She was back on the top floor of the laboratory block with Finnion. Eric was getting close to the target stretch now, where the road wound up a valleyside of sheer cliffs and gorges. Vanessa had changed into the VR body suit and had plugged in the helmet in readiness.
“Where else was there to take her?” she snapped. “Obviously she was working with Corfe, since he borrowed the van yesterday. We had to get her out of sight, off the streets.”
“It means the whole thing’s off,” Payne began. “We’re going to—”
“No, it does not. We’re all set to go here. It’s literally a matter of a few minutes now, and it’ll be all over. We can’t let it pass by now, Martin. There’s no knowing when there might be another chance like this. Everyone’s keyed up. We have to see it through.”
“But she’s there at the firm,” Payne protested. “She knows I’m involved—Phil, all of us. Are you going to get rid of her too? This has got to stop. And in any case, Corfe’s still loose over here in the city somewhere.”
Vanessa sighed. “Martin, calm down and think about it. If Eric has an accident up in the mountains, there’s absolutely nothing to connect us with it. That was precisely why we decided on doing it this way. Whatever Corfe and this woman are involved in has to do with something else.”
“But what?”
“How can I know yet? Probably they’re just meddling. But it puts them more in the wrong than us. She was involved in breaking into premises that this company has a perfectly legitimate contract to protect. So at worst, Andy stands to be reprimanded for letting his security people act over-zealously, that’s all.” Finnion nodded silently from across the room. “And I’m sure that with his connections he’s well able to take care of something like that.” There was a knock on the door. Finnion moved to open it. A man in a gray overjacket stuck his head in and murmured something.
“Well, I just hope you’re right, Vanessa,” Payne went on. Finnion caught Vanessa’s eye. “I can’t afford to risk any—”
“Just a moment, Martin.”
“She’s here—over in Security,” Finnion murmured.
“Martin, they’ve got her here now,” Vanessa said. “Phil should be on his way. Andrew will call you after they’ve had a chance to talk to her. But we need to take care of this other business first. It’s almost time. I’ll call you as soon as it’s over.” She hung up without waiting for an answer.
Finnion looked at the man who had brought the news. “We’ve got some business to wrap up here. Tell Kyle I’ll be over there as soon as we’re through. She’s a lawyer, and we’re probably a bit out of line, so lay off any rough stuff. Give her a cup of coffee or something.” The man in the gray overjacket nodded and left, closing the door.
They brought Michelle across the Evergreen Bridge and out to Redmond. She saw the Microbotics sign from the highway. The Lincoln took the next exit, followed a tree-lined avenue to the premises, and parked behind what appeared to be the main building. The man in the dark raincoat led the way up to a second-floor room with consoles and closed-circuit TV monitors that looked like a security center, to a small office at the back. Then he disappeared, leaving her with the two who had sat beside her in the car. They remained as uncommunicative as they had been through the drive.
Now she was even more scared. This whole facade of running a legitimate business was little more than a cover. The real moneymaking line that these people were in, that bought mansions in Bellevue and yachts like the Dolores, was stock manipulation and illegal use of investors’ funds. Threatened with exposure, they had already shown themselves prepared to kill. And why hadn’t it troubled them to bring her here? By the time Garsten showed up and told the other two to wait outside, she was close to having convinced herself that she was about to be shot on the spot.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded hoarsely. “You can’t go grabbing people off the street whenever you feel like it. It’s—”