The totally unexpected sound made her jerk so badly she almost lost
control of the Explorer. She looked down at the phone as complete
disbelief spread over her features. No one knew where she was. She
looked around at the darkness as if someone were watching her. The
shorn trees were the only witnesses to her journey back home. As far as
she could tell, she was the only living person around.
Her hand slowly reached down to pick up the phone.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
My God, Quentin, it’s three in the morning.”
“I wouldn’t be calling unless it was really important.”
‘Tm not sure what you want me to say.” Sidney’s-hand slightly trembled
as she held the cellular phone. Sidney slowed the car; her foot had
steadily pressed down on the accelerator as the conversation continued,
until she was traveling at a dangerous rate of speed on the narrow
roadway.
“Like I said, I heard you and Gamble talking on the trip back from New
York. I thought you would have come to me, Sidney, not Gamble.” The
voice was soft but contained a certain edge.
“I’m sorry, Quentin, but he asked questions. You didn’t.”
“I was trying to give you some space.”
“I appreciate that, I really do. It’s just that Gamble confronted me. I
mean he was nice about it, but I had to tell him something.”
“And so you told him you didn’t know why Jason was on that plane? That
was your answer? That you had no idea he was even on the plane?” She
could discern certain unspoken thoughts in his words. How could she
tell Rowe something different from what she had told Gamble? And even
if she revealed Jason’s story for going to Los Angeles, how could she
tell Rowe that she now knew Jason hadn’t gone to interview with another
company? She was in an impossible situation and right now there seemed
to be no way out of it. She decided, instead, to change the subject.
“How did you think to call me in the car, Quentin?” It made her feel
slightly creepy that he had been able to trace her.
“I tried the house, then the office. Only place left was the car,” he
said simply. “To tell you the truth, I was kind of worried about you.
And–” His voice abruptly stopped, as if he had decided an instant too
late not to communicate the thought.
“And what?”
Rowe was hesitant on the line, but then he quickly finished his thought.
“Sidney, you don’t have to be a genius to figure out the question we all
want answered. Why was Jason going to L.A.?”
Rowe’s tone was clear enough. He wanted an answer to that question.
“Why would Triton care what he does on his own time?”
Rowe let out a deep sigh. “Sid, everything Triton does is highly
proprietary. There are whole industries out there who spend all day
long trying to steal our techriology and people. You know that.”
Sidney flushed. “Are you accusing Jason of selling Triton’s technology
to the highest bidder? That’s absurd and you know it.” Her husband was
not here to defend himself and she damned sure wasn’t going to let that
insinuation go by.
Rowe sounded hurt. “I didn’t say I was thinking it, but others here
are.”
“Jason would never, ever do anything like that. He worked his butt off
for that company. You were his friend. How could you even make that
allegation?”
“Okay, explain what he was doing on a plane to L.A. instead of painting
the kitchen, because I’m about to make the one acquisition that will
allow Triton to lead the world into the twenty-first century and I
cannot allow anything or anyone to destroy that opportunity.
It will never be repeated.”
The tone in his voice was just enough to ignite every molecule of rage
in Sidney Archer’s body.
“I can’t explain it. I’m not even going to try to explain it. I don’t
know what the hell’s going on. I just lost my husband, goddammit!
There’s no body, there’s no clothes. There’s nothing left of him and
you’re sitting there telling me you think he was ripping you off?