16
Avi flew the drone back for its last battery change. The doughty black and white device came straight for him, as loyal as a falcon returning to the leather glove of its master. Light caught the dust motes around it, and they swirled in a dance both ancient and modern.
His shoulders were tense from working the remote control all evening while he’d waited for this moment, but soon his mission would be over and he could take a long soak in the fine bathtub at the Hyatt with Epsom salts.
He reached out his arm for his flying machine. Its weight settled into his outstretched palm, and he drew his hand back from the railing. Using the joystick, he swiveled the tiny camera around to study the people around him, including those above and below. No one watched the anonymous man with the drone. He was simply a fixture at the whale’s tail, like the museum exhibits they no longer bothered to look at. He was the invisible help, not worth these fancy people’s fancy time.
Still, he did a second pan with the camera to verify that he was unobserved. With a practiced motion, he took out the spent battery with one gloved hand, added the battery to the box next to his black shoes, and slipped in a fresh one. The drone was ready for action.
Instead of releasing it into the air as he’d done all night, he fitted a small tripod to the drone’s belly. He’d modified an off-the-shelf tripod to make it sturdier and to build in a specialized frame for its new cargo. Carefully, he lined the tripod up with the camera’s view. He checked the tripod with a tiny level to make sure it was perfectly straight.
Again, a slow camera pan to make sure no one cared about his actions, then he casually drew a 9 mm Ruger from the gray box he’d stashed near the emergency exit. The gun was clean. He’d purchased it from his long-term weapons supplier, one of few men he trusted with his life, and he’d been assured it couldn’t be traced.
The modified grip fit easily into his gloved palm, and he tightened his fingers around it, whispering a blessing before fitting the gun into the tripod. Far below, a man in a navy blue tuxedo stepped onstage to a smattering of applause and began to introduce Tesla. Avi had to be quick.
He cupped the drone in a gloved hand to hide the gun from view as long as possible, then used the controls to have it lift off his palm. The drone staggered and dipped next to the railing like a baby bird on its first flight. He adjusted for the extra weight. He’d spent hours practicing with the drone with the gun and without, and he knew it could carry its deadly cargo as far as needed.
Stabilized, the drone soared along the back of the whale, across the crowd, toward its destiny.
Chapter 17
Vivian wanted to go home. Her arm ached, the view from the little drone made her dizzy but she couldn’t seem to stop watching it, and Tesla was about to go onstage. The only worse thing for a bodyguard would be if he stepped into a war zone.
Mr. Rossi had hired her and Dirk to watch over Tesla, but Dirk was off chatting up some blonde over by the whale’s tail. Meantime, she was by the whale’s head, standing behind the curtain on a makeshift stage, basically just a raised platform. She looked across a sea of overdressed partygoers. The attendees seemed focused on each other. The waiters busily serving overpriced appetizers and Champagne she couldn’t drink on duty. Nothing threatening.
But her gut told her something was off.
Maybe she was still keyed up from the sub accident, and it didn’t mean anything. She wished Dirk was down here and that she had two arms. And that Tesla wasn’t about to step out in front of the crowd and become a giant target.
Tesla fiddled with his tie. The dog had picked up on his nervousness and leaned against the knee of his expensive tuxedo. Yellow dog hairs clung to the black fabric.
“You’re pulling it off center.” Maeve reached up and straightened his tie, smoothing it into a credible bow. “You’ll be great.”
“Why can’t I make the announcement via email?” Tesla asked.
“Maximum impact,” Maeve said. “It’s kind of a PR gesture, so you have to do it publicly.”
“I’m not doing it for PR.” Tesla shifted from foot to foot, like he was about to sprint away. He touched his jacket pocket, where Vivian bet he kept a couple of index cards with notes for his speech like some kind of security blanket. She knew he had it memorized. Tesla memorized everything.
Maeve gestured for him to bend down and whispered something in his ear. Tesla gave her a wicked grin, and Vivian was glad she’d missed whatever that was about.
She glanced down at her wrist to give them privacy. The drone flew along the back of the whale toward them, ready to film Tesla’s speech. Maeve was right about the dust. Vivian’s mother would have insisted on climbing up there and riding the whale with a feather duster to clean it before the party.
That image made Vivian smile. They’d get through this. She was probably just keyed up because the last time she and Tesla had gone out anywhere, it had ended in a submarine crash and they’d both nearly died. Just an echo of worry.
Tesla stepped into the spotlight, and polite applause greeted him. Vivian stood next to Maeve, who peeked through the curtain to watch Tesla. Vivian ignored her boss and scanned the crowd. Everything looked fine. So why did she feel like it wasn’t?
“Thank you all for turning out tonight.” Tesla held on to the podium in the same way she’d grabbed on to the escape ladder. Not a natural performer. “Tragedy has touched our event, an endeavor of exploration and charity.”
She checked the drone’s view. Pretty handy having eyes in the sky. Nothing to worry about from the drone’s point of view either — most people were listening, a few checking their watches like she was. Nobody tense or reaching for a weapon. The drone seemed sluggish. Maybe it was running out of battery power. It had been circling them all night.
“…and so, I’m withdrawing from the competition,” Tesla announced.
Of course he was. His submarine lay in pieces at the bottom of the ocean. But the crowd still looked surprised. Maybe they had two submarines for this kind of emergency and couldn’t believe Tesla didn’t.
“And I’d like to donate my entrance fee to the family of Hector Connelly.”
That was the first time Vivian had even heard the bodyguard’s name. All part of the bodyguarding job — live and die anonymous. At least Tesla had found out his name and mentioned it in public. That was something.