Kendra nodded. “Okay…”
“Then you call your mother and ask her to meet you at your condo. You tell her that she’s to tell anyone who questions her that she received a call from you in the middle of the night and you told her to pick you up outside the hospital. You told her you couldn’t sleep, and you saw no reason why you should have to stay there.” He smiled. “Considering your reputation with the FBI field office, they won’t find it unusual you wanted to run your own show. But Dianne will say she didn’t want to leave you alone. So like a good mother, she bunked down on the couch and was available in case you needed her.”
“As an alibi?”
“Yes, you won’t need one. No crime has been committed. But it might throw off anyone who thinks you have anything to do with Waldridge’s disappearance. I’ll lay a few more false trails for them to follow, but they’ll come to you first.” His lips twisted. “And Dianne will be completely convincing if it means she’s doing something that will protect her hero and still keeping you safely here in San Diego.”
“Yes, she will,” Kendra said. “Though I don’t want to involve her.”
“She was mad as hell that you didn’t involve her the last time. She may forgive you if you let her do this.” He turned back to Waldridge. “And can you give me an idea where those incubators with the organs would be taken in London? Biers said he didn’t know.”
“He knew. Probably the test lab on the south side. Why?”
“Another loose end. After I leave you, I’ll have to go and grab all those incubators and ship them to your new lab. You don’t want anyone else to have access to them if they have a finished product.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” He smiled. “I was worried about them. I’m glad you thought of it. That could have been a disaster.”
Lynch waved his hand impatiently. “I’ll need all the details about transporting. I don’t know anything about keeping live organs healthy.”
“My area,” Waldridge said. “I’ll make it easy for you to fix that problem.” They’d reached the steps, and he turned to Kendra. “It seems that this may be—”
“Who’s that?” Lynch stiffened, his gaze on two headlights spearing the darkness as a car drove onto the airport grounds. “I don’t like this.”
“I do,” Kendra said as she whirled and started hurrying toward the car that had just stopped. “I was afraid that she wouldn’t make it, and I’d have to send her after you.”
“Her?” Lynch called.
“Jessie,” Kendra said over her shoulder. “I couldn’t let Charles go without making certain he had proper security. And I couldn’t expect you to stay and protect him. Jessie probably won’t stay either, but she’ll be able to set up a security system she can trust.”
“And that you can trust,” Lynch said dryly.
She didn’t answer. She had reached the car, and Jessie was opening the driver’s door and getting out.
*
“I HEARD HER TALKING TO Ms. Mercado in the car, and she didn’t have an easy time persuading her,” Waldridge said as he watched Kendra and Jessie standing there talking. “But Kendra was very determined, and Jessie finally gave in.” He glanced at Lynch. “But since you’ve made it clear that you’re going to be in charge, I’m wondering if you’ll let Kendra have her way in this.”
“I’m wondering, too,” Lynch said. “Jessie might be useful if she agrees to the same rules I give to you. She’s ex-military, and she might do it. She’s smart, she’s good, she doesn’t make mistakes. It would free me up to go after those incubators right away while Dyle’s pals are still running around in a panic after they hear he’s dead. I could drop her off with you, snatch the incubators, then come back and finish the rest of the setup.”
“You’d feel comfortable doing that?”
Lynch smiled as he gazed at Jessie. “Yes, I’d feel comfortable. You can, too, Waldridge.”
“Then it appears your decision is made, doesn’t it?” He was still looking at Kendra and Jessie as he added, “Much easier than the one you made when you told Kendra you’d take me on. That was a close call for me. It all rested on a couple of sentences, didn’t it?”
Lynch’s eyes narrowed on his face. “Did it? What were they?”
“The first was when Kendra was so exasperated because she’d had to ignore the therapy for the kids she teaches. The second line was when she said that of course she wasn’t going with me. I believe that clinched the matter in my favor?”
Lynch didn’t answer.
“But I’m curious, if she hadn’t said those words, would you have just let me go out on my own, or would you have found a way to have Griffin find me in the fastest way possible?”
Lynch looked him in the eye. “What do you think?”