The Games (Private #11)(62)

“You could go in by helicopter,” Sci said.

“We’d lose the element of surprise,” Tavia said. “And depending on how fanatical Amelia has turned her followers, we could be in for a firefight. But it’s the lesser of two evils. We really don’t have a third choice.”

Looking at the sheer faces of the Two Brothers, I flashed back twenty-four months and said, “Maybe we do.”





Chapter 73



DR. LUCAS CASTRO waited until dark before he went to get his car from the parking garage. He took several detours to make sure he wasn’t being followed and finally pulled into the light-industrial complex around eight fifteen.

Less than twenty-three hours now, Castro thought as he drove through the complex. It will be worth the sacrifice. It will change everything.

The doctor pulled around the corner and hit the brakes. There was a small red Fiat Palio parked in front of his lab. He couldn’t see anyone inside.

A voice in his head screamed: Back out. Turn around. Get lost.

But Castro needed to get into his lab and retrieve the pack.

He drove closer and was parking when a head popped up in the red Fiat. A young woman blinked and squinted in his headlights.

He knew her!

Leah? Yes, Leah, that was her name. Ricardo’s friend from school. Why was she here? How in God’s name had she come to be here?

Castro had no choice now. He had to find out what she knew.

The doctor climbed from the car, leaving the headlights on, came around, and stood in the beams. She recognized Castro then. Her mouth opened in confusion.

“Leah?” he said, smiling. “Is that you?”

After a moment’s hesitation, she rolled down the window. “Dr. Castro? What are you doing here?”

“You’ve found where Ricardo’s been hiding,” he said cheerfully. “C’mon in, I know he’ll be happy to see you.”

She brightened. “Ricardo’s here? Inside?”

“Finishing up some work. He’ll be done in an hour.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this the other day?” she asked.

“Ricardo asked me not to,” Castro said. “He was swept up in our research and didn’t want to be interrupted. Great minds are like that. Don’t take it personally. The important thing is you’re here now. Let’s go inside.”

He turned and fumbled with the key at the door. He heard the window roll up, the car door open, and then the crunch of her weight on gravel.

“Ricardo is supersmart, isn’t he?” she said.

Castro felt the lock click open and looked over his shoulder, seeing her smiling, relieved, anticipating Ricardo. Young love. It can turn suspicion into eagerness, can’t it?

He opened the door, reached in, and flipped on the lights, revealing the empty office.

“Ricardo sleeps in the main lab most nights,” he said, stepping inside. “We’ve got experiments that require twenty-four-hour monitoring, but I’m here for the night. Why don’t the two of you go out, catch up?”

“That would be nice,” Leah said, coming in behind him.

He turned, held his car remote in his hand, turned the headlights off. She went past him into the room, and he shut the outer door.

“Hold on,” he said as she moved to the inner door. “If he’s done his job, he’s locked it from the inside.”

Leah tried the knob, said, “He’s done his job.”

“Good man,” Castro said, smiling. “I sensed right away he was special. How did you figure out Ricardo was working here?”

“Oh,” Leah said. “The police found his scooter not far from here, and then I had a friend who works for TIM Cellular ping his last known location before his phone died. And he was right there, outside your door.”

So someone else knows about Ricardo and now Leah being at my door, Castro thought. Did it matter? Not after tomorrow. Before then? Yes, it mattered very much.

He opened the inner door, stepped down into the warehouse space with the clean room in the middle.

“Wow,” Leah said, coming in behind him. “That’s impressive.”

“Isn’t it?” Castro said. “Ricardo came up with a few of the ideas.”

“Where is he?”

“Inside the clean room, I suspect. He can’t hear us because it’s soundproofed. Do you want me to call him out? Or do you want to go inside and surprise him?”

“I’ll go in.”

“You have to wear a hazmat suit and a visor.”

“That’s okay. This will be fun.”

The doctor smiled. “I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he sees you.”





Chapter 74



RICARDO’S BLOODLESS FROZEN face looked up at Leah as she struggled, jerked, choked, and kicked to break the death grip Dr. Castro had around her neck. But Castro’s hands and gauntlets held tight.

From inside her hazmat visor, Leah made noises that sounded like she was screaming underwater. Each time she opened her mouth, the force behind the protest was weaker. Each time, the plea was fainter.

Her third effort was barely a whimper. Then she sagged. Castro had to struggle to keep her from pitching over into the lift-top freezer. She’d been gazing into it in disbelief and horror when Castro began to strangle her. He held on long after she’d lost consciousness, made sure she was good and dead.