The Operator

“I’m trying to find a gracious compromise,” Helen said as if growing impatient. “That, and perhaps stop throwing good resources after bad. Bill is very good at what he does, but he doesn’t know when to let go. Can I expect you and Dr. Denier this morning?”

His thick fingers were nimbly filling two syringes with Evocane as Silas shook his head no, but Peri liked Helen’s no-nonsense approach. “You understand it’s not my habit to take people at their word,” Peri hedged.

Helen chuckled. “Neither do I. But we both got where we are by taking risks. I’d like to meet you. See firsthand what Bill has developed with you. You’re important to me. If I meant ill will, I would’ve given Bill your car’s address and had him bring you in, but as it is, I’d rather have a quiet chat. I hope you decide to come.”

With a click, the connection ended from Helen’s end. Focus distant in thought, Peri used her thumb to open the safe, but she frowned when Silas put the syringe of accelerant and the two Evocane syringes he’d just made inside. It wasn’t truly secure. Anyone with a Mantis catalog would know it existed, and she didn’t like putting them together like that.

Taking the accelerant out, Peri twisted the knob off the drive shaft and dropped the syringe into the column, leaving only the two syringes of Evocane in the safe.

“That’s not very secure,” Silas said as she recapped it, twisting it slightly to make sure it was aligned properly.

“It’s also not in the manual,” she said, and he nodded in understanding.

“Which is why I want you to carry half the Evocane,” he said, handing her the original vial with only two doses left in it. “In case we have to run.”

She dropped the heavy glass into her jacket pocket, seeing the wisdom in it even as she loathed carrying it to a meeting with the money behind Bill. Peri looked at the screen as it slid back down. The GPS wanted her to exit. Without a word, she did.

Silas straightened in his seat, clearly uneasy. “This is so bad for my asthma,” he said, the familiar phrase coming from him startling her.

“She’s like eight minutes away.” Peri gestured at the road ahead of them, silent and empty at the early hour. “If she wanted me dead, there’d be a car behind us ready to shoot out my tires. You see anyone back there?”

Grunting, he turned in the small seat to look. “I still don’t like it,” he muttered when he spun back and began searching the glove box. There was a set of needles and a ball of yarn in there, and Peri’s head started to hurt. “You got any more weapons in here?” Silas muttered.

“I wouldn’t take one even if I did,” she said. There was a stop sign before the right onto an even smaller road. “They’ll only confiscate it. All the Glocks stay in the car.”

Clearly peeved, Silas leaned back into the seat, big arms over his chest. “What does Jack say?” he asked, and she felt herself warm.

“He hasn’t weighed in,” she said, not sure whether that pleased her or not. “But this woman is holding Bill’s purse strings, and I want to talk to her.” They had left the cluster of commercial buildings beside the expressway behind, and it had gotten wild surprisingly fast with winter-bare trees and scrub. Carr Pond? she thought as they passed a “Natural Resources” sign. “If I can convince her that I’m not going to go work for anyone else, she might get him to back off. Bill is a dick. If anyone can get him to back off, it’ll be the one paying his rent.” And then maybe I won’t have to kill him.

A left at a blinking light put them on a dirt road, and she followed it past the wetland preserve sign. The headlamps began to show on the vegetation pushing up against the car, and though it wasn’t anything she recognized, it reminded her of her grandparents’ farm. The old woods was damp and broken from years of high water alternating with decades of drought. “If I don’t like what I hear, I’ll be no worse off than I am now.”

“If she lets you walk out of there, sure. But what if she doesn’t?”

“Silas,” she complained as the trees dwindled and vanished, replaced by tall scrubby brush. “If she wanted me dead, there are easier ways to do it. Would you rather spend the morning trying to break into Opti and risk capture there? Or talk to a woman who is so wealthy she thinks she’s bulletproof?”

He chuckled. “Who are you, and what have you done with my Peri?”

She gave him a good-natured smack on his shoulder, idling the car forward over a packed dirt road elevated a foot or so above the marshy surroundings. There were dead trees among tall grasses, and she could smell decay even in frozen cold. They wobbled over the ruts, and she slowed when they found a man in camouflage standing beside the wooden, easily surmounted gate. It was pulled aside to let them in.

Silas whistled in surprise when the narrow road expanded into a wide turnaround. Three identical vans were parked in the center of the large lot, and a comfort station set up with a cook and an open fire. Three happy Labs watched in interest as they pulled in, their tails wagging. “I’d say this is it,” he said as he jabbed a thick finger at the car’s screen and dismissed the GPS.

Eyes searching for the hidden snipers, Peri parked for a fast exit. Putting the car in park, she didn’t get out, searching her gut to find there was no answer. She was willing to talk to Helen, but trust was another matter.

“What do you think she’s doing out here?” Silas said, squinting at the brightening sky.