Chapter Eighteen
Leon Spivey presented his ID to the camera in front of Winchester Industries. The lock released on the front door with a click.
“Can I help you?” a guard asked as Spivey stepped into the room.
Leon glanced at the guard’s nametag. “How are you, Willie? Do you know where I can find Fredricks?”
Willie nodded. “He’s on the top floor, sir. Would you like for me to page him?”
Spivey shook his head. “That’s okay. I’ll just go on up.”
“I have orders not to allow anyone on the top floor that’s not on this list.” Willie glanced at the list in question.
“Understood,” Spivey murmured. “I’ll wait for him in the parking lot.”
Willie sent him an apologetic look. “Very well, sir.”
Leon returned to his parking spot and propped his hip against the side of his car.
It didn’t take Fredericks long to exit the front door. He glanced around the area until his curious gaze landed on Spivey. A smile touched his lips. “Leon? “What the hell are you doing here, man?”
“Hey, Gary.” Leon extended his hand in greeting. “I came to see you. Is there some place that we can talk?”
“This is fine,” Gary stated, accepting Leon’s palm. “I only have a few minutes.”
“Of course.” Spivey took a deep breath. “Look. I need your help.”
A small indention appeared between Gary’s brows. “Anything.”
Leon filled Gary in on the situation with Mallory’s sister and Jefferies’s role in kidnapping her. Ending with. “Anderson and the girl are in the wind. I’m pretty sure that Jefferies isn’t aware of that yet, but he will be soon enough.”
Gary glanced back at the building before meeting Leon’s gaze once more. “How are you involved in all this?”
“I’m not, and I don’t want to be. I’m only here as a favor for Glenn. I owe him.”
“What the hell do you want me to do?”
“Nothing that will get you into trouble. Just relay to Miss Cahill what I just told you. Tell her that her sister is alive, and she’s safe with Glenn.”
Gary paled slightly. “If I get caught—”
“You’re not going to get caught,” Leon persisted. “You’re not helping her escape. Just tell her what I said, and I was never here.”
“Jesus, Leon. You don’t ask for much, do you?” Gary muttered sarcastically.
“Will you do it or not?”
With a slight nod, Gary turned to go. He paused a few feet away and glanced over his shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re mixed up in, but I’d be careful if I were you. Jefferies is not a man to toy with.”
“I am well aware,” Leon quipped, opening his car door and sliding behind the wheel. “More than aware.”
* * * *
Douglas Jefferies sat at his temporary desk, waiting for Kerik’s arrival. The secretary of defense should have arrived the day before, but he’d been held up by an explosion on board one of his ships. Thankfully no one had been killed.
Jefferies picked up the phone situated on his desk and pressed the line to the lab.
Doctor Lambert answered on the third ring. “Lambert.”
“It’s Jefferies. Can you come up here for a moment?”
A brief pause ensued. “I’ll be right there.”
Returning the receiver to the cradle, Jefferies took a sip of his coffee and rubbed at his aching temples. He’d had a headache for two days, without relief.
“You wanted to see me?” Lambert asked, stepping hesitantly into the room.
“Yes. Have a seat, please.”
Lambert sat in one of the vacant chairs, his hands nervously sliding up and down its wooden arms.
Doug took another leisurely sip of coffee. “How long will the ecstasy remain in Cahill’s system?”
“That depends on how much she consumed. If the Bracadyte ate more of the laced food than she did, he will likely be more affected than her. That’s assuming the drug will even work on him.”
Jefferies glanced at his watch. “I want you to take them fresh drinks, laced with another dose. Tell Miss Cahill that you are merely checking her vitals for adverse reactions to her earlier injections.”
Lambert’s mouth dropped open. “You want me to drug them again? It’s too soon, sir. We run the risk of an overdose.”
“Will it kill them?” Jefferies barked, leaning forward in his chair.
Lambert rubbed at his bloodshot eyes. “I don’t know. That depends on a person’s ability to metabolize. It—”
“Just do it,” Jefferies snapped, effectively cutting off the doctor’s words.
Lambert got to his feet and rushed from the room, leaving the door open on his way out.
It pained Doug to bully the elderly man. Hell, he hated bullying in any form. But desperate times called for desperate measures. And they were definitely beyond desperate times.
He picked up the phone and called the president. After Jeffries spoke to Howell’s assistant and spent several minutes listening to elevator music, President Howell’s voice came through the line. “How are you, Doug? I hope you have some good news for me.”
Doug leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. “I may have, sir. The detainees have been drugged with a large dose of ecstasy and something else I can’t pronounce.”
“Ecstasy?” Rueben mumbled in a confused tone.
Jefferies filled him in on everything that had happened since his arrival at the lab. End with, “Lambert gave her enough of the fertility injections to fell an elephant. The ecstasy is merely a means to an end.”
Rueben was silent so long Doug thought he’d hung up.
“Mr. President, sir?”
“I’m here, Douglas. Just taking it all in.
“So, the doctor removed her birth control, injected her with fertility drugs to promote egg production, and then drugged the two of them with ecstasy, to ensure they performed?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s actually brilliant, Douglas. The sooner she becomes with child, the better. One more thing,” Rueben continued. “Does the fetus need to be carried to term?”
“No, sir,” Doug assured him. “According to Doctor Lambert, the unborn child should be viable at five month’s gestation.”
“That’s still a long wait. This virus is going to be responsible for the death of millions.”
“I know, sir, but it’s the best we can do. I tried calling Anderson, but his phone went to voicemail. I left him a message to bring in the blind girl.”
“Call him again,” Rueben demanded. “We’re running out of time.”