Until It's You (12 page)

Kristina looked over her shoulder to see if she was being followed yet again. If she was, the follower was keeping his or her distance, because she saw nothing. Still, the clenching feeling in her stomach told her something was off. She'd learned that she ignored those feelings at her own risk.

Part of it might be from what her brother had just told her. Her brother, who was using this cab ride as a chance for another quick nap. He’d always been able to sleep anywhere.

Cars glided by silently out the window as she thought over what he’d said. What did this dual-dispersal thing really mean? Was she now feeling something different than she’d been feeling earlier, with the hallucinations? Had those feelings been more real than what she had now? She didn’t even really feel like there were any pharms acting on her, outside of the light soothers the cab was running.

So what the hell was going on in her head?

She watched buildings give way to Lake Michigan as the cab turned onto Lakeshore Drive and got them going north toward the apartment Landon had gotten them situated in. The water blurred by, the deep blue water bright from the overhead sun. Soon they were back amongst the buildings, as they rumbled down Foster. Kristina looked over her shoulder again.

Still nothing. Maybe the pit in her stomach was just a reaction to everything with Tom, or even the whole situation. You never knew with those feelings.

They approached the intersection with Damen. She hit the round, green button in front of her to have the automatically-navigated cab drop them off at the nearest corner. It obliged immediately.

They would walk the rest of the way. She shook Tom awake, paid for the cab using some of the value stored on her pre-paid comm—she'd have to remember to reload it—and got the two of them out of there, watching the cars that passed them closely for anything familiar. She couldn’t be sure, but nothing and no one jumped out at her.

With her fingers latched firmly around her still-drowsy brother’s fat upper-arm, she walked the two of them up and into the neighborhood.

Five uneventful minutes later, they were at the apartment door. She messaged Landon that she was outside and waited for him to buzz her in, hoping all the while he wasn’t deep in another Recall. As they waited, she looked around at the block, with its towering trees over predictably uneven sidewalks. She wondered if these trees had been hooked up for aero dispersal, or if the city would bother with that in a neighborhood like this.

“So where are we?” Tom asked sleepily, bringing her back. “Is this your new apartment or something? Because I could really use a nap.”

“You just had a nap.” Kristina looked over at him. “But no, this apartment belongs to the guy I want you to meet.”

“Who’s that?” Tom asked.

The buzzer on the door sounded. Kristina smiled as she stepped forward and opened the door. “You’re about to find out. Come on.”

They walked up the carpeted stairs and up to the apartment door, which was unlocked. Kristina turned the handle and walked in with a curious Tom following close behind.

“Hello?” Kristina called out.

A light switch clicked in the bathroom, and Landon came out wrapped in a towel. The skin of his v-shaped torso glistened, still wet from the shower he’d just taken.

“You got back faster than I thought you would,” he said, his dark eyes mischievous under his short, dark hair.

His newly olive skin suited him, she thought, though it would take a lot to mess up a facial structure that gorgeous. Or those muscles.

“Why did you need a second shower?” she asked, unable to take her eyes from his body.

“Quick work out,” he said. He looked over her shoulder. “Helps me think. Who’s this?”

Oh no.

Kristina shook her head rapidly, shocked she had forgotten about her brother so easily. “Oh, this is why I came back. This is Tom. Tom, this is—”

“You’re Landon Tatum,” Tom said, awe struck. “She found you.”

“Well, he kind of found me,” Kristina said mildly. “But yes.”

Tom stepped forward and held his hand out for Landon to shake. Landon gripped the loose, plush white towel with his left hand and shook Tom’s hand with his right. He looked between Kristina and Tom. “I’m glad you’re safe, Tom. Your sister and I were very worried.”

“I’ve read all the papers you wrote as a student,” Tom spat out, words tumbling from his mouth like ice out of an ice maker. “Your thesis on Dual Pronged Intracellular Delivery Systems was brilliant. I couldn’t believe how elegant—”

“Tom,” Kristina interrupted, seeing one of his monologues coming. “Let him get dressed.”

He blinked and looked down at Landon’s chest, back to his sister, then up at Landon. “Sorry Mr. Tatum,” he said automatically.

Landon smiled easily. “It’s Landon. I’ll be right back.”

He walked out of the room and into the apartment’s bedroom. Kristina couldn’t help but check out bulging straps of his back muscles as they trailed down below his towel. Pharms or not, that was a hell of a body.

Tom turned to Kristina. “How did you find him? Or did he find you, or whatever?” he asked.

She took a deep breath. This wasn’t really the time she felt like getting into the specifics of the last twenty-four hours.

“It turned out he was looking for me,” she said simply. “And that’s a good thing, because whoever’s after him is also after me.”

Tom narrowed his eyes. “After you? Why?”

“Same reason someone came after you. They really want to get to Landon.”

Again, Tom gaped at her, his sleepy eyes trying to process the words she was saying. Eventually, he shook his head slowly. “What the hell?" he muttered.

She stifled a laugh. “That’s one way to put it.”

The door to the bedroom opened and Landon came out, wearing a crisp black shirt and slim, gray cotton slacks.

“Am I interrupting something?” Landon asked

Kristina looked up at his eyes and saw him staring right at her. She turned to Tom, whose beady eyes were oblivious to what was going on.

“No,” she said quickly, turning back to face Landon. She bit the inside of her lip and took a breath, steadying herself. “Tom has something that will probably make more sense to you than to me.”

“Oh?”

“It’s about that pharm they stuck Kristina with,” Tom said. His voice quavered. “It’s...not Agent Smith like I thought.”

