Page 83 of Steinbeck
Emberly scrubbed a hand down her face.“All this time, they were following me?Why?”
“You’re the only one who knows what Tomas looks like.”
“No—Mystique knows him too.”
Steinbeck considered that.
Wait.She turned.“What if they followed me to Minnesota?”
“And meanwhile, they took Luis and forced him to create the virus.”
“How’d they get Axiom?”
“I don’t know!”He held up a hand.“I don’t know.Did you make a copy of it?”
“No.Like I said—I was on an island without Internet.And then on Declan’s boat...Oh no.”
He stared at her, and just like that, she saw the same answer click in his blue eyes.“The captain.”
“Yes.Captain Teresa.FromPortugal.You don’t think...”Her mouth opened.“I had it with me on the boat.Maybe she took it.Or copied it.”She drew in a breath.“And sent it to Luis.”
“How can you?—”
“Luis’s lock screen had a picture of her.I thought something about it seemed familiar.”
“He’s been working with the Bratva the entire time,” Stein said.
Nimue glanced at Emberly.“There’s more.”She clicked on a photo.“Is this you petting a pig?”
Steinbeck folded his arms.
“And eating ice cream.”
“I’ve seen enough,” said Steinbeck.He pulled out his phone.
“Okay, but you’ll want to see this.”Nim clicked on another file.It opened to a grid of five levels.
Emberly leaned over her.“What is that?”
“That is a floor plan of the entire Javits Center.There’s another file for each floor.”
“This was in a file on the cloud.”
“Okay, that’s enough for me.”Steinbeck stalked across the room, pulled open the sliding glass door, and stepped outside.
“He’s a little scary when he’s mad,” Nim said.
“He’s not mad.This is his operator persona.”But Emberly watched him, an outline in the darkness, pacing the balcony.She turned back to Nim.“You can’t stay here.”
Nimue raised an eyebrow.“I certainly can.”
“No.Nim.They didn’t get me.And they’ll be back, I know it.”
“I’m in a hotel.What are they going to?—”
“This is the Russian mob!Name it!”
Nimue held up her hands.“Calm down.”
