Page 29 of Dan

“But you won’t let that happen, right? No matter who is with me, you won’t let them get to me.” She looked at Luke with those big green eyes, then back at Dan. “Right? None of you would let them touch me again.”

“No. None of us would let them touch you again,” said Dan, hugging her.

“Then we need to go. I need to go. I want to know what they wanted in my head and what they were going to do with it.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Who was that?” asked Yancy, watching her husband set down his cell phone.

“G.R.I.P. They want to speak to us again, but in Portland.”

“Portland? I thought they were somewhere along the Gulf Coast?” she asked.

“So did I, but apparently, that’s not the right information. They asked us to meet them at an office building downtown. I think all the information everyone had was wrong. They’re on the coast, but not the Gulf Coast.”

“Or, they have multiple offices,” she frowned. “Either way, this could be what we’re hoping for. Let’s get up there this evening and prepare. We can enjoy a nice dinner together and get a good night’s rest.”

“Sounds good. I’ll let the manufacturing team know to keep doing what they’re doing. Everyone else can work from home, and we’ll save a few bucks on the electricity in this damn place. I’ll be fucking glad when we’re finally out from under this place.”

“You and me both,” said Yancy. “I appreciate your father leaving this to us, but it was not what I had in mind for our retirement.”

“What about Finley? She’s still out there somewhere, and he wants her. Hell, we want her. We need her.”

“She’ll come home sooner or later. You know her. She’s a creature of habit. She needs to have her things around her to feel normal, whatever that is for her. Gunderson went too far last time. I really think he broke something inside her.”

“Maybe,” frowned Zach. “It is strange, though, that she hasn’t found a phone and tried to call us.”

“I guess,” shrugged Yancy. “She’s always been different, Zach. We knew that. But whatever is in her brain is going to make millions for us. We need to figure out how that stealth technology thing works so we can find a workaround on the tracking devices.”

“What if we can’t?” he asked.

“Then we’re all in a lot of trouble. He doesn’t accept failure, and he won’t hesitate to throw us under the bus on this.” She pressed a button on the desk phone.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“We’re going up to Portland for the night. Prepare a bag for the two of us and bring the car around.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Let’s check in with the manufacturing team,” said Zach. Taking his wife’s hand, they went down in their private elevator, holding hands the entire way, sharing loving kisses. Anyone who was watching would assume they were loving parents to their only daughter. It couldn’t have been further from the truth.

They’d provided the family with an heir, albeit a broken one, but she was there. Somewhere. It didn’t mean they had to love it or touch it. Neither wanted children, and the last thing they wanted to be reminded of was having one. When they found Finley, they would put her to work in the facility, ensuring that she didn’t escape again.

“Mr. and Mrs. Xavier, what can we do for you?” asked the lead engineer.

“Just wondering where we are on the technology?” asked Zach.

“Let me show you,” he said, smiling. There was a table nearby with a dozen small objects sitting on it. When he pressed a button, they appeared in a mirage-like state, hazy, almost as if in a fog. But you could count and pick out every item there.

“This is the progress you’ve made?” frowned Yancy.

“Mrs. Xavier, this is extraordinarily difficult to do. We are working on this day and night, but we cannot break the codes that Finley placed.”

“What codes?” frowned Zach.

“The codes that open everything! She changed the codes at some point. All of the technologies we have cannot be manipulated because she changed the coding, and no one understands how she did that.”

“Fuck!” muttered Yancy. “Just keep working at it. There has to be a reason for this. You’ll figure it out.” They started to walk away, and Yancy turned toward the engineers.

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