Chapter Twelve
"Are you ready for this?"
Reese looked up from where she sat on the sofa in Lily Matthews private office, with Mathias, to see Wiley standing in the doorway with Naomie. "Ready as I can be."
"I have to ask you again," Naomie spoke up. "Are you sure you want to—pardon, need to do it this way? We don't have to make this public. A few words to the right people would work just as—"
"No." Reese interrupted and stood. "I know you're trying to save me from myself, but this time I'm asking you not to. I want it this way."
"You'll never be asked to participate in—"
"I know. I know, Naomie and it's okay."
"Is it?"
Reese looked at Mathias, who'd risen and stood beside her. "It is." She smiled at him and then turned her attention back to Naomie and Wiley. "What we can accomplish with our breeding program can be significant. Particularly with Mr. Walker's help. He's agreed to set up programs on his farms in Florida, the Carolinas, and other places as well. And thanks to you we'll continue with our work on the drones."
"But no one will trust they will work after today."
"Which is exactly what we want."
"Fine. You're the boss, and I'm only here to do what you want to be done."
"I know, and I love you for it. So, what do you all say?"
"I say we get it done," Wiley answered.
"Okay then." Reese paused to give Mathias a kiss then looked at Lily, who stood beside her desk. "Thank you for allowing us to do this here."
"I'm happy to help."
"I'm ready." Reese joined Wiley to leave the room.
The reception area was not packed, but there were more than a handful of people. Reese cut a glance behind her to see Naomie and Mathias standing just inside the room, near the door to Lily's office.
Wiley held up his hands, and the room quieted. "Thank you all for joining. I'm not going to take up any of your time except to introduce you to the woman you've come to see and hear, Dr. Reese Quinn.
Reese took a breath and launched into the speech she'd prepared. To her relief, Naomie spoke up on cue, interrupting her. "I'm sorry, I have to interrupt."
She walked over beside Reese. "I'm Dr. Naomie Taylor, and I was responsible for the robotic aspect of Dr. Quinn's ReSynthBee, and as much as I hate doing this, I must, in good conscious, reveal that the prototype failed to meet the goals of the project."
"That's not true!" Reese looked around the room. Sure enough, people were looking at her with suspicion evident in their expressions.
"But it is." Naomie pulled an iPad from her shoulder bag and after tapping on it for a second, turned it so that everyone could view the screen. "As you can clearly see by the video, the programming failed. The robotic bee can achieve flight and can land but the programming to direct it to perform specific functions is flawed and will require more time—possibly years to perfect. The point is, it doesn't work and won't for a long time, if ever."
The flurry of questions that ensued had Reese, and Naomie caught in the same web, fending off questions they didn't want to answer and flat out lying to others. When, at last it was over, and the press was gone, Reese noticed that Lily's door was almost closed and there was no sign of Lily. She dismissed that and looked at Naomie.
"Thank you."
"I just hope they believe it."
"Oh, I don't think there's much doubt about that." The voice from the direction of Lily's office had everyone looking. Russell Walker stepped into the room with Lily. "You've got gumption, Reese and I commend that. Not many people are willing to throw away their reputations for what they believe is right. Nor do they seem to be able to find someone to out them."
He looked at Naomie who shrugged. "What are friends for?"
"You know that could come back to bite you in the ass, and then your work and degree in the field are just as worthless."
Naomie smiled. "That's okay, I have spares."
"Spares?" Russell smiled. "Well, I can't say I've ever heard that, but if you're not concerned then neither am I." He looked at Reese. "I've decided to buy a facility in the next county, near one of the divisions of Heritage. I think it will be easier to—"
Lily's scream had everyone jerking to look in her direction. Two men in ski masks with guns came in from her office. One had his arm around her neck.
"We'll take the prototype." The man not holding Lily spoke up.
"It's not here," Reese said.
"The fuck it's not. Hand it over."
"I told you, it's not here."
"One more chance bitch."
"How many times do I have to tell you I don't have it?"
"Time's running out." The man threatened. "Three, two—"
"She's telling the truth," Naomie said. "She doesn't have it. I do."
"That's a lie!" Reese shouted.
"Somebody better give me that fucking thing now."
"We don't have—" Reese never got the rest of the words out of her mouth. Naomie leaped in front of Reese, pushing her into Wiley as the sound of a gun firing boomed out.
