He would find a way to keep her safe.
Chapter Eleven
Audrey waited in the shadow of the Genecorp sign as Jake rang the bell, shades hanging from the neck of his T-shirt. Cal stood behind her. He was still and silent, but she could feel energy pouring out of him. The guard opened the door, and she was glad it was a different one from this morning, although Jake’s whammy would disguise her. Jake beckoned to them.
“Let’s go,” she said.
The guard led them straight to the door of the lab and slid his ID into the lock.
“I’ll keep him company,” Jake said to Cal. “You go with her.”
She forced herself to breathe evenly and stay loose but alert as she moved into the hall with Cal behind her. It was dark, but the emergency lights cast just enough reddish light for her to make her way down the small hall toward the lab without bumping into any walls. All of the offices were dark. Mice. Files. Home. The image in her head was Cal’s house, but she’d have to freak out about that later.
She approached the cooler and opened it. Relief made her sigh when she saw the labeled bag was still there. She had been half-afraid the mice would be gone. Swiftly, she grabbed the bag and tucked it into her backpack.
Files. She shut the cooler and slipped her flash drive out of her pocket, vowing from this moment forward to back up her data every day and keep it with her at all times.
“I’m going to check the offices,” Cal whispered.
She nodded and headed across the lab to the nearest computer. She tapped the space bar to bring it to life, blinking at the sudden glare. Someone was already logged in, which would save her some time. Still, she was unfamiliar with this part of the system, and it took her a few tries to find what she sought. “Yes,” she hissed, as she discovered system backup files from yesterday.
She clicked copy, then the flash drive icon, realizing her mistake the instant before the error message flashed on the screen. Not enough room. There were thousands of files. How was she going to locate her aluminum series? Time was ticking as Jake held off the guard.
She scanned the files, relieved they were alphabetical. She gasped. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one experimenting with aluminum at Genecorp. She crossed her fingers as she attempted to copy every aluminum file, trying to remember how much room she had on the drive. Her eyes were glued to the status bar. Almost done…ninety-eight percent…ninety-nine…one-hundred. “Yes,” she whispered again, ejecting the drive.
The fluorescent lab lights clicked on, and she whirled, automatically dropping into a defensive crouch. When her vision cleared of spots, she saw Peter.
“You scared me,” she said, glancing behind him. Had Cal seen him come in?
“I didn’t expect you back so soon. How did you get in?” Peter was wearing the same clothes he’d had on earlier, but somehow he looked taller, broader and more dangerous. His air of genial distraction was gone, replaced with malevolent intensity. Something flashed in his hand, and she recognized the device the mugger had used last night. Chills slid down her spine.
“I rang the bell.” She slipped the drive into her pocket and edged sideways into the aisle, not wanting to be trapped against the lab table.
Peter moved toward her. “Try again. We’re on lockdown.” He shrugged. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’ll find out soon enough, and I’m glad you’re here since the people I keep sending to collect you aren’t taking their job seriously enough. Not like you. You are very serious about your work. Eerie, how much progress you’ve made with your experiments in so little time. Almost like it was in your genes.” His high-pitched giggle cranked her nerves even tighter. “Of course, it is in your genes. Nature versus nurture, one of the oldest debates, right? And to think it was blind luck that brought you back to the family.”
“Family? What do you mean?” No way. Not possible.
“Father is so pleased. You were lost and now you’re found. Amazing.” He laughed again. “Or so he thinks.”
“Father?” Her voice cracked.
“Mine, not yours, you poor thing. Although I guess he did have a hand in making you.” His gaze shifted to the computer screen, and a startled expression flickered across his face. He held out his hand, palm up. “I’ll need that flash drive, sweetie. The backpack too. I assume it’s full of trade secrets.”
Adrenalin flew through her veins, giving her clarity. She would bet her life that the fetal mice carried a chromosomal abnormality similar to her own. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. She shook her head. Slowly, she shifted her weight onto her left leg. There was no way she was giving up without a fight.