Page 2 of Silver Fire

“I take it the honeymoon’s over?” Derek drawled.

“Not now, Derek,” Jack warned, a spark of impatience flashing across his face. His friend looked relatively composed after having had a blowup with his wife. “Laurie, do you have all the files on Silver Fire Research?”

Silver Fire Research was owned by Dr. Sophie Marie Leroux, a brilliant nuclear physicist with a double major in material science and electrical engineering, and a Ph.D. in nuclear physics. Her research facility had been on MDI’s radar for two years. When Jack had found out about a patent application for her isotopic enrichment process on the zefinium element, which could be used as an infinite power source for a laser weapon MDI had been developing, he had sent a formal request for a partnership; Silver Fire Research would process zefinium in exchange for a large contribution to their research lab, which would include building an extension specifically for this purpose.

“Yes, I have it all here,” Laurie said. “The contract has been reviewed by our legal department and I’ve sent a copy to Dr. Leroux’s assistant, Stephen Parker. He has assured us that she would be present at the meeting.”

“That’s a first,” Derek muttered. Sophie Leroux was an enigma. Derek had seen her at a charity ball a few weeks ago—the first time he had seen her out of a lab coat. She rarely attended the meetings between Silver Fire and MDI, preferring to have Parker handle the negotiations. At the ball, she had taken Derek’s breath away—standing before him in a shimmering satin gown that clung to her slim curves. Her blonde hair cascaded on one side of her shoulder like a silk curtain, her gray eyes were lighter than he’d seen before, and the light shimmer of gloss on her lips made him wonder what it would be like to kiss her.

Derek shook his head in self-annoyance. “She was at that charity ball a few weeks ago. Remember that, Jack? You had a few words with Christopher Blackstone.”

“Yeah. Blackstone wants Silver Fire’s research on weaponized zefinium,” Jack stated grimly.

“I enjoyed the part where you called him a rat bastard.”

“He deserved it. I heard his company is developing an explosive device with the equivalent thermal blast of a nuclear bomb. Using zefinium in place of plutonium would eliminate the fallout effects of radiation.”

“Why invest in building one? As if our country didn’t have enough nuclear warheads in silos everywhere,” Laurie asked.

“Think about it Laurie. A renegade state wants to take over a city or a small country, wipe it out with a zefinium bomb so you can move in and rebuild on your own terms,” Derek said. “Don’t have to deal with radiation, everything is burned to ashes—blank slate.”

“Why would Silver Fire develop such a device?” Laurie asked angrily.

“They didn’t. Dr. Leroux inherited the research from her father when she turned twenty-four,” Derek replied. “Nobody knows what she has done with it. From what we’ve heard, there’s a specialized electronic trigger that only she has the schematics to.”

“Viktor is keeping an eye on Blackstone,” Jack said. Viktor Baran was the head of Artemis Guardian Services (AGS), the company that employed Maia and was as close to a brother-in-law Jack could have. The AGS worked closely with federal and international agencies. They frequently fielded politically sensitive assignments as they specialized in small-team surgical incursions that operated frequently off the grid. “All right. Let’s get back on point here. Derek. What’s the word from our design engineers on the spec sheet of the zee?” Zee was their slang for zefinium.

“It looks good on paper,” Derek replied and saw the gravity lighten from his friend’s face. MDI had gone into this deal with everything to lose. There were no trial runs. The technical data sheet was the sole basis for drawing up the contract. But if the processed zefinium worked as they theorized, this would mean the first infinite-power source laser weapon ever created.

Jack glanced at Laurie. “Do we have our gate clearance for Divergent Research Zone?”

Silver Fire Research was housed in a heavily guarded compound that contained research facilities with highly sensitive projects.

“Yes, Parker emailed it to me yesterday.”

“Then we’re good to go. Meet us back here at 10:30 a.m., Laurie. We can take the Escalade.”

His personal assistant nodded and left.

Derek stared at his friend in silence. Jack quirked a lop-sided grin. “You’re dying to find out what the drama was this morning?”

Derek shrugged.

“My wife is pissed that she was left out of the German assignment against the arms dealer,” Jack shared.

“The Hamburg account?” Derek’s eyes widened. “She was looking forward to that.”

“Well, I wasn’t,” Jack retorted.

“Jack, you know you can’t make decisions for her regarding her job.”

“I know,” his friend admitted and then exhaled deeply. “But I’ve convinced Viktor that the Leroux account was more important.”

Derek straightened in his chair. “Leroux? As in Sophie Marie?”

“Is there anyone else?”

“I don’t get it.”

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