Naomie looked like she'd been shoved from behind. Her arms flew out to her sides, and blood spurted from the upper right side of her chest. Reese tore free from Wiley to catch Naomie as she fell. It wasn't until she was on the floor, cradling Naomie in her arms that she paid attention to what was going on around her.
In the time it took her to do that, Mathias was standing over one gunman, with his foot on the man's back. Russell Walker had the other man on his knees, with the man's gun pointed at the back of his head.
"Ambulance!" Reese yelled.
Wiley knelt and put his hand over the wound to staunch the blood. Naomie's face was pale and covered in a sheen of perspiration. "Ambulance!" Reese yelled again.
"To hell with that. Wiley take this." Russell barked.
Wiley got up, took the gun from Russell and kicked the second assailant to his belly on the floor while Russell marched across the room. He pulled a bandana from his jacket pocket, put it over the wound and took Naomie's hand and covered the material. "Hold that there. You hear me?"
"Yes."
"Good girl." He then picked her up and headed across the room. "Call and tell them I'm bringing her in and will be there in five minutes."
"It will take longer than that!" Lily yelled.
"The hell it will." Reese heard his words as he marched into Lily's office toward the back exit.
"The police are on the way," Lily announced and a split-second later sirens sounded, along with the sound of a helicopter.
The next hour was taken up with the police, headed by Charli Judd, taking the assailants into custody, and then everyone giving statements. When at last they were done, Reese asked. "Can we go to the hospital now to check on Naomie?"
"Of course," Charli agreed.
They hurried out to Mathias' truck. Reese bit back the urge to tell him to drive faster. He was doing precisely what he should. Be calm and don't take foolish risks. All she could think was that Naomie had risked her life.
"We shouldn't have done the dog and pony show," she said.
"You know that it wouldn't have stopped whoever was behind those men showing up. If it hadn't happened today, it would have tomorrow or the next, or next week."
"But maybe then no one else would have been hurt."
"Look, I get it." He reached for her hand, and she let him take hold of it. "You care about her, and she tried to save you and ended up hurt. But if it's any consolation, it looked like a clean through and through, and I'm sure Mr. Walker got her to the hospital before she suffered massive blood loss."
"You and he are heroes." Her hand tightened on his. "If you hadn't disarmed those men, they could have shot someone else."
"But they didn't. And you have to stop the what if's. You know that. Fall back on your training if that's what it takes but stop thinking like a victim."
Wow. How did that happen? Reese had never thought like a victim, and it shocked her to be told she was doing that now. Not that she disagreed. Mathias was right. The last time she'd allowed emotion to hold sway over reason was when she'd been placed in that foster home, and her life had become a series of days in hell until she finally figured out how to reclaim her life. She'd stopped being a victim the day she poisoned the liquor of that worthless piece of human garbage who'd made a sport out of raping her.
Until now. Today she'd let emotion eclipse reason.
"Thank you." She raised their clasped hands to kiss Mathias'. "I needed to hear that."
Now what she needed was to see that Naomie was okay and then she could turn her mind to figuring how who would be behind the attack and how to prove it.
When they arrived at the hospital, they went straight to Emergency and were told that Naomie had been moved to a room on the third floor. It didn't take long to find the elevator and ride up. Reese heard the ruckus the moment the elevator doors opened but followed protocol and went to the nurses’ station.
"Naomie Taylor?"
"Just follow your ears," the nurse at the desk replied irritably. "And maybe you can convince those two to tone it down? This is a hospital."
The voices were louder the closer they got to Naomie's room. When Reese pushed the door open, the first thing she saw was enough to make her bite back a laugh. She heard the chuckle Mathias choked back and quickly closed the door.
Russell Walker had hold of Naomie. Her back was to him, and his arms were around her middle. As she cursed, kicked and hit at him with her good arm, he carried her toward the bed. "Goddamn it, girl, settle down!"
"Let me go you, Neanderthal fuck!"
"Naomie!" Reese shouted.
The room went silent and still. "Tell this Troglodyte to let go of me," Naomie grunted.
"Fine." Russell released and then caught her when she wobbled and almost fell. "See, dumbass? You can't walk around pumped full of painkillers."
He scooped her up, took two long steps and dumped her on the bed. "As you can see, your friend is fine," he directed the comments to Reese. "The bullet went clean through. She lost some blood and will be sore as hell for a while, but there doesn't seem to be any major damage. She was lucky."
Russell then looked at Naomie. "You were lucky, but you can hurt yourself if you don't stop cutting a fool and do what you're told."
