Beth caught the word and narrowed her eyes. “Hopefully? What does that mean?”
Mortimer paused a heartbeat, but then heaved a sigh and admitted, “I have not been able to get ahold of our agent in Vancouver yet. But I am sure I will before you land,” he added quickly, although he didn’t sound all that confident.
“And if you don’t?” Beth asked.
Mortimer considered the question briefly and then said, “If there is no one waiting at the airport when you land, call me and I will give you further instructions. However, for now, we will go on the assumption someone will be waiting. They will take you to the satellite house, you can settle in and then tomorrow night you can approach Kira Sarka and—”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Beth cut in. “Tomorrow night? Why not approach her as soon as we land?”
“Because she is presently out of the country,” he admitted and glanced down at the file on his desk before adding, “She is expected back tomorrow by dinnertime, but is presently in Hollywood for a party at some star’s house or something. I wrote the name of the actor down here somewhere,” he muttered, running a finger down the top page in the file, which was covered with an almost unreadable scrawl.
Not caring whose party the kid was attending, Beth asked impatiently, “Then why are we flying out tonight? Why not just go tomorrow?”
“Because the plane is available now and may not be tomorrow,” Mortimer said, sounding a little annoyed.
“But—” Beth began, only to be interrupted.
“Do not ‘but’ me, Beth. I have enough on my plate right now without you giving me a hard time. Do you know how difficult it is to get things done around here with seventy-five percent of my people down chasing that damned Dressler? I am working with a handful of real hunters, a bunch of trainees and even volunteers with absolutely no training at all. As for trying to get one of the planes booked for anything, well, that is damned near impossible. I have people driving six, ten, and even twelve hours to look into things that will probably turn out to be nothing, but we have to check out any complaint or tip sent in, because Lord knows if we do not and something happens, I will be the one Lucian—”
“Okay, okay,” Beth said soothingly. “I get it. You’re crazy busy and stressed out, and we fly down tonight and talk to the kid tomorrow. It’s fine. When do we fly back?”
Mortimer stared at her for a moment, looking a bit frustrated that she’d cut off his rant, but after a minute he blew out a long breath and muttered, “I managed to book the plane for the day after. Sunday at noon.” Standing, he nodded abruptly. “I think that is everything I needed to tell you, so I suppose you had best get to the plane. It has been waiting on the tarmac for the past half hour, and I would not put it past the bastards to fly off on their next assignment if you are not soon boarded.”
Nodding, Beth got reluctantly to her feet.
“Your luggage should all be on the plane by now, and the captain has an envelope with credit cards and a small amount of cash for each of you. Bastien sent it with him. He asked me to remind you to please keep all receipts.”
“Of course, Mortimer. Don’t worry. We’ll handle everything,” Beth assured him. It seemed she’d be working with Scotty a bit longer. Ah well, she could think of worse things than having to work with a six-foot-three sexy beast of a Scot. He might be annoying at times, but he was always pretty to look at.
Four
“I can’t sleep.”
Beth heard that complaint from Donny, but didn’t open her eyes. She was exhausted and had been dozing in her seat before Donny’s words had drawn her back from the edge of slumber. Besides, she didn’t think he was addressing her anyway, as was proven by his next words.
“I don’t know how Beth can sleep.”
“Exhaustion,” Scotty said softly. “She didn’t sleep at the house.”
Beth barely kept from blinking her eyes open with surprise. Not because he knew she hadn’t slept at the Enforcer house. She supposed Sam had told him that. She was surprised because his tone had almost been affectionate. Affection was not something she would’ve connected with Scotty’s attitude toward her. This was new and just plain confusing.
“She must’ve had an interesting life,” Donny commented, and then in a wry voice added, “You probably both have.”
“Aye,” Scotty said. “Living a long time tends to make fer at least a few interestin’ interludes.”
“Yeah, I suppose so,” Donny murmured, and then gave a soft chuckle and said, “Or maybe it’s being immortal. It’s certainly brought about some interesting events in my life.”
Scotty merely grunted at the comment, and silence reigned for a moment before Donny asked, “Do you ever wonder about them?”
“About who, lad?” Scotty asked mildly.
“The Atlanteans.”
“Not really,” Scotty said dismissively.
“I do,” Donny told him.
“And what do ye wonder about them?” Scotty asked indulgently.
“Well, what if Atlantis never fell? I mean, do you think their scientists would have fixed the flaw?”
“What flaw is that?”
“You know, the flaw in the programming of the nanos that keeps them from disintegrating and allowing us to be normal again.”
Beth almost sat up and put in her two cents’ worth then, but was too tired to bother, so simply stayed put and listened. She couldn’t help thinking, though, that if the people of Atlantis were anything like modern people, she didn’t imagine they were too upset with the results of that flaw. It was a scientific fountain of youth. Humans reached their peak somewhere between twenty-five and twenty-eight depending on the person, and so that was the state nanos ensured their hosts were returned to and stayed at . . . basically forever, as far as she could tell. Well, barring a beheading or burning up. It was one heck of a flaw.
“Or,” Donny continued, “do you think any of those scientists at Argeneau Enterprises might ever find a way to reverse the flaw or something? Reprogram the nanos or whatever?”
Beth waited curiously for Scotty’s answer, but he merely asked solemnly, “What do you think, lad?”
“I think they’ve been working with those nanos an awfully long time and not figured out anything,” he answered. “And I think even though they know it’s the natural order, maybe people are mostly afraid to die . . . including the scientists. So, maybe they don’t really want to find the fix for the flaw in the nanos.”
“And I think I was right before. Ye are a cannie lad, boyo,” Scotty said, sounding impressed.
“So, that would be a no?” Donny asked in a wry tone. “No, they won’t find the way to fix the flaw?”
“Would ye mind if they did no’?” Scotty queried, sounding curious.
“You’re asking if I’d mind staying young and strong forever?” he said on a laugh. “Of course not.”