1 3 7 – ZOË (19 page)

“See you soon,” I whispered to the blue screen.

***

Michael did not leav
e for London until the end of the week.  Lance arrived at the house an hour after my husband’s plane took off.  I’d given the entire house staff the whole day off.  The last thing we needed was spying eyes and gossiping tongues.  The lock specialist was a short, middle-aged man named Gary.  He carried a brown leather case filled with odd-looking tools.  I led Lance and Gary to the shed where the trunk was located.

“Do y
ou think you can open it?” Lance asked.

Gary
knelt down and inspected the lock.  “This lock is custom made, but I can try.  It will take a few minutes, but I think I can figure out the basic components and open it with relatively little or no harm.”

“I don’t want the trunk or lock damaged in anyway.  And I want to be able to lock it afterward without a problem,” I said, noticing the look Lance gave me.

“I understand,” Gary said with a nod.

“Good.  Can I get you something to
drink while you’re working?” I offered.

“Water would be fine, thanks.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Lance f
ollowed me outside the garden shed and gripped my arm.  “I want to talk to you,” he said.

“Come into the kitchen.”

We walked into the empty kitchen and he closed the door behind us.  “You’re not changing your mind about the deal we made in Rome, are you?”

I frowned.  “Why would I do that?”

“Maybe you’re angry at me for kissing you.”

I shook my head.  “I’m not angry at you, Lance.  Just…”

“Just what?”

“
Michael saved my life- I owe him
everything
.  Do you know how disloyal and dirty I feel doing this behind his back?”

“If there’
s nothing in the trunk, then we have nothing to worry about.  This is as hard for me as it is for you.”

I poured
water from the tap and walked out of the kitchen.  Lance was at my heels.  I gave the glass of water to Gary.  No one spoke as he worked on the lock.  Twenty minutes later, it clicked open.

“My job here is done,” Gary
said triumphantly.

Lance paid Gary and walked him out. 
I stared at the trunk, not daring to touch it until Lance returned.  When he came back to the garden shed, he stood close beside me.

“Do you want me to open it or would you rather do
it?” he asked.

“You do it,” I
replied.

He knelt in front of the trunk, removed the lock and pushed back the lid. 

“My grandmother’s linens!” I exclaimed, kneeling beside Lance and gently touching the old fabrics.

“Here, let me remove them
so we can see what’s underneath,” he said.

He
carefully removed the neatly folded linens until he came upon a wooden box and some manila folders.  He removed those quickly, made sure there was nothing else in the trunk and replaced the linens.

“We
should look at these inside the house- somewhere we won’t be disturbed.”

I
shut the lid and left the open lock beside the trunk.  We went inside to the privacy of my studio and sat down on the small sofa.  Lance looked through the papers in the manila folders first.

“These are
old property deeds from back when they still used paper,” Lance said dismissively. 

“Deeds to what?”

“Michael’s research facilities.”

“
Oh.  What’s in the box?” I asked.

He put the deeds
back in their folders and picked up the wooden box.  There was a tiny lock on it.  “Damn,” he said. 

“I have skeleton key
s.  There are several different sizes, so maybe one of them will fit that lock.”

I ran
upstairs and fished the keys out from where I’d hidden them.  I brought the keys down to Lance and he tried each one in turn until he came across a tiny key that made the lock on the wooden box click open.

He smiled. 
“Good job, Zoë.”  He opened the box and took out a stack of papers that appeared to be lab reports.  After shuffling through a few of them, he frowned.  “Jesus Christ,” he said in a low voice.

“What are they?”

He stood and walked away, still looking at the papers in his hands.

“Lance, what do they say?” I demanded.

H
is face had turned completely white.  “Zoë, maybe you shouldn’t see this.”

He held the papers closely to his chest and shook his head.  I walked to where he stood
and took the stack from him.  I began to shuffle through the papers and saw the dates on them. 

“What’s the b
ig deal?” I asked.  “These are old reports about the Pod virus...”

Then I
saw what had gotten Lance so upset.  I felt my knees go weak and immediately sat down in the nearest chair.

“
Zoë…are you okay?”

“This is a
mistake.  There must be a reasonable explanation for this.”

The lab reports outlined the Pod’s
creation
, not its cure.  My mind raced with possibilities.  “Maybe Michael purchased this information so his research teams could find the cure.  Isn’t it easier to find the solution to something if you know what caused the problem?  Reverse technology.”

“Perhaps,” he agreed
dubiously.  “But where would he buy something like that?”

“Isn’t there a black market for this stuff?”

“Maybe…I don’t know.”

“A
re you going tell the CIA about this?”  When he didn’t respond, I said, “What if we’re jumping to the wrong conclusion?  Shouldn’t we give him the benefit of the doubt?  This is Michael we’re talking about here.”

“I’m willing to think op
timistically, but if this lab report is in his possession for any other reason than finding a cure then an investigation should be performed.  The American people deserve it, don’t you think?”

“Yes, but something doesn’t make any sense here. 
Why in the world would Michael keep anything that could potentially incriminate him?” 

“Maybe he believes he’s untouchable.  Maybe keeping such dangerous evidence secretly hidden is thrilling to him…
who knows?  People are sick and I don’t exclude my brother from any human malady.  There’s only one thing that doesn’t make sense, and that’s his current liaison with Al Majed.”

