“Strickland, come look at this!”

When Allie stepped out of the bathroom, she couldn’t see anything. “Talbot, if you want to sleep, go home!” she complained, flipping on the light switch. “No one said you had to stay here this late just because I do.”

Talbot flinched as the bright light cracked the pleasant grey of the late evening. “There was just enough light coming in through the window,” he countered. “But come look at this.”

“I swear you are a vampire,” Allie deadpanned as she strode to his terminal. “What have you got?”

“Check out these withdrawals,” Talbot instructed, pointing with his finger at several withdrawals of exactly $9,999.

“Well, it’s suspicious, but it would still be reported because, if it’s suspicious to us, it’s suspicious to the bank.”

“Not if the person is a regular customer,” Talbot disagreed.

Nodding, Allie pressed the arrow to scroll down the page. “Fourteen withdrawals. Have you contacted the bank to find out?”

“It’s 9:13 at night; I just found this. Banks are closed.”

“Check on it in the morning,” Allie commanded. “I’m going to look into his business partners and see if I can find any suspicious activity. Something to let us subpoena bank records.”

“I’ll keep working until 10,” Talbot offered. “I’m not actually a vampire. But I’ll see if any of these companies are suspect or show up more than makes sense.”

“If he’s withdrawing cash, it won’t be to pay a known associate.”

“But,” Talbot asserted, “he might pay someone in the same industry. I’m just saying, I’ll look for patterns. Did that guy from the CIA ever call you back?”

“Yeah. He wouldn’t give me details – of course – but he said to check out a kid from Brown. Not sure what a kid can help us with, but I imagine he’ll be a lot more careless than a state senator, so I plan to find him tomorrow. I’ll make some phone calls in the morning, too. Starting with Senator Davis.” As she grabbed her bag and left, she pressed down the switch, plunging her partner into darkness.

+++++++++++

When Sebastian descended the stairs the next morning, he stepped into a three-ring circus. Three small children played on the living room rug: Lily, Noelle, and a third child who was very obviously Noelle’s sister. A middle-aged woman was throwing out occasional instructions to the children. “Noelle, you’re going to break that; Lily, don’t pull her hair; Rosie, you’re too big to get a piggy-back ride from your little sister.” For a moment, Bash felt his mouth lift in a smile.

In the adjoining kitchen, Jennie stood cooking breakfast, and Piper leaned against a wall in the little breakfast room, phone in hand.

Piper hadn’t noticed him yet, and Bash was glad. He felt no assurance that he wanted her to see his expression. When she had stood in his room last night, so close that their heat mingled in the space between them, and he had surprised himself by an almost irrepressible urge to kiss her, to feel her lips on his. They had in no way reached that level of connection, and though she radiated some sense of attraction to him, she was very obviously choosing to restrain it. He wouldn’t overstep her preference like he had before. Unless he believed her to be rushing to her death, she was in control for the time being. He could not figure out how to deal with her as things stood. He couldn’t entirely regret restraining her the way he had, but he hadn’t expected her to react the way she did, either.

Determined to erase his melancholy, Bash went to join Jennie Pendergrast in the kitchen. He would not dwell on a decision he had handed to another. “Is there anything I can do to help?” he offered the sister, who seemed much less determined to dislike him. Jennie looked up, surprised, and flashed a pleasant smile.

“Sure,” she replied. “The plates are in the cabinet right behind me. Plastic plates for Noelle and Lily. Lily goes in the high chair. There is silverware in the drawer just under the plates. They’ll need spoons and forks. And the cups are to the right of the plates. Just enough for the adults and Rosie, because the two littles have their sippy cups already.”

Obediently, Bash buzzed around the kitchen. The scene was like a fairy tale to him. Though he had been in the homes of his Jamestown friends – a few of them even with a loving family inside – they had always been filled with servants. Cooks, cleaners, maintenance staff. Even a few butlers. The scene in the Pendergrast kitchen was more like Norman Rockwell paintings, Christmas specials. Bash half expected snowflakes to start falling inside the house. After he had set all the dishes on the table, adding milk and juice to the center, he leaned against the wall between the kitchen and breakfast rooms, just staring at the breakfast preparations and the children’s play as if they were a beautiful sunrise or a work of art. A peaceful and loving home was just as much a miracle as nature.

He found his attention drawn to Piper after a minute, though, and without taking his eyes off of the bustling scene before him, he began to eavesdrop on the conversation behind him.

“Thank you so much, Professor Gray,” Piper was saying. “I have been a bit of a basket case worrying about flunking out of my final semester.” She paused, obviously listening to Professor Gray. “You’ve heard from them?” she gasped. “But they didn’t say anything about Lily? Maybe they couldn’t. Maybe they’re still not safe.”

If they are safe and haven’t contacted you, Bash asserted silently, we have different problems than we think.

“I agree,” Piper was continuing. “Did they give you an alternate email? I’ve sent them fifty messages with no response.”

