Brain(64)
Her eyes froze and she whispered, “That won’t happen.”
“Then there’s no sense discussing it.” I looked to Abbott. “If you don’t need us for anything else?”
He nodded. “Certainly. Thank you for the information on the detective — the situation will be handled. The guards will let you out.”
“I’m going to walk you out, as well,” Aaron said as he stood.
No one said anything until we were outside by the car, and Aaron handed me a thumb drive. “My proposal, with Abbott’s blessing. Password is where you stored your motorcycle while you helped me keep Sophia safe. You’re a valued member of our society, and if you think Harmony’s special, I’m sure the rest of us will as well, once we get to know her.”
He looked to the sky a second, back to me. “I’m sorry if you feel I was out of line, watching your communications on the app. I consider you a friend, and don’t want to lose your friendship.”
“I’ll give you the courtesy of looking over your proposal.”
Aaron nodded to me, and looked at Harmony. “It was a pleasure meeting you, and I hope to see you again soon under less uncomfortable circumstances.”
When we were in the car and a few miles away, Harmony asked, “If Duke, Gonzo, and Bash were to leave, would that make you president?”
I shook my head. “They won’t leave. I just needed to be clear I can’t be in the same chapter as them.”
“I need to do a test, in front of government cameras, to make sure the surgery worked.”
I nodded, happy to change the conversation. “I’ve been considering the possibilities, and I’m thinking we take a trip to Nashville. There’s a city park just across the street from their huge arena, where it’d be easy to get lost in the crowd again. If we don’t get any bites from that, you can take a stroll around the state capitol, with me nearby on a borrowed motorcycle in case you need a fast getaway.”
She sighed and said, “I did some research on the FBI guy assigned to me. I’ve never been able to figure out who’s in charge of my case with the NSA, but the FBI agent has enough hacking skills, he’s more than a little dangerous. If I were in his shoes, the next time there’s a hit, I’d watch the cams but wouldn’t send anyone in. I’d let a half dozen hits go by, maybe even a dozen, before I moved on me again.”
“Right, to make you let your guard down, thinking you’re safe, so they can get you when you don’t have an exit strategy.”
Her eyes met mine — dark, serious. “If they ever put me together with you, it means we can’t stay together.”
“Then we’ll have to be sure they don’t.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Harmony
It was almost another week before the doctor finally released me to exercise, and I had Brain drive us back to Piedmont Park straight from the doctor’s office, so we could run. We ran a different loop, which meant we ran just under two miles, but I was embarrassingly out of breath two hundred yards into it. I slowed to a pathetic jog a few times, but I didn’t stop until we completed the loop.
And then I fell onto the ground on my back, my arms out to the side, and gasped for air.
Brain fell to the ground beside me, not the least out of breath, and said, “It won’t take long to get it back. Do you need me to carry you to the car?”
I didn’t bother answering, didn’t even glare at him, just stayed put and tried to catch my breath.
I looked at the moving clouds in the sky overhead, and pointed to one that kinda-sorta looked canine, and breathed out, “Wolf.”
He chuckled and pointed to another, “That one kind of looks like Tinkerbell.”
“Are there fairies, too?”
“Tinkerbell was a pixie, according to Disney, not a fairy.”
“So, there are fairies, and they’re nothing like Tinkerbell?”
“Can’t tell you about anything besides myself, Buttercup.”
I nodded and sat up. “I want to get dressed up and go out to eat. My treat.”
He shook his head and said, “My treat, but yeah, I’d love to take you out.”
I sat up and looked down at him. “Please tell me you aren’t going to do the macho bullshit where you always pay?”
He gave me a cocky smile, not in the least apologetic as he said, “Damned straight I am. You’re with me, I take care of you.”
I shook my head, looked around, and said, “While we’re talking money, I need to run something by you. I have several million dollars in a Cayman Island account, and nearly two million pounds in a Swiss account. I haven’t accessed any of the funds because the Russian Mafia is aware of that identity. I can hire a private plane to the Caymans and withdraw the cash in person without having to deal with Custom’s bullshit, but it’ll be a year or two before I try getting a passport under this identity. I won’t be able to touch the Swiss account for a while, but I’d like to see if it’s plausible to get it out of the one in the Caymans.”