CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Chaz:
The crowd began to movea€”somnambulistica€”zombies walking through a desolate wilderness. I had reached my own ground zero. My lowest, darkest point. After this, it gets better, I decided. Somehow.
Russ and I hugged briefly, then parted ways. We were going to meet back over at the hotel suite on Bourbon Street; he was going to pick up Isabellea€”him and a small army. I was going to try to forget about this, finish up my week with Angelique. We had an emergency board meeting scheduled for the next morning. A crew was trying to put together a makeshift VR connection with our plants in India, and we needed to do some damage control before the media coulda€”
Someone brushed up against me, blocked my way. The crowd snaked past. Bodies without souls or purpose. I lifted my head to see who wanted a piece of me.
Skellar.
I was too tired to be surprised.
a€?Just what kind of game is your brother playina€??a€? he asked.
a€?What are you talking about?a€?
The crowd had thinned. Only a few stragglers remained and none of them were listening to us.
a€?Maybe youa€?re just as bad as all the other a€?sitters and maybe youa€?re not, I dona€?t really care,a€? he said. Maybe that was his way of apologizing for letting one of his mugs fry my hand. It still didna€?t make up for his snake-pit interrogation tactics. a€?But your brother is in trouble with some nasty Uptown boysa€”a€?
a€?Look, wea€?re not afraid of you or your mug buddies.a€?
a€?Ia€?m not talkina€? a€?bout mugs. These guys make us look like Girl Scouts.a€?
I grinned. It was about time Skellar realized his team wasna€?t so tough.
a€?You ever seen this woman?a€? He spun a hologram in his palm. I watched as a dark-haired beauty in a lab coat checked her makeup, then glanced over her shoulder to talk to someone I couldna€?t see. I thought she looked familiar at first, something about the way she held her head, maybe a glimmer in the eyes. But Ia€?d never seen her before. At least that was what I thought until I heard her voice when the audio kicked in.
Still, I couldna€?t quite place her.
I shook my head. a€?I dona€?t know her,a€? I said.
a€?Well, this girl, Ellen Witherspoon, she went missing a€?bout three days ago. She was workina€? on some pretty important stuff. These people are lookina€? for her. Gotta lotta money too. Theya€?ll pay almost anything to find her. And your brother was the last one to see her.a€?
a€?You think Russ is involved in this?a€?
a€?Maybe. Dona€?t really matter what I think. Ita€?s what they think that matters.a€?
I raised my eyebrows.
a€?The way I see it, she mighta jumped. And shea€?s got some mighty important information that this Uptown crowd needs.a€? He paused. Looked around. a€?Word has it therea€?s a new game in town.a€?
a€?New game?a€?
a€?What you guys got down at Fresh Start is nothina€? compared to whata€?s comina€?. Youa€?ll be outta business in less than a year when this stuff hits the streets.a€?
He just walked away then. Didna€?t ask me any more questions. Didna€?t ask to look at our Stringer records to see who had jumped in the past two weeks. But it didna€?t really matter.
Because I suddenly knew the answer.