Turning to a small desk, Piper saw Bash and hesitated, but she quickly stepped behind him, snatching a small pad and pen and returning to her spot next to the windows.

“Okay, [email protected]. Got it. I can’t thank you enough, for help with my classes and the info on the Prados.” More silence. “You, too. Hopefully I’ll see you before my final.”

When she turned back to the room, she could see Sebastian leaning against the wall, watching the kids play. He wore an expression that made him look so much younger - enthusiastic and hopeful. It was bitter sweet, because she knew that he must have endured something intense as a child to find so much pleasure in the mundane scene before him. Shaking herself, she stepped up to him. Time to get to work.

“Sebastian?” she interrupted his reverie, determined to bring the mood back to business. His pleasure shuttered as he registered her attitude, and though she hadn’t intended the effect, she couldn’t regret it. “I just got off the phone with Professor Gray. He gave me some interesting information that might help me find the Prados. It’s getting pretty serious now that we get Lily back to her parents or to their family. My sister’s husband will be back in two days, and though he’s fairly laid back, I think inviting a stranger’s toddler to stay indefinitely is a bit much even for him.”

“What did you find out?” Sebastian queried, seating himself at the breakfast room table. Seeing the tete-a-tete, Jennie grabbed the plastic plates and moved them to the bar to serve the kids’ food. He handed her a glass plate when she came back for Rosie’s. “How can I help?” he continued

Piper pursed her lips. She could not possibly keep up her indifference to Bash if he spoke with such civility; still, she kept her voice cool. “Professor Gray has given me a different email. Interestingly, the Prados seem to work at a company I know. Pharmacan. Remember Mitch?”

Despite himself, Bash chuckled. “How could I forget? You pulled his hair.”

“I was making sure I was communicating clearly!” she countered, incensed.

“I’m not judging you!” Bash quickly assured her. “It was when I first realized I liked you.”

He trailed off, his smile fading, and Piper drew in a slow breath to steady herself.

When she continued, the moment was thankfully gone. “Well, Mitch told me he works at Pharmacan, so if I had to – which I don’t want to – I could call him for information. Professor Gray said the Prados had worked in Peru cultivating Amazonian herbs for medicinal applications, but he wasn’t sure why they would be in trouble or why someone would put their lives in danger. I’m thinking that I should send a message to the new email. Maybe the old one was hacked or something. Luke said that some of these big drug cartels have similar technology to the FBI.”

Mimicking her tone, Bash picked up the thread. “Everything you are saying makes sense, except if they had access to this email, why would they not contact you from it?”

Pensive, Piper reflexively twirled one of her curls around her finger, chewing her lip until she managed an answer. “You’re probably right, but maybe they figured we wouldn’t trust an unknown email. If we contact them first, maybe they will answer.”

“I guess it’s worth a try.”

As Piper opened her laptop, Bash rose from the table, stepping to the counter to entertain the toddlers. A little dejected, Piper pulled up her email and typed in the new address. She didn’t know why she cared if Sebastian walked away; she had done nothing but push him away since Newark. A casual interest and flirtation felt very different than dependence in a dangerous situation. Things had gotten way too serious way too fast. Shoving the thought aside, Piper began to type.

I know you guys are still out of pocket, but I wondered if you could just send me a location where I could take Lily. I have to finish my school semester, which I will obviously put on hold if it’s life or death, but if there is a way to hand Lily over to family, it would make much more sense. If you don’t trust my email, you could contact Professor Gray with the information, or my friend, Molly. You got her number when she subbed for me with Lily. I really hope you guys are safe. I know Lily can’t wait to see you.

Huffing out a breath, she shut the laptop and stood up. She couldn’t stomach eating at the moment, so she smiled at the kids and headed up to her room to play cards, her favorite relaxation method. After an hour or so – hopefully once she recovered - she could rejoin the rest of the house and check up on her email.

+++++++++++

“Who did you say this is?” Rick Connors barked into the phone. “Do you know what time it is?”

“It’s Mitch Parkington, and I wouldn’t call you if it wasn’t urgent.”

Senator Connors sat up from his bed, slipping his feet into his house shoes and heading downstairs to make a cup of tea. If he needed to know something urgent about his daughter’s treatment, he want to be awake.

“Okay, then,” he prompted. “Talk to me.”

Near hysterical, Mitch forced his voice to stay steady. “I’ve made a horrible mistake. I was trying to protect your daughter’s drug. I didn’t know he would do this.”

“What are you talking about?” the senator demanded as he pressed the steamer spigot on his water filter. He hated drama, and if Mitch didn’t start making sense, Connors would hang up.

“You told me to be resourceful,” Mitch controlled his tone again. “So, I looked up your drug. I found the drug they were transferring funding to, and I did some research on that drug because I figured that if I could interfere with that drug’s production, the company would continue your daughter’s drug for a little while. All we needed was time to get the orphan drug paperwork to the FDA.”

“And did they continue my daughter’s drug?”

“I don’t know. That’s not the point of the call.”

