Chapter Twenty Four

In the morning Paige rolled over, off the couch, and onto Osric’s face.

“Ack!”

His alarm went off again.

After that, they didn’t talk until they sat across from each other in the café eating the breakfast Narissa brought them. She heard the screaming that morning and her expression spoke of annoyance. There was nothing like waking up to a man shrieking like a banshee first thing.

Osric lit his cigarette and rubbed the crud out of his eyes.

“So, Osric,” Paige wondered aloud. “What’s your plan for the day?”

He glared at her. “My plan consisted of sleeping for another hour.”

“Can I borrow your phone to call Harrison?”

Osric took out his phone and looked at it sleepily. “That would be one place to start. I can think of a better one. I’ll call Angelina.” He pressed two buttons and had her video feed projected onto the wall of the booth where we were sitting.

A grouchy blond butler answered. Paige was stunned. He didn’t look older than thirteen. “This is Quinton. Who’s calling?”

“It’s Detective Fountain. Is Angelina available? I’ve got to speak with her urrgennttllly.” The last word was drawn out because Osric was yawning.

When Quinton saw him, he yawned, too. “She’s eating her breakfast, but I think I could point the camera at her.”

He moved the camera and for a second, the screen was blurred as it moved. Angelina came into focus. Paige was stunned. The princess had a bedhead. There was a smudge of leftover makeup under one eye and she was stifling a yawn, but she still looked like a billion bucks. That was royalty for you. Her breakfast plate was in front of her and she delicately chewed a blackberry speared on her fork.

“Do you have news?” she asked.

“Yes.” Osric pointed toward her with his thumb. “This is Paige, the woman I was telling you about. She’s been most helpful, so I was hoping she could sit in on our meeting.”

“That’s fine. As long as she’s no longer on top of you.”

“Good,” he said, unphased. “She and Harrison discovered a secret lab under the floor in Harrison’s hangar. They found proof that ruptor technology is tied to M.T.N. and beef.”

“What?” she asked, as she rolled something brown she was chewing into her cheek.

“Ruptors are made out of fetal bull hearts. That’s their core. Paige did a PH test on a cow she met on the road yesterday. The test suggests that cows might be carriers for the M.T.N. virus.”

Angelina spat what she was eating into a napkin. “Bring me a PH test!” she shrieked. “Hurry!”

Osric and Paige waited while Angelina did the test on herself and ordered all the food off the table at once. Paige groaned. The princess was eating beef for breakfast?

When Osric was again able to talk to her, he asked, “Where do you get your beef?”

“My father has a supplier in Old Montana,” she said with a PH test sticking out of her mouth.

“Does Zaphier have anything to do with what meat is shipped in?”

“No,” she pouted.

Osric sucked in his breath. “That could mean he isn’t responsible for Elizabella contracting the disease.”

Angelina looked like she might spit again.

Paige hoped it wouldn’t be yellow.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” the princess growled. “How can my father and I be responsible for everything that girl eats? I mean, really!”

“I have a question,” Paige interjected. “Armand and Zaphier have at least three ruptors. Is there any possibility that Elizabella touched one out of its glass case?”

Angelina shook her head. “I don’t know the answer to that. I’ll have to get back to you.”

“When you talk to Elizabella, be sure to ask her if she’s ever eaten a cow heart. We believe that’s where the greatest concentration of the disease would be present. Can you do that?”

“Indeed,” Angelina said acidly.

“Great. Then we’ll stop our meeting there. Harrison and Paige have samples. I might be able to get you a sample ruptor from Harrison—like you wanted. Then I’ll have done all three things you asked me to do.”

“What? No, you haven’t,” she denied.

“What haven’t I done? First, you wanted me to tell you how Elizabella contracted M.T.N. I’ve done that. If she didn’t get it from touching a ruptor directly, then it’s quite possible that she got it from eating flesh from an infected animal. Secondly, you asked me to prove to you how Zaphier was responsible. Depending on Elizabella’s answers to those other questions—you should have your answer. Our contract is almost complete. Once I have my final meeting with Harrison, I’ll see you tonight or tomorrow morning.”

Paige couldn’t help but notice how sorry Angelina looked. She looked distinctly pained before she said, “I’d like to make a new arrangement with you if that is the case. And soon.”

