But if they failed, Avi would come back. He wouldn’t give up until the man was dead. And as the man’s life was slipping away, Avi would turn his attentions to the tall woman who had thwarted his plans and wounded his arm and his pride.
She would not escape either.
Chapter 28
Joe dropped clothing into a duffel bag, checking everything off against the list in his head. He couldn’t afford to forget anything. Edison followed every movement, probably wondering what this packing was all about. Andres had brought the dog back later than usual, but the dog seemed so relaxed and happy he was glad he had.
He glanced back at the bookcase covering the secret exit from his bedroom. No one knew about it but him and Leandro Gallo. Leandro wouldn’t exactly be a problem. Joe would disappear, and no one would know how.
As if she’d heard his thought, Vivian slammed open his bedroom door and marched in. He could have sworn he’d locked that door, but he couldn’t point that out since his bodyguards had insisted he not lock it.
“You’re supposed to knock.” He tried to move between her and the duffel bag.
“I just wanted to tell you we apprehended the man controlling the bug robots. He looks like the guy who shot Maeve.”
“Good.” He just wanted her to leave.
“Evaline tipped us off.” Her eyes danced with adrenaline. “We took him out in the concourse. Fitzgerald has him at the station. It looks like you’re free to get out and about.”
“Good,” he said again.
“What are you doing?” She looked over his shoulder at the duffel. “Sir.”
Busted. That changed things.
“Cleaning up,” he lied.
“Looks like you’re getting packed.” She pointed at the duffel.
“Putting stuff in storage.”
“Looks to me like you’re getting ready to sneak out the back door.”
“What back door?” he asked.
“You know I can’t let you do that.” She moved her feet apart and dropped into a low stance. He wondered if she even knew she was doing that.
“You’ve only got one good arm,” he said. “I think I could take you.”
“I have one arm and one cast.” She touched it. “And you’re welcome to try.”
It would be embarrassing if she pinned him, but just as bad if he got past her. If she yelled for help, there’d be three (red) guys in his bedroom inside of a minute. They’d practiced it in a security drill.
“You don’t have to put yourself in danger and leave,” she said.
“Maybe I want a quiet walk.”
“With a duffel bag full of clothes and weird electronic gear?”
“You never know when you’ll need a change of clothes.”
“I can’t let you leave,” she said.
“You work for me,” he pointed out.
“You can always fire me.”
“Would you leave me alone if I fired you?”
“I’d be free to do whatever I wanted.” She sat next to him. “Including not leave you alone.”
Edison licked her hand. Even the dog wasn’t on his side.
“Tell me what you’re up to,” she said. “Then we’ll see.”
“I’ve hired a ship to go look for that submarine.” It sounded crazier when he said it aloud. “It’s too dangerous for me here, and for anyone around me.”
“I like ships.” She flashed a completely insincere smile and didn’t budge.
“You hate ships.”
“Sounds like you’d have to pay me extra.”
“What if I paid you extra to sit quietly outside my door for an hour and then start an ineffectual search?”
“That job doesn’t interest me. Not like the ship.”
He sighed. “I don’t want you to come.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I’m touched.”
He felt himself flushing. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just—”
“Dangerous?” she asked.
“Not if I do it right.” He’d made a checklist for his bag, and he looked at it to avoid looking at her.
“I know you’re my boss,” she said. “But you’re not my commanding officer, and I don’t have to watch you do stupid crap and say nothing.”
“You’re saying plenty,” he said. “Over and over.”
“I know you’re stir crazy,” she said. “But you just got a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
“I find your faith in the process astounding,” he said. “Even if they caught the right guy, the Dakkars will send another. So long as they still think I tried to kill the prince.”
“If they do, we’ll deal with it,” she said. “No reason to cut and run.”
He added a pea coat to the pile. New, purchased by Andres Peterson. He and Andres had set up a system to get things past the cops and bodyguards. Edison had gone outside with Andres every day — up the elevator, through Grand Central, and right out the front door with a list taped to the inside of his collar. Every day before Andres brought the dog back, he’d turn in a backpack containing the items on the list to the Lost & Found Office at Grand Central marked with Joe’s name. All Joe had to do was sneak out his back door and retrieve the backpack without getting caught. Perry, the clerk at the Lost & Found, had been in on the plan.
“It’s a new moon tonight,” he said. “We won’t get another for a month. That’s how moon cycles work. And I’m not cutting and running. I’ve been planning this for a while.”
She went into his bathroom and tossed stuff around. She came out carrying a little canvas bag. “I took your toothpaste, an unopened toothbrush, and your comb.”
“It’s not really a good idea.”
“Right.” She crossed to his closet and took out a couple of pairs of socks, a pair of jeans, and a couple T-shirts. She even grabbed a pair of clean underwear Maeve had left and tossed everything into a pillowcase.
He shouldered the duffel bag and whistled for Edison. The dog leaped to his side. He must have known they were leaving the house, but he’d no idea how far they were going.
Joe straightened the antique quilt on his bed, tidying up and inhaling the comfortable smell of lilac that had probably permeated this room for a century. He wondered if he’d ever come back.
“I’m going out the back door,” he said. “Don’t try to stop me.”
“I won’t,” she said. “I always wondered where the back door was.”
“Vivian,” he said. “I’m about to do a crazy thing.”
“Just another day at the office.”
“On the water,” he said. “For a long time. And you won’t have many extra clothes.”
“Extra pay,” she said. “That’ll make it up to me.”
“Any way I could go out that door without you?” he asked. “Pay raise? Kitchen appliances?”
She folded her arms, good arm on top of the broken one.
“It might be dangerous.”
“I’m more worried about what my mother is going to think when your bodyguards realize you’re gone and the press discovers we’ve both disappeared.”
“That’s its own kind of danger,” he said. “You want to avoid that.”
She pointed to the antique bookcase near his bed. “It’s behind that, isn’t it?”
Chapter 29
Vivian whistled when he slid open the bookshelf. “Did you press something?”
“Maybe,” he said. “Maybe not.”
Even watching him she hadn’t been able to see how he opened it. When they got back, she intended to figure it out, but for now she just added it to her to-do list.
He patted the edge of the tunnel, and Edison jumped in. Joe pushed the duffel into the hole and climbed in after it.
She hurried to follow. His last chance of leaving her behind would be to lose her in the tunnels, and she expected him to try. Her mother called it her suspicious nature.