The senator interrupted. “That is the only thing that matters. Are they continuing my daughter’s drug?”

“Probably not,” snapped Mitch, “because I told my friend to stop trying to interfere with the other drug.”

“Why would you do that?” Connors felt his fury rising. This kid had one job.

“They killed people.”

“The drug company?” the senator puzzled.

“No, the people I asked to interfere with the new drug. The way they interfered, they killed people. They went down to the Amazon and killed four of the scientists who had been working on the final product.”

So, the kid knew now. Would his drug-dealing friend cancel the hit? “But that didn’t stop the production?”

“It paused it, but it will pick back up in a few weeks,” Mitch admitted, appalled at the lack of concern in the senator’s response. “There are two scientists left who can keep the research going – the two main scientists, Bernardo and Vivian Prado. They didn’t die in the attack. They are in the states, and killing them would be even more dangerous than killing the others. But, obviously, that’s not why I stopped the guy. I hadn’t wanted him to have anyone killed; just burn the product or something. I’m horrified by all of this, as I’m sure you are.”

The senator placated Mitch. “Of course, of course. I think…” Connors had an idea. “I think it would be best if I knew everything. I mean, as a senator, I have to know how dangerous this is for my career. Why don’t you give me the name of this man you contacted? Who is he? How did you find him?”

“Look,” Mitch admitted, “there are some things I’ve done – the things that gave me access to this guy – that are not fully above-board. I’m not really comfortable confessing those to anyone, especially not someone in government.”

“Mitch, think about what you are saying. Think about who you are talking to; what I’ve done. Who funded your little enterprise? Where do you think I got that money? If I hang you out to dry, I tie my own noose.”

Mitch considered. It was true – if the senator tried to turn Mitch in, Mitch would cop a plea, and the senator would suffer a worse fate. Mollified, Mitch continued carefully. “As you know, I work for a pharmaceutical company. I’m your basic salesman, and some of the drugs I sell to doctors are pretty valuable on the street.” Now that Mitch had to explain his extracurricular activities, he found himself hating how it sounded to his own ears. “Sometimes, I get a ton of samples. I give some to the doctors, obviously, but I set a few aside with every shipment, obscure the paperwork. I sell these to my rich friends. They pay a mint.”

To Mitch’s surprise, the senator laughed. “I knew you were resourceful.”

Encouraged, Mitch continued. “On occasion, some of my friends want something that is not available from a pharmaceutical company. I have cultivated a couple of relationships with the more traditional dealers, and we make exchanges: pharma for non-pharma.”

“More traditional dealers; so street dealers?”

Mitch’s thoughts stuttered on the senator’s words, but he forced himself on. “Yes. And I thought maybe, since the herb source of the drug was grown in South America, this guy might know some people.”

“Know some people?”

“It’s a large…organization, and they span across the U.S. and from South America to Canada. They have a lot of connections.”

“You don’t need to explain,” the senator assured Mitch. “So, you contacted an associate, and that person took some steps that you had not considered as options.”

“When you put it that way, it does take away some of my culpability. But now that I know what he intended – and still intends to do with the two remaining scientists – I can’t let him continue.”

“Of course not!” the senator agreed. “I think it might be necessary that we remove him from the equation.”

Mitch gulped. It sounded like the senator had just suggested that someone be killed.

“What I mean by that,” Connors explained, seeking to correct the connotation, “is that if you give me his name and how you contact him, maybe we can expose him. A murderer, or at least an accomplice to murder, needs to be in jail. And conveniently, that would remove a lot of his credibility should he decide to turn on you.”

Intrigued, Mitch debated whether he liked the senator’s idea or not. Finally, he decided that he could find another supplier pretty easily, and he would really appreciate some insurance against a future in incarceration. “His name is Tarin Trevino. He’s based out of the West End, but I meet him at a place on Broadway near Tobey. If I need to exchange goods, I text him a time, and he meets me there to discuss business.”

“If I’m going to do this correctly, I will need to set up the situation with some associates of mine -”

“I guess we both have associates,” Mitch interrupted, huffing a laugh.

“I’m sure,” the senator murmured, obviously irritated at the thought. “I think I might need his number, though, if my associates are going to set this up right. Your friend, Tarin, has to think it’s a deal.”

“Why don’t you just have me set it up?”

“Because you are complicit, and if anything goes wrong, you will be implicated.”

After a moment, Mitch conceded, reading the number to the senator. “So, once this guy is gone, I hope the hit goes off of the two remaining scientists.”

“I’m sure it will,” Connors affirmed to his young compatriot. “You did the right thing coming to me.”

Clicking off the phone, the senator brought it swiftly back to life, typing in the number he had just written down. It was a gamble, but everything he had promised Mitch Parkington about deflecting blame onto the drug dealer was true. The trick was going to be insuring that Tarin Trevino only went to jail after he had confirmed the remaining scientists were dead. Rick Connors needed the new drug furloughed long enough for his daughter’s drug to become untouchable. He would do whatever it took to make that happen.