Osric’s jaw clenched in reply.

She shrugged her shoulders and turned off her phone and the wall went dark.

Paige turned to Osric and said, “Look, I don't know what further information you'll be able to get from Harrison.”

Osric didn’t flinch. “Who else were you and Harrison planning to give your findings to? Princess Angelina desperately wants to save her sister’s life. If we can find a way through examining the deconstruction of a ruptor, don’t you want that too?”

“Yeah, but—”

“But nothing. There’s no one else you can trust and Angelina has loads of money. She can afford to pay scientists to do the leg work. Trust me, okay?”

Paige frowned. As far as she knew, Harrison had all the usable raptors and plans for constructing new ones. They needed to find him if they wanted any of that info.

“Let’s go back to the house. Maybe some of the answers are there.”

***

Paige felt nervous as they got closer and closer to the house. There was one nice thing to look forward to though. There was no way that someone could hide a vehicle on Harrison’s property. If a chocker landed, there were no trees to hide it. Except for a few decorative saplings in the garden, the place was flat ground.

When they got there, Osric drove his Jeep in a figure eight around the house and then around the hangar. Since the place looked deserted, Paige got out and opened the hangar. It was completely devoid of life—plenty of hardware though—so it looked hopeful.

“Great,” Osric said as he got out and came into the hangar. “Let’s get to the lab.”

Paige opened the doors to the level where Harrison usually hid Excalibur. She and Osric strode down the stairs and stopped in front of the entryway to the lab. Paige put in the digit code she knew into the keypad and nothing happened.

“Harrison changed the password,” she stammered.

“Well, what would he have changed it to?”

Paige screwed up her face. “I have no idea.”

Osric popped the cover off the number panel and hooked his phone up to it, using a red wire and a yellow wire.

“Wow,” Paige said as she watched him work. “I didn’t even know you could still do that.”

“It’s only for emergencies and I won’t be able to find out what the code is, just what kind of code it is.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know. If it’s all numbers or all letters, or a combination of the two, and how many characters. There we go. I got it. It’s five numbers long. Does that narrow it down for you?”

“No.”

“Wait a second. What’s your number?”

“I don’t have a number.”

“Yes you do,” Osric grumbled like he couldn’t believe she didn’t know what he was talking about. “What’s your model number? The one Sleeping Beauty Inc. gave you?”

“85001.”

“That’s it.” He punched it in and the hatch swung open. “Didn’t you know that all females sold have a five-digit number assigned to them and all men have a four-digit number?”

Paige rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m not a private detective. Duh.”

“Are you coming down?” Osric asked as he lowered another rope ladder.

“No thanks. I’ll stay up here.”

Osric dropped down. Paige watched him get his bearings and begin poking around.

“Be careful,” she called.

“Or you might get M.T.N.,” a voice said from above Paige’s head.

Her chin shot up and she was staring at Armand. Paige was stunned at how old he looked. She had last seen him five years ago. He didn’t get facelifts like Zaphier and the skin around his eyes and mouth had aged. His hair was cut painfully short. It looked like he cut it as recently as the last time he shaved.

Paige stared at him. “How did you get here? Where’s your chocker? We checked everywhere.”

Armand gawked at her. “This is my home. You think I don’t know where to hide a chocker. It’s in the coulee.” He pointed a gun at Osric and her by turns.

“You know what I need.”

For a moment, Paige’s mouth filled with saliva, like nothing had changed, like being alone with him meant all the things it once had: silence, warmth, and the closest thing she had ever known to love. The second all that saliva pooled over her tongue, it tasted bitter: like loneliness, depression, and desperation - all emotions Harrison never let her feel.

She spat on the floor by his feet.

Armand jumped.

Then they heard the sound of an engine outside.

“Is that a chocker?” Paige asked in a whisper.

“No,” Armand said, pushing Paige down the ladder with the gun to her forehead.

Paige submitted painfully. If it had been anyone else, she might have tried to resist them. It was impossible if the man holding the gun was Armand. She knew he was ruthless enough and strong enough to do whatever he said he would, so she let herself fall back into the lab. She was still terrified of the lab. She still didn’t understand what she could touch and what she couldn’t in order to avoid contracting M.T.N. She got to the bottom and stuffed her hands into her pockets.

