It had been two days since Joanna last slept. Most of that time she had spent on the videophone with Kris Cardenas in San Jose, making arrangements for a team to be sent to the Moon to deactivate the nanomachines that had killed her husband and the two other men.
And she made other arrangements, as well.
“I want to know who allowed those killer machines to be mixed in with the other nanobugs,” Joanna said, as implacable as an ocean tide.
Cardenas’ image in the phone screen nodded somberly. “I’ve already started an investigation. That kind of stupidity verges on the criminal.”
“It is criminal,” Joanna said. “But I don’t intend to press charges or bring the law into this. I just want to know who those people are.”
“You won’t press charges?” Cardenas brightened.
“No. I want them transferred to Moonbase, once we find out who they are.”
Cardenas blinked her cornflower blue eyes. “Why would you send mem to Moonbase?”
Grimly, Joanna replied, “So they can see the consequences of stupidity. So they can live in a place where one little mistake, one moment of stupidity, can kill you.”
“How long will they have to stay?”
Joanna shook her head. “Until my husband comes back to life.”
She still had not slept when she had her meeting with Greg.
Joanna had decided to meet her son at the house, rather than the office. She sent two hefty security guards to escort him to the meeting.
Greg looked subdued when he stepped into the living room, flanked by the two uniformed men. Joanna dismissed them and told her son to sit on the sofa, facing her.
“You killed Paul,” she said, once she was certain that they were alone.
Greg evaded her eyes. “Suppose I did. What of it? It’s over and done with. You can’t bring him back and that’s that.”
Joanna studied her son. He seemed tense, but the fury that had exploded in him now was gone, spent, dissipated.
“What do you intend to do now?” Joanna asked calmly.
Greg cocked an eyebrow. “Take my rightful place as president and CEO.”
“Really?”
He leaned forward intently, suddenly flushed with prospects for the future. “Don’t you see, Mom? Now it’s just you and me, the way it ought to be. We can run everything together, just the two of us. It’ll all work out, you’ll see.” He even smiled that same old boyish smile at her.
“But there’s not just the two of us,” Joanna said.
Greg pulled back from her slightly. “What do you mean?”
“I’m carrying Paul’s baby. Paul’s son.”
“Oh, that.” Greg flapped one hand in the air dismissively.
“You don’t care anymore?” Joanna asked, caught unprepared for his casual attitude. “A few days ago you wanted me to abort it.”
“I was foolish,” Greg said. “I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Really?”
“By the time he grows up enough to join the corporation I’ll be ready to retire,” Greg said.
Be careful, Joanna told herself. He knows how to play on your feelings.
“Greg, you’re a murderer.”
For an instant she saw fear in his eyes. But then his smile returned. “Are you going to turn me over to the police?”
“I’m getting the names of the people who allowed those killer machines to be sent off to’the Moon. They’ll implicate you to save themselves.”
“So you are going to hand me to the police, after all.”
Joanna shook her head. “I should,” she said. “But I can’t. I can’t hurt you more than you’ve already been hurt.”
“I knew it!” he said triumphantly. “It’s going to be just the two of us! I knew it would work out this way!”
“Greg…’ Joanna took in a deep breath. This is going to be painful, she knew. “Greg, I’m sending you to a place where they can help you.”
His brows knit. “Sending me? Where?”
“It’s like a hospital. Very private. Very discreet. They’ll be able to help you there.”
“I don’t need anyone’s help! I’m not sick!”
“I’m not asking for your opinion,” Joanna said firmly. “I’m telling you. You’re going there and that’s all there is to it”
“I want to be with you!”
Joanna felt her heart clutch within her. “I know, Greg. I know. I’ll come and visit you. Often.”
“I want to be with you all the time!”
“Later,” Joanna said. “When you’re better.”
He sat there, looking perplexed, for several moments. Then, sullenly, “You want to play with your new baby and forget about me.”
“No!” Joanna blurted. “I could never forget you. You’re my baby boy and I’ll love you forever, no matter what.”
“Then don’t send me away.” Greg fell to his knees in front of his mother and buried his face in her lap. “Please, Mom, don’t send me away.”
A wild thought raced through Joanna’s mind. “What if…’ She hesitated, searching for an answer. “Greg, what if you stayed here at the house, with me?”
“Yes!” he said fervently.
“And I can bring the doctors and their assistants here to stay with us.”
“Yes! Yes!”
“And we’ll be together while they help to make you well again.”
“Anything,” Greg sobbed, “as long as we can be together.”
Joanna stroked her son’s midnight dark hair, thinking, That will be the best way. Keep him here, where I can watch him. Bring the medical help to him.
She realized that Greg had fallen asleep with his head cradled in her lap. He probably hasn’t slept for the past couple of days, either, Joanna thought.
I can’t turn him over to the police. What good would that do? It won’t bring Paul back and it will destroy Greg completely. Not the police. No scandal. No one must know what he did.
She sighed. It’ll be difficult, especially when the new baby comes. Douglas. She already had his name picked out. Greg will be insanely jealous of the baby. But I can protect him. I can do it. I can take care of both my sons. I can. I will.