chapter fifty-seven

Standing motionless next to my Porsche, I stared at Jim’s floating face in disbelief.

“I thought it was insane too.” Jim pointed at the two bloodspots on his phone, one the source genome and one labeled Piedmont. “But it’s an exact match with the uncorrupted part of the Devonshire blood spot and Lee’s file. I pulled your bio-file from Nokia P.D. to confirm. You know what that means?”

“I’m a target. And now I know why.” My head buzzed. No wonder Lee had said my name in his vid-log before I’d even shown up at his door. No wonder Nieto had a big fat file on me.

And if Lee knew all that, Maclaren must have known too, and lied about it, hoping to keep me in the dark.

I popped the trunk on the Porsche and pulled out my Second-Skin. Peeling off my suit jacket, I slid the silky black fabric over my shirt and fastened the Velcro strip on the bullet-proof vest. Then I headed for Genesys.

As I hurtled toward the Valley on the 101, cars on either side of me seemed to drift backwards.

The call that buzzed and pulled me out of my thoughts as I passed the Sunset exit was from Jo.

“Hey.” Until I was staring at her floating image, I hadn’t known just how much I wanted to hear her voice.

But Jo’s face was tense and drawn, her lips the color of milk.

“What’s the matter?” Jo looked like I felt.

The black Lexus in front of me slowed. I hit the gas harder and pulled around him.

“I can’t see you for awhile.” Jo’s voice was a thin quaver. “I have to go away.”

“What?” I almost snorted. “Can we talk about this later?”

Jo’s eyes were bright with tears. She was fighting for control.

That pushed my pause button. I had no idea what had set her off, but Jo wasn’t a drama queen. Could it be the pregnancy hormones talking? I kept my face calm, took a deep breath, and eased my foot off the accelerator.

“I’ll be home as soon as I can,” I said. “We can talk then.”

She shook her head. Jo smiled a wan smile, her face leaning close to the phone’s camera. “Whatever happens, Eddie, I love you. Remember that. I’ve always loved you. Try not to hate me.”

She was scaring me now. “It’s going to be okay,” I said.

Jo just shook her head. “Why did you ever take this case?”

Voices murmured in the background. Jo was calling from an office, not from home. The painting behind her looked familiar. Where had I seen that before? I sharpened the focus and saw a pair of ceremonial swords mounted on a coffee table. Katana. No.

“Jo, where are—?”

“I’m sorry.”

Before I could finish the question, she’d disconnected. But I’d recognized one of those voices in the background. It belonged to the owner of that museum quality katana: Maclaren, the CEO of Genesys.

What the fuck was Jo doing in Maclaren’s office? There was only one answer I could think of, and it wasn’t good. No wonder Maclaren had dodged my calls. My head buzzed and my stomach felt like I was going to heave any second.

The traffic snarled to a standstill near the Vineland exit. The bar of lights on the dash pulsed blue and arterial red as I hurtled my Porsche up on the shoulder and in and out of lanes. Fast as I could weave.

Maclaren wasn’t the only one who knew my identity as the source genome. Nieto knew too, and he’d used the knowledge to pressure the Genesys CEO. Maclaren had caved to Nieto’s threats, just like Fuentes-Obrador and Sandy Rose. They had to stop me, and they knew how. Jo.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I slammed the steering wheel with the palm of my hand and welcomed the sting.

Nieto had Maclaren in a vise. My guess was Nieto had tried to get me off the case earlier. When that didn’t work, he tightened the vise on Maclaren, who found a way to get Jo to come to Genesys. I’d gotten my mother to safety, but left Jo unprotected. And Nieto’s next move would involve more than threats.

He knew I’d come for Jo.

And then he’d come for me.

Let him. I was ready.