Armand followed her, closing the trap door over their heads. “It’s a truck.”

Using his gun, he compelled Osric and Paige against the wall with their hands up. After forcing them to face the wall with their hands over their heads, Armand ran the barrel of his gun against the skin of Paige’s arm.

“No bracelet this time?” Armand whispered into her ear.

Paige said nothing and concentrated on her breathing. In the past, they didn’t talk and now Paige had nothing to say to him.

“Looks good on you,” he said.

Over their heads, Paige heard someone in the hangar. “Anybody here?” It was Harrison.

Armand shut out the lights, knowing they might show through the trapdoor as a telltale sign that they were down there. Now it was completely dark in the lab. There were only four pinpricks of light that came from the corners of the trap door over their heads.

Then she heard Harrison. “You think you can hide down there? Idiot.” The top hatch came open and the light poured in.

Armand was caught red-handed as Harrison stared down at them in the hole. Harrison had a double-barreled shotgun pointed at Armand’s head. “How could you take Paige back down there? Now she’ll take PH tests every five minutes for days. You monster.”

“Look,” Armand said evenly, not dropping his gun. “I just came to get a couple of old ruptors.”

“To power your chocker?”

“Obviously,” the older brother said drolly.

“Then you figured out that the crappy ones work, too? I know you guys are desperate for them, but do you want them only to power a chocker?” Harrison questioned sardonically.

“What are you talking about?” Armand snarled.

“I’ve been thinking about this and I don’t get it. If all you wanted to do was power a helocarrier, why keep the reason a secret from me? Why not just show up, tell me what Dad was up to in his lab and ask me for the ruptors? Or even stranger, why send Paige to steal the ruptors all those years ago?”

“Dad wasn’t selling,” Armand said, aiming his gun squarely at Paige. “You’ve got the wrong idea about me. It wasn’t my idea to send Paige to steal your stuff.”

Paige flinched.

Harrison didn’t. “All the same,” he continued, “why didn’t you just tell me what you needed once Dad was gone?”

Armand bent his head and lowered his gun.

Harrison waited and then finally answered his own question. “Because it was your fault that Mom got infected and you thought Dad told me. Were you fighting over the ruptors with him and broke one on Mom?”

Armand didn’t answer. His face was hidden in shadow. The lines of his body spoke of fatigue he silently felt. He was tired. And Harrison was someone he absolutely did not want to fight.

“You thought I blamed you for our parents’ deaths?”

Armand didn’t reply.

The moment stretched.

“Drop your gun and get out of the hole,” Harrison offered with a non-threatening click of his tongue.

Armand dropped the gun and at the moment the piece hit the floor, Osric whacked him over the head with a steel rod. Armand fell to the floor like a wash basket full of dirty clothes, skidding his face on the cement. Paige didn’t even know Osric had a weapon. He must have grabbed it in the dark.

“I sent a message to the police. They’re on their way,” Osric said.

Harrison pointed his gun upwards and set it aside. “Was that really necessary?”

“I don’t know,” Osric defended. “He’s kind of a wild card. ”

Harrison scoffed his irritation and helped Paige climb out of the hole. She threw her arms around him. “Thanks so much for coming.”

“It was my pleasure. I made it to town this morning, found the truck, and drove out after you and Osric in Wystan’s truck. Excalibur needs charging. It wasn’t safe to fly.”

He kissed Paige and once Osric was up the ladder, Harrison climbed down.

“What are you doing?” Osric gawked.

“Waiting for the cops to get here with my brother. I can’t leave him alone.”

Paige stared at him. She thought he was crazy. Armand was knocked out. He didn’t know if he was alone or not. Why did Harrison have to go back to that horrible place that made her convulse with fear?

Harrison looked at his brother like the sight both satisfied him and saddened him.

“Paige, maybe now we can arrange a few things to suit us without worrying about the crazies from your past … and mine.” He glanced at the crumpled body of his brother.

“That would be good,” she sighed, feeling her throat constrict.

“And you’ll marry me?”

She crushed her eyelids together and hesitated. “Only if you get out that hole with a clean PH test.”

“You were down here too,” he reminded her. “And I’ll marry you even if your PH test is dirty.”