Bone Music (Burning Girl #1)(78)

“And the reason we’re not busting the doors down and stealing the pill from him?”

“He says he’ll destroy it if we try. When I met him with him, he said he’d set up some sort of incinerator that would burn the supply he had as well as all his research if he didn’t get back to wherever he’d hidden them by a certain time.”

“So he’s modified Zypraxon’s formula since you shut down Project Bluebird?”

“Since we shut down Project Bluebird, yes,” Cole reminds her.

“He’s not using the formula we have. So if we want to wash our hands of this, we’d also have to wash our hands of any chance of seeing this drug work, and then we’d be left to deal with this Charlotte Rowe on our own. Which means we might have to wash our hands of her as well. If we have the stomach for it.”

“Suddenly it’s we again.”

“Yes, well, we disagreed on how Dylan should have been dealt with when he walked away overnight. This safe house. Is he refining the pills there?”

“It doesn’t look like it. I think he’s got a lab or a storehouse somewhere, but he’s stayed put since making contact with us. Wherever the place is, I’m guessing somewhere in Arizona. When he goes for it, we’ll follow him.”

“But he hasn’t gone for it?”

Cole shakes his head.

“Why am I not looking at video of him, by the way?” Julia asks.

“Because he can’t kick over a tree with one foot.”

“That we know about. So you had him followed after your meeting?”

“I did. And we spoke again after, and he agreed to download a tracker to his phone. It was my condition.”

“Your condition for what?”

“I’m not proposing a relaunch of Project Bluebird, Julia.”

“Not yet anyway. What are you proposing?”

“A closer look. That’s all.”

“So is this just a friendly warning that you’ve been seduced by Dylan again?”

If she’s not willing to play around, there’s no reason he should, either.

“I need TruGlass.”

Julia stiffens, carefully removes her glasses. Maybe it’s a subconscious gesture, triggered by the mention of her most potentially revolutionary invention, or maybe the gesture’s simply designed to maximize the impact of her sudden glare.

“TruGlass is a prototype, Cole.”

“You expect me to believe it’s been a prototype for seven years?”

“You have spies inside my company?”

“I had my father in your bed every other weekend until he died.”

“Well, isn’t that charming. I didn’t realize he was working for you.”

“What’s charming? Your affair or my candor?”

“You mobilized millions in capital to finance the crazy experiments of a handsome Navy SEAL who fucked you three ways from Sunday.”

“You willingly contributed your millions when I showed you a rat tearing the head off a python in ten seconds.”

Julia sits back in her chair and smiles at her lap. Cole can’t tell if it’s humility or anger that’s inspired these gestures.

“I’m not judging you for what happened between you and my dad. Over and over and over again. In fact, I find it kind of comforting.”

“How’s that exactly?”

“It’s a testament to Dad’s character, really. That he married the bimbo but screwed around with a woman of substance and accomplishment on the side.”

“That’s a helluva way to talk about your mother.”

“Standing up for my mother’s integrity has never been your job, Julia. But again, I’m not judging you.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“When you try to dismiss your genuine interest in Zypraxon as solely the result of some deception I foisted upon you because I was cock-whipped by Dylan Cody, you leave me no other choice.” This doesn’t seem to faze her, so he crosses his arms and lets the fingers on his left hand come to rest atop the spot where her scar resides. He taps three fingers along his collarbone several times to make his point. If she gets it, she doesn’t let on.

“You realize we all have our contingency plans, right?” she says. “Should any of this ever come back to bite us in the ass.”

“As do I.”

“I have satellites on that island 24-7. Any ship gets within two hundred nautical miles of it, I get detailed manifest information in twenty minutes.”

“We all need friends with satellites.”

“I’m serious, Cole.”

“I know, and I feel bad for you because it sounds boring. And repetitive. Get a hobby, Julia. There’s nothing left on that island for anyone to find.”

“But there might be again soon is what you’re saying, isn’t it? Provided you like what you see once you get a closer look at this Charlotte Rowe and whatever Dylan’s convinced her to do.”

“Provided we like what we see.”

“We?”

“You, me, Stephen, and Philip.”

“Right. But you’re not suggesting a relaunch of The Consortium.”

“Not yet. No.”

“Not until I give you TruGlass.”