Until It's You (22 page)

"By that logic, almost everything is trying to create a reaction in people's brains. This food, even."

He shrugged, a mysterious expression on his face. How serious was he right now, anyway? Strange mood.

"Are you going to tell this restaurant owner that this isn't an honest living?" he asked.

"Of course not." She shifted in her seat, looked for the waiter. But their next plate still wasn't coming. “So, for all this talk of just affecting people's brains, you still have a problem with releasing the Phobos?"

A shadow fell over his face. "That's different."

"Why?"

"Because it's too targeted. Too potent. Making people feel generally calmer is one thing, but bastardizing the link a person feels toward another person...no."

"Bastardizing? Do you think it works?"

He took a deep breath. "Unclear. It
seems
to work, mostly. But part of me feels like...I don't know."

"What?"

He hesitated, then licked his lips and nodded, almost to himself. "There's attraction, and then there's holy-shit-what-the-hell-is-this, you know?"

"Like lust versus love?"

"Maybe. Or maybe it's more sudden than that, a kind of instant click. Like, when you meet someone, some percentage of the receptors in your brain responsible for attraction are firing. And maybe the pharm we have hits like seventy percent of the reactors that could potentially be hit. But I just don't think we hit all of them. Like, when you go hundred percent, I think that's so different it might as well not even be related. You know?"

"This sounds like a seriously unromantic version of people falling in love."

He froze for a second, his eyes boring into her. Then his thin lips pulled back into a radiant smile and he sat back in his seat. "I guess maybe it's just as dumb as any other explanation."

"Maybe."

"But when you know, you know. It just hits you."

"You talk about this like someone with a lot of experience with it."

His face flickered into something, but he said nothing.

"Have you ever fallen in love?" she pressed. "Or whatever else you call what it is you're talking about."

His coal-black eyes bored into her with the intensity of a furnace. His thin lips parted, briefly, then curled in on themselves as his mouth closed. Then they parted again, just slightly.

A warm shiver eased its way down from her throat to her toes.

Her senses became hyper aware of everything. The breeze coming in from the lake. The salty taste of sweat around her lips. The hard edge of the chair under her knees. Her beating heart.

The waiter approached with their next plate of food, a mushroom risotto. He arrived and set it down, breaking the spell and yet she still felt every cell of her skin alive and pulsing at the edge of an admission or truth. 

"Let's eat," Landon said quietly.

The two of them ravaged the risotto, followed by equal treatment for the Korean short ribs. They ate in silence yet intensely, under the weight of what was unsaid. The meal was topped up by a chocolate mousse, which enveloped her mouth deliciously so every taste bud was a source of pleasure.

She was reveling in the mousse when her comm rang out. After exchanging a look with Landon, she dug the device out of her pocket and checked the ID. Earlier than expected, it was Carter.

Another look with Landon, then she answered the call. “This is Kristina.”

“We’ve got her," Carter said. There was an excited edge to her voice. "When can you get Tatum to the station?”

Kristina blinked. “You got her already? That was fast.”

“Yes. She’s...very agitated. I don’t think we can hold her too long before her lawyer gets her out. When can you get Tatum down here?”

Her eyes went to Landon, who was watching her with a pensive expression. She covered the microphone on her comm. “They got Bruman. Should we go now?”

His face went hard. The quiet intimacy that had been blooming between them wilted. He gave a single, hard nod. 

She removed her hand from the microphone. “We’ll be on our way shortly,” she said.

“Good. Just have him ID at the desk and security will take him back.”

The call ended, and she put her comm away in her bag. A few minutes later, Landon paid and they went to the front of the restaurant. 

As they waited for their car at valet, the look on his face was something between someone going to their own execution and someone ready to kill. The engaging, witty man she'd been talking to just twenty minutes earlier was gone.

Her own expression went cold. It was time to get back to work.

The drive to the station was dead quiet.

Landon put the car on auto after the wine at dinner, and they both stared out the window as the car took them efficiently to the FBI's Chicago offices. Kristina searched for something she could say to break the ice, but the energy in the car was so tense that she decided to leave it alone.

It took about twenty minutes to get across town and to the FBI office. When they arrived, the car parked itself across the street. Kristina looked up at the imposing exterior, something she hadn't thought to do last time she was there. It was all gunmetal blue and pale stone in alternating vertical strips. The windows were small, making it look like a prison. She would
hate
to work inside.

They entered into the black marble lobby and walked up to the sleek front desk.  To her surprise, the security at the front desk put in a call as they entered, before they had even gone up to introduce themselves. Kristina stopped in her tracks rather than continue to the desk. Landon, after a moment, followed her lead.

Sure enough, Agent Carter came through the door to greet them two minutes later. She wore her typical conservative black business suit like a uniform, its silhouette accentuating her tall frame. Her posture said she was very fired up.

