On his own mission.
Without her.
She walked down the hallway, pushed open the door, and for a second, thought maybe...
Maybe he’d be waiting, with a Snickers bar and that lazy smile.
But her room was empty.
“Come with me if you want to live.”
She sank into the bed, curled her knees to her chest, and watched the moon, a shimmering ball in a black sky.And tried to tell herself that she wasn’t alone.
* * *
His eyes had turned to sandpaper.
That had nothing on his mood, however.Steinbeck sipped black coffee, standing at the edge of the SAR exhibit, watching as the crowd gathered.
He now understood why Declan needed such a large exhibit space.He’d packed an entire make-believe village into the ninety-thousand-square-foot hall with the thirty-eight-feet-high ceiling.A village that very much resembled the destroyed island of Mariposa after a landslide took out a terrible swath of the small community.Lumber, cement, rebar, steel girders, mud, and dirt, all constructed out of plaster.The exhibit felt just a little too real.
No wonder Declan had developed the SAR dogs.Made to mimic German shepherds, they stood in a row, quiet and intimidating under gleaming lights.Behind them hung an expansive wall banner with an actual photo of the rubble in Mariposa, the words “Transforming EMS Response with SAR AI Dogs” emblazoned in white against the chaos.
Smaller droids that looked a lot like the automatic lawn mower Jack wanted to buy sat in front of a banner with a background of burnt forest.This one advertised AI bomb-detection sweepers.
“Those were developed with help from our EOD expert, Sibba.She’s from Slovenia—they still have unexploded ordnance from World War Two,” Colt had said as they’d watched the rehearsal for the event that morning.
A red rope hanging between stanchions stretched in front of the dogs and the rubble, another in front of the bomb sweepers.Declan would take the podium in the middle, elevated on a short dais, his company’s logo on the front:Spectra Cybernetics: Empowering AI Innovation.
A massive screen hung over the entire exhibit, where Declan would show his video before showcasing the dogs hunting for lost “people.”
They’d run through the video this morning, and the rehearsal went off without a glitch.Stein and crew had spent last night with eyes glued to the strategically placed cameras from their station in Declan’s rented greenroom.He’d even caught a few winks on the sofa between shifts.
So really, he had no reason for the buzz under his skin.
It didn’t help that between the winks, Emberly had roamed his brain, and he couldn’t purge the look on her face after she’d returned to the gala.
He’d hurt her.He knew it.And the longer it sat inside him, the more his chest ached, poison swilling his veins.
“This reminds me of when I attended my mother-in-law’s presidential campaign event in San Diego,” Tate said next to him.“I knew something was going to go down—I just couldn’t untangle it.Turned out the sound guy had sabotaged the mics.”
Steinbeck looked at him.“You checked the sound system?”
“Twice.”Tate lifted a shoulder.“I’m glad Glo isn’t here.I was always a little distracted with her in the audience.”He glanced at Steinbeck.“But my girl wasn’t some sort of super spy, so...”
Steinbeck’s mouth tightened.“She’s notmy girl.”
“Sure looked like your girl at the gala.And the way you pulled her off that rig?—”
“She rescued herself, thank you, and I was just...”He swallowed, shook his head.“She can take care of herself.”
“Black Swans work alone.”
Tate nodded, took another sip of coffee.
“Tae said she enjoyed shopping with her.”Colt threw his cup into a nearby trash can.“I probably shouldn’t have brought Tae on this trip, but”—he folded his arms—“she’s good for me.”He offered a slight smile.“I can get a little unhinged.She’s smart and calm and patient and...”He sighed.“But yeah, I’ll never forget when she was held hostage by those jerks in Florida.”
“Hostage?”Stein said.He’d been watching a delegation of Chinese scientists as they read a brochure and talked with one of Declan’s sales reps.