Landon blinked and shook his head rapidly, bewildered. He took a moment to compose himself before he spoke next, and when he did so he spoke slowly and clearly. “I thought Kristina said you tested it.”

“I did" Tom said, nodding frantically. "Someone went into the CPD computer and crossed something from Atlas Pharm with Agent Smith. Doubled the record.”

She watched Landon to see what he would think of this. He was perfectly still, listening and evaluating. It did not seem he was particularly surprised by Tom's explanation.

“So you don’t know what it is,” he said.

“It’s classified," Tom answered. "I don’t know anything more than that.”

Landon nodded. He turned to Kristina. “But you were hallucinating, correct?”

She returned his gesture. “Yes.”

He turned back to Tom. “Tell me what you found.”

Tom wrung his hands. “So I was investigating the delivery system, which is supposed to be a Class IV Nanosponge deal on Agent Smith, when I saw the evidence for a dual impact discrete setup that was more in line with what you’d expect for nanotech pharms.”

Landon nodded. “Go on.”

Kristina shuffled back and forth on her feet before clearing her throat. “I’m going to do some work while you guys talk about this. Give me the less science-y version when you’re done, okay?”

Landon gave her a single nod. “Will you be working in the bedroom or the kitchen?”

She shrugged. “Bedroom, I guess. Easier to concentrate.”

“Fair enough," he said. His dark eyes trained on her, and she felt in her heart that he was trying to send her a message that she did not understand. It only lasted a second, and then it was gone. "Good luck. I want an update on what you found out whenever you get a chance. In layman’s terms, of course.”

He flashed her a smile then turned to Tom. “Do you want to take this to the couch? I’m going to need you to draw some diagrams for me and there’s pen and paper there.”

Tom nodded dumbly and followed Landon to the couch. Kristina, still trying to get a read on what the consequences of what Landon and Tom were talking about might be, gathered up her bag and walked to the bedroom.

As soon as she got into the room, she plopped down onto the bed, crisscrossed her legs under her butt, got out her tablet and got to work. She made a note to ask Landon about his knowledge of the investigation Carter had said she was conducting, especially regarding this delayed shipment. She had a hunch it would be the same pharm he’d talked about earlier. Almost had to be.

That done, she began to cross-reference the material she’d pulled up on Fordelli with fresh material she dug through regarding Brantley. It was a haphazard process, selecting data points to throw into the program that cross-referenced all the data she’d already catalogued, but it was better than waiting eons for the tablet to get through all the data out there and make sense of it. Unless they literally showed up in the same piece of content—which she’d checked—that would be useless. Google's facial recognition engine didn’t even show them having a picture taken together.

But she continued to dig through as much material as she could. If there was something, it could be such a good lead.

After an hour, she had nothing. If they had a connection, it was deep. She brought up a view of everything she had on Fordelli and sifted it for travel he’d done in the last six months. Crossed it against everything she had for Brantley.

Just the one conference in D.C. for the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America. Which had a pretty solid cover, since Landon had been with him. Technically they could have conspired there, but it was pretty weak.

She looked at the door. It was a little surprising Landon and Tom were still out there talking about this pharm. Maybe she should go out there and give Landon a change of pace. Tom could really get talking. She stood up and headed for the door.

Her comm buzzed on the bed. She froze. Maybe it was Kevin. Or Anna. If it was Carter, she wasn’t picking up. She walked over to the bed and picked up the buzzing device.

It wasn’t in the comm’s list of previous contacts. Kristina bit her lip as she looked down at the comm’s screen. Who would be calling this device that she didn’t already know? Was it Kevin from a new pre-paid? Anna, from someone else’s device for some reason? The options were limited unless the ID had been shared, in which case she might need to get a new one.

She answered the call and put the comm to her ear, her heart pounding ferociously from her throat to the base of her spine.

“Hello?”

“Kristina?”

That voice. She knew it . . .

“I...yes, this is Kristina.”

“Kristina, it’s Victoria. Louise gave me this comm ID. I’m worried.”

Kristina shook her head. Dunn was calling her on her burner. Otherwise it would have shown up. She hadn't even noticed Louise getting the ID off her comm. How had that happened?

“I assure you,” Kristina said warily. “I am working on this case at the absolute peak of my ability.”

“I don’t doubt that Kristina. It’s just...we need to meet.”

Kristina took a deep breath. “Ms. Dunn, I assume you realize I am very busy...”

“I do,” Dunn said quickly. Kristina had never heard her this shaken before. “And obviously I wouldn’t be making this request unless I absolutely had to. But we must meet. There is...something we need to discuss.”

“And you can’t tell me electronically?”

A pause on the other line. “I would prefer to do so in person,” Dunn said delicately.

"Can you give me a hint?"

"It involves an intra-office situation. Is that enough?"

Intra-office situation
. Was this about Brantley?

Kristina looked at the time on her tab. Seven o’clock. Just about time for dinner. “Where did you have in mind?” she asked.

“I was hoping you might join me at Di Roma for a glass of wine and a bit of supper.”

Kristina licked her lips. Di Roma was one of her favorite Italian places in the city, and the wine list was excellent. She swallowed and let out a deep breath. If Dunn was this worked up about it, it would be good.

“What time?”

“Can you make it within the hour?”

Kristina did some quick mental math. She would have to leave fast to get all the way down to the West Loop by then. “Of course," she said. "I’ll see you there.”

She ended the call and looked back at her tab. By the sound of it, she might just have another lead. If it solidified things against Brantley, that would be a huge help.

Her mood lifted, she hopped out of bed and walked out of the bedroom. In the living room  she found Landon studying something in the notebook they’d been using. Tom was on the tablet Landon had used earlier for a Recall.