“Not sure about this yet,” she said, cutting right to the chase. “She’s dug in with her attorney.”

Kristina nodded dumbly. Landon remained still.

She eyed Landon. “You must be Tatum. I’m Agent Rachel Carter."

Landon shook her hand. "Good to meet you," he said coolly.

"I hope you’ll be helpful.”

“I share your hope." He looked around the lobby, which was empty except for the front-desk people. "Should we be discussing this here?"

Carter pulled her lips back and flashed her bright teeth in a smile. "Not in terms more specific than those I just used." She turned to Kristina. “Make any progress on that info I gave you?”

Kristina shook her head. “I’ve been busy.”

“I’d follow it up,” she said. “My gut says there’s something promising in there.”

Kristina pressed her lips together. She'd already been planning that, in fact. But she didn't like taking orders from the agent.

“Thanks for the tip," she said through a tight expression. "Any idea how long you’ll be in there?”

Carter rolled her eyes. “She gets a break after two hours if the lawyer requests it. Which he will. One of us will call you then.”

“Okay.”

"That about covers it." She turned to Landon. "You ready?"

Landon turned to Kristina. “Good luck,” she said.

Kristina nodded. “You too.”

They turned and walked back through the same door Carter had just come out of. Kristina turned heel and walked out of the building, already thinking about her next step.

The air was still and sticky this far into the city on a summer night. Definitely a far cry from the lakefront. She decided to leave the car where it was and walked a few blocks further into the West Loop. There she found an old coffee shop to set herself up.

It was pretty old-fashioned, doing work at a coffee shop. Most people preferred either labs or aerobars, but she liked the atmosphere at a coffee shop.

This was one was a classic, with tile everywhere to mimic the North African coffee shops of a hundred years ago, when philosophers would smoke cigarettes and find new ways to be depressing. At least that is what she had gotten out of the history book in high school.

The comfort of it would help her try and block out what Landon must be going through in that interrogation. Would Carter let her see the interrogation recording? If Landon was in there, she might, but it was dicey.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. Putting Landon into a situation where he had to relive this in a Recall would be awful. She didn't want to do that to him unless there was no other option.

But that was a concern for later. For now, she needed to keep investigating while they figured out what Bruman knew. Once the barista came with her steaming latte and a buttery croissant, she got herself set up at a table with her tablet and went to work.

Her goal was to create as full a profile as possible of the Moonlight Auto Dealership. She could cross reference it with the motel.

For now, it was the best lead she had on the murder that had happened outside of The Velvet, and that was the string she'd pulled on the least. Which meant there might be something good there.

So she got to work with her tablet and template, filling in details as she could. Ownership history. Previous tenants in the building. License applications.  Reviews. Any personalities she could get her hands on, then follow-ups on those.

After a while, she had a picture, but it was muddy. Moonlight was a small shop with a murky past. Any connection past the name with the motel was by all appearances gone. Which was even stranger.

The shop had gone through many ownership changes, the most recent only a year ago. It looked like a shell company situation, actually. Very strange for something as small as a used car lot. Could be criminal, could be paranoid. Could also be control freak.

Any of those were various levels of intriguing. She finished her latte and thought about another. Carter had been right. There was definitely something here. 

***

Landon walked with Carter from the lobby and into the halls of the FBI building. The decor past the front-lobby changed from the grandeur of the black marble to gray-walled government office stuffiness. Short, navy carpet and fluorescent lights above. Aero vents pumping what Landon was sure was a combination of Nvigorate and Anxeeze.

He knew because his company had a contract with them.

Conscious of the new pharms in his system, he followed Carter as she took them past more turns and two staircases. Bland complexes like this were the stuff nightmares were made out of. It was like he could expect to start being chased by some faceless NSA spies any moment.

At least the agent knew where she was going. She walked confidently, with the bearing of someone who felt she was on the right side of whatever it was she fought. Good government officers were like that.

He followed quietly, nervous anticipation flooding his system despite the effects of the aeros and the wine from dinner as he awaited what was next. Finally, they came to the interrogation room.

Carter turned to him just outside the door, a professional scowl on her face.

"I'll do most of the talking," she said. "You're here mostly to call her out on lies and provide backup when I ask for it. Okay?"

Landon's jaw worked. Carter seemed confident now, but she was probably underestimating just how pissed off Bruman was going to be about this. "I understand," he said through his teeth.

If Carter noticed his tension, she didn't show it. "Good." she said. "Let's go."

She opened the door and stepped in, then waited at the side until Landon had entered. The door shut behind him.

It was a small room, with a dark metal table going across almost the room’s entire length. There was just enough room to slide past the table’s edge to the other side. There, Bruman sat with her attorney.

The attorney was one of those gray-haired men who still thought they were as slick as when they were in their twenties. Totally kept up with his fraternity from college. Landon pegged him for fifty-plus. Maybe way-plus.

