Under the Microscope

reached into his pocket and produced a mini-disk. “Charlie gave me this just before they shot him. He said it’d help me get the guy who’s masterminding this. Call me when you have something.”

Then he leaned down and kissed Ike on the cheek before he turned and headed out the door without a backward glance.

Raine seethed with a jealousy she had no right to feel. When Ike passed her on the way to retrieve her computer bags, Raine said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize earlier that you and Max were an item.”

Ike snorted. “Max and I are friends. Equals.” She shrugged. “I’d go there for fun, but I’m not his type. He only likes women he can save, and that’s not me. Never will be.” She narrowed her eyes. “I’d tell you to stay away from him, but I can see that’d be a waste. You already proved you’ll think about yourself before you think about him. So consider this instead-even if he wants you now, it’s only because you’re a damsel in distress. Once you don’t need saving anymore, he’ll lose interest. That’s the way it works. That’s the way it always works.”

MAX WAITED IMPATIENTLY in the hallway. He’d thought the women were right behind him. Didn’t they understand how much danger they were in?

Of course not, he thought. You haven’t told them everything. But how could he explain Charlie’s wild accusation when he wasn’t sure he understood it- or believed it-himself?

The door opened and Ike joined him, eyes sober.

He frowned. “Where’s Raine?”

“She’s coming. A few of her things fell behind the desk.” She touched his arm. “Don’t try to save the world, Max. If there’s a body, the cops will listen to you. Hell, they’re already listening. And the FDA’s involved. Take it to them. This isn’t your fight.”

But if he bought into Charlie’s theory, if he bought into the whole legend of The Nine, then there was a very good chance at least one prominent member of the FDA hierarchy was involved. That would explain why the notoriously slow-moving agency had moved into Raine’s office at nearly warp speed. And the cops… Max thought of Detective Marcus and how chummy he’d seemed with Agent Bryce.

There was a fine line between conspiracy and paranoia, but he was damned if he knew who to trust at this point. And with more theory than evidence, there was a good chance that Raine would remain the primary suspect in the Thriller deaths.

Hell, they might even find a way to pin Charlie’s murder on her. Reluctantly, he dug into his duffel and pulled out a pair of cheap disposable phones, part of the emergency kit he and William had devised.

He handed one of the phones to Ike and put the other in his jacket pocket. “Take this. It’s programmed with my number, and vice versa. Use it to call me, not your regular phone. If you can’t get me, leave a message on my machine at home.”

She looked at him for a long moment. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“I’ll explain later. Get me those data ghosts and see what the hell’s on that disk Charlie gave me. Once you have, I’ll tell you what I can.”

“And until then?”

“Do you have the contact info on the victims’ families?” When she dug out a piece of paper, he took it and stuffed it in his pocket alongside the phone. “Raine and I will go talk to them.” It was both a necessary part of the investigation and a good excuse to travel, staying with the theory that it was harder to hit a moving target than a stationary one.

Ike’s expression clouded. “You could leave her with me.”

His lips twisted. “No, I can’t.”

She raised an eyebrow. When he didn’t fill in the gap, she sighed. “I was afraid of that. Watch yourself, Vasek. Don’t make the same mistake a third time, for God’s sake.”

“I won’t,” he said, though what he really meant was I’m trying not to.

“Just be careful,” Ike said. She patted his cheek again-a gesture she knew darn well he hated-and headed down the corridor.

“You, too,” he said under his breath as the hotel room door opened a final time and Raine stepped through, wearing her long red wool coat and a scared expression.

“Give me your bag.” Cursing himself for having not thought of it sooner, he dumped the contents of her shopping bag into his duffel and zipped it shut. “We’re going to need to move fast. I’ll explain once we’re on the road, okay?”

Face pale, she nodded. “Lead the way.”

“That’s my girl.” He didn’t mean the words as anything more than encouragement, but as she followed him down the hall, the platitude resonated too close for his comfort.

My girl.

They didn’t talk as he led them down a flight of stairs and through a back exit that spit them out in a poorly lit alley on the opposite side from the parking garage.

When he paused before stepping through, Raine whispered, “We’re leaving my SUV, aren’t we?”

The words were more statement than question.

He reached back and gripped her shoulder briefly. “It’ll be safe in the hotel garage for a few days.” He hoped.

“It’s not that.” Her whisper was quiet and a little sad. “It’s just that I don’t have much left that’s mine. The house is gone. The office is wrecked. Now the car…” She trailed off and then squared her shoulders beneath her long coat. “Never mind. I’m focusing on stupid stuff. Let’s go.”

Part of Max wanted to hug her, to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

Self-preservation had him turning away. “Keep your eyes open and your voice down. You got another coat in that bag of yours?”

“No. The red wool is warm enough.”

“It’s also too recognizable.” He glanced along the deserted alleyway. Both ends were open and doors led away at regular intervals. There was no sign of activity. They were safe enough for the moment. “Here.” He shrugged out of his parka, unzipped the fuzzy brown lining and turned it inside out, so it looked like a ratty fake fur coat. “Dump yours and wear this. Let your hair down, too.”

She complied, and within moments looked like a completely different person. Gone was the businesslike, boss- like Raine Montgomery of just a few days earlier. In her place stood a smaller-looking version in jeans and an inexpensive sweater, wearing hiking boots and a shapeless brown jacket that nearly swallowed her whole. With her hair down, she looked younger, more vulnerable, as though changing out of the suit had stripped her of her tough- gal veneer, leaving only the woman beneath.

In the orangey sodium lights reflected from the streets on either side, she looked like the Raine he’d first met. The one he’d fallen for, long before he’d known where her priorities lay. The one he’d thought of in the years since.

The one he wanted to hold now. Kiss now. Sink himself in, lose himself in until it didn’t matter that they wanted different things, believed in different things.

But because now wasn’t the time and Raine sure as hell wasn’t the woman, Max busied himself with reversing his parka, taking it from hunter green to tan. He retrieved a battered Patriots cap from the pocket and pulled it low over his eyes.

When he was done, it wasn’t nearly as dramatic a change, but it should be enough to confuse the men who’d killed Charlie, the men he feared might have followed him back to the hotel. Back to Raine.

It would have to be enough to fool them because he didn’t have a better plan.

Without another word, he turned and gestured up the alley, toward the brighter gleam of the street beyond.

They’d gone three paces when a door banged behind them.

He heard a pop, then a pzzzt as something whizzed past his ear. His body was already moving before his brain caught up with the noise.

Gunshot!

“Go! Run!” He shoved Raine away from the dark figure of a man, who stepped into the alley, raised his silenced