Reese stepped in before Naomie could speak. "He's right and don't you dare glower at me." She hurried to Naomie’s bed and hugged her. "I could strangle you for that stunt, but I know you probably saved my life so instead, I'm going to say thank you and please promise me you'll be good."
"When am I anything less?"
Reese laughed. "Yeah, right."
"Look, I get that I can't bop down to the gym for weight lifting, but I don't need to stay here. Seriously, I can check into a hotel and be just fine."
Reese looked at Russell, who shook his head. "She's stitched up on both sides and is lucky if she hasn't already pulled some loose. They want her to stay just to err on the side of safety, and I agree."
"I have to say that I do, too," Reese said and when Naomie narrowed her eyes, continued. "Look, it's just for one night. If you need, I'll stay with you."
"No. No, no I'm fine, I don't want you to do that. Mathias, take Reese home, will you?"
"Are you sure?" Reese asked.
"I am. I'll be fine, and I don't want you here. You'll be safe at home with Mathias, so go home and call me when you get there."
"Yes, ma'am." Reese hugged Naomie. "I love you."
"I love you. Now go. Thank you, Matthias."
"You bet. Rest well. And tomorrow you can come stay with us."
"Really?" Reese asked.
"Of course."
"Thank you. See you in the morning, Naomie."
"Call me when you get home."
"I will."
Naomie watched Reese and Mathias leave then turned her attention to Russell. "I promise not to do a prison break. Thank you for everything you did for me today, and I'm sorry if I was a problem, but you need to leave, too."
"I think it'd be smart if someone stayed with you."
"Why?"
He smiled and sat on the edge of her bed. "Because sometimes Troglodyte's aren't as dumb as they look. I heard what you said when it all went down. You told those men you had the device."
"Just to keep them from hurting Reese."
"Or to make them uncertain. And it probably worked. So, if they get to make a call, it's within reason to assume they might just relay that now there are two targets, which, I believe, was your goal."
Naomie was annoyed and impressed. She'd prefer to be just annoyed. Russell Walker had way too many appealing attributes as it was, and the last thing she'd do was hit on the man who was going to be her boss. She had a firm policy about getting involved with superiors or co-workers, and she'd not start breaking it now, no matter how tempting.
"I was annoyed when I said that. My apology. And yes, you're correct, which makes it even smarter for you to leave. This project has no chance at all without you, which means it's very much in my best interest to keep you alive and well. Therefore, you should go home. Reese can find another robotics person. She can't find another you."
"Nice speech, but no. Say, I'm hungry. Are you hungry?"
"Are you serious?"
"Yep. I can get someone to head over to the steakhouse, or maybe the Honky Tonk Bar and Grille. They make good barbecue."
"Texas style, I assume?"
"What other kind is there?"
Naomie snorted. "I wouldn't say no to barbecue."
Russell pulled out his phone and made a call. "I need you to pick me up some food from the Honky Tonk and bring it to the hospital. Naomie Taylor's room. Yeah. Hold on." He looked at Naomie. "Coleslaw, beans, potato salad, fries, sweet potatoes?"
"Oh, uh, I don't know. What are you having?"
Russell spoke into the phone again. "Get it all. Yeah, ribs too. And two big iced teas."
"With lemon," Naomie added.
"Got that? Okay. Thanks."
He pocketed the phone. "It'll be about an hour."
"Who are we feeding?" She asked. "We'll die if we eat all that."
"Lucky for us, we're in a hospital. Excuse me, I need to make one more call."
He walked over to the other side of the room and spoke softly. When he finished, he sat in the chair beside the bed.
"I heard you."
"Okay."
"You think they'll try again. That's why you arranged for security."
"Seemed like the smart move."
"And you cover your bases, don't you Mr. Walker?"
"I try. And you can call me Russ."
"No, I can't. I'm going to be working for you, remember?"
"You and Reese are cut from the same cloth, aren't you?"
"Not even close."
"No?"
"No. She's—well, let's just say that Reese isn't what she appears. She and her life have been very complicated, and maybe one day she'll tell you about it, but I won't because it's not my story to tell."
"And your story isn't complicated?"
"Not at all."
"Then how is it you have spare doctorates?"
Naomie chuckled. "Now that I can tell you."
"Then out with it. I'm all yours."
In my dreams. Naomie shoved aside such thoughts. Russell Walker was off limits. Period. But she could enjoy this moment and would, so she launched into her tale.