Bruman stared daggers at him as he took his seat on the metal folded chair. His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. A sense of betrayal flashed through him. Did he really know this person? For a long time, that hadn't even been a question. But now he didn't know.

Agent Carter took a seat to his left. She wasted no time. “This is Mr. Tatum, as I'm sure you are both aware. He will be assisting me in questioning.”

The attorney nodded, but Bruman immediately leaned forward, both hands planted on the table like she was about to vault it.

“Mr. Tatum, what is the meaning of this?” she spat, her eyes flashing. "This agent said you are the reason I am here."

Landon swallowed. He looked to Carter, who gave a single shake of her head, then back to Bruman. The look in her eyes wasn't just betrayal, but something more. Anger, maybe. Or fear. Dilated pupils could mean a lot of things, right?

He clamped his jaw tight and waited for the interview to continue.

“Agent Carter,” the lawyer said forcefully. “My client is happy to cooperate in this matter, but we must know what exactly it is you are gathering information on."

Carter cleared her throat. “Ms. Bruman, what is your relationship with the Phobos project?”

Her eyes flicked briefly toward Landon, then back to the agent. She was fighting for her composure, but seemed to be maintaining it. Just.

“That project is classified,” she said professionally.

"Classified by who? The federal government?"

She looked to Landon, who shook his head.

"Not at this point, but such a classification should be considered imminent given the progress on the project and its nature."

Carter clasped her hands together on the desk. “Ms. Bruman, I am investigating a delayed shipment of this substance. A substance developed with the knowledge that its misuse would be a major national security risk. I do not need to know any details about its function or production beyond what I have just described, but I do need to know what happened to the shipment I have just mentioned. These things are very tightly controlled. By this I mean there are no trade secrets at risk here.” She drew her lips back to show her teeth in a way that was more predatory than friendly. “If you do not cooperate with me, my office will file charges of obstruction of justice and believe me, they will stick.”

Bruman looked to her attorney, who gave her something between a nod and a shrug.

Reluctantly, she turned back to Carter. “From my position with Tatum Pharmaceuticals," she said, maintaining her dignity, "I am familiar with the Phobos project.”

Carter sat back in her seat, satisfied to have won a major battle. Landon had to admit, he was impressed with how coolly she had handled that situation. Bruman wasn't done, though.

“What is your role on the project?” the agent asked.

Bruman pursed her lips for a moment before answering. “Administrative. Similar to that with any of the company’s work.”

“So you would be generally aware of where a pharm’s research and development was at various stages of its life cycle. Is that a fair statement?”

The lawyer put his hand up and conferred with his client briefly before sitting back himself.

"I'm not sure what 'general awareness' even means," Bruman said. “I handle administrative elements of pharmaceuticals the company has in the pipeline.”

“I see. And these administrative elements include what?”

“Staffing, lab allocation, budget, supplies, infrastructure. When it enters the testing process, I am involved with that as well.”

"Logistics?"

"At times."

“Prototypes?”

Landon perked up. He watched Bruman’s face intently. Her perfectly made up face was like a stone.

"When a pharmaceutical is ready for testing past the experimental compound phase, I would be aware, yes. At that point a delivery system has been decided and it is almost ready for production."

"So you would be aware when a pharm hits this stage in the pipeline?"

“Yes," she said. "I would be aware. That’s an important milestone.”

“What is the process for the deployment of prototypes?”

Her eyes narrowed. “The process?”

“Eventually a delivery system is decided, as you said. What is the process once a pharm reaches the prototype stage?”

The lawyer leaned forward. Landon could see where this was going from a mile away, but there wasn't much room to get out of it. This was at least a try.

"That's a broad question," Bruman said.

Agent Carter smiled professionally. "I understand, and will take the responsibility for asking follow-up questions as I see appropriate. Start wherever you want."

Landon shifted in his seat, watching Bruman. It wouldn't show to most people, but she looked shaken. Strange.

"At that point," she said, her voice quiet, "as you stated, a prototype is produced. Further testing past what was done at the experimental compound phase follows. I am not sure what you are asking."

Carter nodded and leaned forward again. “I’ll cut to the point, then. When a prototype is shipped for testing by an outside party, are you aware of it?”

Bruman looked to Landon. A sinking feeling had started in his stomach. He knew where this was going and he suspected she did as well. “I receive summary reports for that kind of thing,” she said. "I do not personally watch shipments leave our labs, nor do I follow its progress from there. Our logistics people are more than capable of handling that. I merely receive a summary report upon its arrival for testing."

“For highly sensitive shipments, even? The people I have talked to in Logistics at Tatum Pharmaceuticals tell me there is a different procedure for highly sensitive shipments. You don’t handle those directly, beyond mere reports?”