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Power Trip(44)

By:Miranda Baker


He was warm and smelled like smoke and man. She sighed, hugging closer.

He groaned, a low sound of frustration that exactly mirrored how she usually felt when he was teasing her. Turnabout’s fair play. She giggled and pressed a kiss to the side of his neck.

“Now you’re pushing it,” he growled.

She eased back, already beginning to drift. Later, she felt the soft press of his lips against her forehead and heard the whisper of a melody before the bed grew cold beside her.





Chapter Twelve

The next morning, Cal awoke to the sound of the perimeter alarm. He grabbed the remote and pointed it at the screen. He saw a delivery truck on its way up the driveway. He hoped Audrey would be pleased.

For the next hour, a small army of technicians installed the new equipment in the basement. Cal was relieved they asked no questions about the long partitioned hallway that now blocked the dungeon from sight, and delighted when they completed their tasks faster than he had dared to hope. The elation on Audrey’s face when she came downstairs and saw the last truck departing was worth the small fortune he had spent. “Are you kidding me?” she asked. “Seriously?”

“Everything you asked for, plus a new charger for your laptop,” he replied, grinning. He held up the box.

“Thank you.” She clapped her hands and looked like she might start jumping up and down.

“You’re welcome.”

She took the charger and headed for the basement.

“Not so fast,” he said. “Coffee? Breakfast?”

“Sure,” she said, but didn’t break her stride. Well, he’d been warned. He grabbed another box and followed her down.

For the rest of the day, she worked. So did he, ignoring the grisly dissection going on in her half of the lab.

Around lunchtime, he tried to get a hold of Truman but got sent to voicemail. He was glad Tru was close to finishing the case that had obsessed him for months, but he also wanted to know if he had turned up anything new on the cell phone or wallet.

Audrey ate the sandwich he made her without looking away from her computer. He was tempted to watch her, just to see how much of the food would actually make it into her mouth, but he was close to finishing the new bio-enhancer prototype. He went back to work but stayed attuned to her, even as he plugged numbers into the calculator and embedded nichrome wires in leather.

He finished before she did, so he turned his attention to the strange silver weapon from last night. He ran his hands over the smooth barrel, searching out seams or any clue as to how it was put together. Touching it unsettled him, and he didn’t think it was because he couldn’t figure it out.

Audrey collapsed onto a stool and sighed. He put the weapon on the table, instantly feeling relieved, and went over to her. “Making headway?” he asked.

She looked at him blankly and he chuckled. “Remember me?”

She made a face. “You’re the chef, right? I hope so. I’m starving.”

“Right this way, Dr. Fallon.” He swept his arm toward the door.

She groaned as she got to her feet, stretching her arms above her head.

“Suck it up, Doc. I’m putting you back to work after dinner. The bio-enhancer is ready for a new trial.”

Her eyes lit up and she grinned. “Let’s do it now.”

“Dinner first,” he insisted, leading her out of the lab. “Can’t have you running out of energy.”





Audrey ate the pizza Cal ordered, but she didn’t really taste it. She was still thinking about her experiments. Dissection of the gravid mice had provided viable cells, but it would be days before the cultures would be ready. She’d be lucky if she could make a karyotype by the end of the week. She was almost certain when she did pair and order the chromosomes, she would find a translocation somewhere.

Damn, she was glad Cal had noticed her laptop on Peter’s desk. Because of him, she still had her own and Jake’s karyotypes to use for comparison. Of course, that meant Peter might have the information, too, if he had been smart enough to make a copy. She wondered if any of the information had been news to him.

She gasped, realizing she had forgotten all about the other aluminum experiments on the flash drive. All of the necessary files had been on her laptop, and she’d been so busy unwrapping equipment and getting cell cultures started, she hadn’t even taken the drive out of her pocket.

“I’ll be right back.” She left Cal at the table and dashed out of the room.

She got the flash drive and her computer and brought them into the kitchen.

Cal joined her at the island. “What are you so excited about?”

“Other aluminum experiments on the company database. I’m not the only one. Maybe they already know…” She double clicked the first file, holding her breath, expecting it to be locked or encrypted. When data scrolled across the screen, she hooted in triumph. No wonder Peter had wanted the drive. He must have realized he’d forgotten to log out. His barb about her tunnel vision had struck home, and she felt a little better knowing she’d never noticed these files because she hadn’t had access to them. Thank God the cocky son of a bitch hadn’t bothered with more than one password.