“That’s why we need to get to the bottom of this immediately.
” 

He placed a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him.  “That’s what the CIA
is trying to do,” he said gently.

“
How will you alert them without Michael eventually finding out?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about that
.  My main concern right now is your safety.  I’m going to scan these documents right now.  Later I’ll talk to my contact person and he’ll know what to do.”

Lance
scanned the documents and saved the information to his tablet.  As we carefully placed everything back inside the trunk, I felt as if I was in a daze.

“What if he
did
create this virus?” I wondered aloud.  I covered my mouth with my hand.  “I can’t believe I just said that.  I’m sorry.”

Lance shook his head slowly. 
“No need to apologize.  I was thinking the same thing.”

“I can’t breathe in here.
I need to get out of here.”

He stood and followed me
out of the shed.  “Let’s get you something to eat.  We can get a few drinks and think about what we should do next.”

“Okay
.”

***

I was apprehensive about Michael’s return from London.  How could I face him knowing that he possessed lab reports outlining the creation of one of the deadliest viruses to ever afflict the American public?  Lance called me on the morning of my husband’s expected arrival.

“Good morning, Zoë,” he said.  “I hope I didn’t wake you.”

I was wearing my athletic running suit and he was dressed in a sharp suit and tie.  “I feel underdressed for this conversation,” I said in an attempt at humor.

“Oh, I have a meeting with a realtor.  For real, this time- I want to sell one of my properties.  I just wanted to see
how you’re holding up.”

“
I’m nervous.  I feel like he’ll know what we’ve been up to as soon as he looks me in the eye.”

“He won’t.  You’re just being paranoid.”

I bit my lip.  “I feel guilty, too.”

“If anyone has been dishonest
it’s him, not you.  Don’t worry, okay?  I’ll take care of this situation.  The safest thing to do is to pretend you know nothing.”

“Act dumb?”

“
Ignorance is bliss
…especially in this case.”

“Have you talked to the
CIA?”

“I’
m meeting with my contact tomorrow tonight.”

“Are you going to Rio again?”

“No, he’ll be spending a couple of days in D.C. so I’m meeting him in the city.  Call me when you get a chance.  Let me know how everything goes with Michael.”

“I will.”

He flashed me a beaming smile.  “Keep your chin up.  I’m on your side.”

I smiled and ended the call.  Grabbing my car keys, I walked out the door and looked forward to a nice, long run.

Michael arrived just after eight o’ clock in the evening.  Due to the lovely weather, Maria had set the table outside per my request.  I also thought it would be easier to hide from my husband’s gaze during dinner if I was in the shadows.

“This is a nice surprise,” Michael said when he wal
ked onto the patio.

“It’s a gorgeous night.
I figured we could eat outside,” I said with a forced smile.

“What’s for dinner
?”

“I thought you’d want something light so I had Juana make her
famous lemon-dill grouper.”

“Perfect choice
,” he said, placing his napkin across his lap.

Since Juana needed the night off, she left Maria in charge of the kitchen when dinner
was done.  Michael proceeded to go into detail about his trip as Maria brought out our plates.  Since he rarely discussed any business with me, I listened with mild surprise. 

“I ran into Mr. and Mrs. Johnson in London,” he said
at length.

“Oh?”

“You remember them, don’t you?”

I cut into my fish with the edge of my fork. 
“I think so.”

“They had a little girl…well, she’s now you’re age.  Isn’t that funny?”

Weird is more like it
.  “Yes.”

“What did you do while I was gone?” he asked suddenly.

I shrugged.  “Nothing.”

“Come on,
since when are you idle?”

He suspects!
“I read quite a bit,” I replied nervously.

“What book?”

Shit.
  “Just some research books at the library,” I improvised quickly.  “I was looking up some artists.”

“Did you talk to my brother while I was away?”

I nodded as I chewed a bite of zucchini.  “He called to check up on me once or twice.”

“Good.”

To my relief, he continued to eat in silence.  When we were done, Maria cleared the plates and I caught her openly staring at Michael.  When she noticed that I was watching her, she lowered her eyes immediately.  Michael glanced at her and then reached for my hand.

Maria
was a few years younger than me, with glossy brown hair and big brown eyes.  She was a Latina like Juana, but spoke perfect English.  In fact, she had only a mild Hispanic accent.  I had no doubt that Maria’s tanned skinned, pretty smile and voluptuous figure attracted a lot of male attention.  Although it had never occurred to me before, Michael would be no exception. 

“We’re ready for dessert
, Maria,” Michael said.

“Yes, Mr. Adams.”

I watched Maria’s hips sway seductively as she turned to go into the house.  I looked to Michael, who was also watching her walk away.  I dropped my eyes before he could look back at me.

“Feel like taking a drive later?” he asked.

I met his gaze.  “Sure.”

“
It’s still early.  We can catch a movie if you feel like it.”

I nodded as I toyed with the rim of my wine glass.  He picked up the wine bottle and refilled both of our glasses. 

“Michael, may I ask you a question?”

“What’s on your mind, princess?
”

“When I was frozen, how long did it take for a cure to be found for the Pod?”