8
Julia heard Aaron's cry of alarm but ignored him and opened the door.
Jeremy Bolton stood outside. His usually neatly combed hair was wind tossed and his normally handsome features were distorted by a scowl. He looked distressed. Julia knew Jeremy could be difficult when distressed.
But God help her, he was attractive. She'd never had much of a sex drive, and was glad for that—sexual entanglements were notoriously distracting. But Jeremy Bolton had an air about him. She'd always pooh-poohed the idea of animal magnetism, but this man had something going on. Maybe he secreted a pheromone. Whatever it was, she'd met only a few men in her life who could affect her this way… make her almost… impulsive. Make her want to feel those bearded cheeks rubbing against her nipples—
Stop.
Impulses be damned. Giving in would be counterproductive in the extreme. She could not jeopardize her neutrality, her scientific objectivity.
"Come in, Jeremy."
He paused for a second, then stepped inside. His scowl hardened when he spotted Aaron.
"I think you owe Doctor Levy an apology," she said quickly.
She noticed Aaron had retreated to a spot behind one of the chairs. His face had turned a cadaverous shade of white.
Jeremy continued to stare at Aaron. "How'd you get out of my trunk?"
Aaron only shook his head. He seemed too frightened to speak.
Julia said, "The apology, Jeremy. We're waiting."
His gaze remained locked on Aaron. "He wants to cancel the trial, lock me up again."
"He wants nothing of the sort."
"I was told—"
"You were misinformed. And for your information, the surest way to get the trial canceled is for Doctor Levy to disappear. That would be the end for you. You'll never see daylight again."
Without a word, he shot her a look, then went back to staring at Levy.
Julie pressed on. "And don't think for a minute you could elude capture. Your clinical trial is under the aegis of a government agency that has vast resources and a long reach—one that can be just as ruthless as you. They will track you down, and when they find you they will not be kind. Look at me, Jeremy."
After a few seconds he turned his smoldering blue gaze on her.
"Listen carefully to what I say. This experiment is very important to a number of highly placed people in this country's intelligence and defense communities. If you disrupt it they will be very angry. They will take out that anger on you in ways not sanctioned by the Geneva Conventions."
She hoped he didn't think she was overstating the case. She wasn't.
"I want to tell you right now, right to your face, that Doctor Levy is one hundred percent behind this trial. He is one of the developers of D-two-eight-seven. He has a vested interest in its success. He wants you to succeed. Can I make it any clearer than that?"
She sensed an easing of some of Jeremy's coiled tension. She pushed further.
"Have 1 ever lied to you, Jeremy?"
After a pause, he shook his head. "No. Least not that I know of."
"Well, I haven't. And since that's the case, I believe you owe Doctor Levy an apology."
He looked at Aaron again, then shrugged. "Sorry, Doc."
Aaron looked stunned. His mouth worked a few times before he managed to speak.
"Sorry? That's it? You were going to kill me!"
Jeremy grinned through his beard. "Nah. Just takin you for a little ride. I
got some bogus info on you, that's all. 1 heard if anyone was gonna rat me out it was you. If Doc Vecca says that's wrong, well then, I guess it's wrong. My bad. No hard feelings, 'kay?"
As Aaron stood there, stone faced, Julia prompted him.
"Aaron, we need to put this behind us and move on."
Finally he raised his hands in a gesture of defeat, acceptance, and capitulation. "All right, all right."
Julia clapped once. "Wonderful! Now I want to see the two of you shake hands."
"I don't see why that's necessary. If we—"
"Come on, come on. It's what men do, isn't it. A sign of peace, right? I want peace between you."
Jeremy too looked reluctant, but finally he stepped forward and thrust out his hand.
"Sorry for the misunderstandin, doc."
Aaron hesitated briefly, then grasped it and shook. But before he released Bolton's hand he raised it for a closer look.
"What's that? A tattoo?"
Jeremy pulled his hand free and held it up. "Yep. Got 'er done a couple weeks ago."
Julia stared at the odd little stick figure in the web between his thumb and index finger. It had a diamond-shaped head and—
"It looks like it has four arms."
Jeremy grinned. "It does. That's the Kicker Man."
"Why the extra arms?"
The smile faltered. "Don't rightly know. Never thought to ask. It is what it is, I guess."
Tattoos. Julia had never understood them. Permanent drawings on your skin… what for? But then, she didn't understand jewelry either. Who could be bothered?
"Well, whatever. Now that we're all friends again we can get back to business and refocus on the project as—"
"Aren't we forgetting something?" Aaron said. "Like a body tied facedown in a tub in Brooklyn?"
Jeremy put on a sheepish look. "I think I sorta kinda got carried away."
Julia stared at him. "Why did you do it, Jeremy?"
"You told me he was tryin to split me and Dawn. I know it was her mothers idea, so one of them had to be stopped. I couldn't take out her momma without gettin Dawn all messed up, so he had to go."
Julia had known deadly violence might result from telling Jeremy about
Gerhard and what he knew. But she couldn't resist. Call it an experiment within an experiment. Jeremy seemed to be doing well on the D-287 therapy, but without something to provoke him, how would they know if it wras having any real effect? Gerhard had provided an opportunity to inject an external stimulus. She'd hoped Jeremy would find a rational course—thus confirming the success of the therapy—but if he resorted to violence, that too would provide them with valuable data. She was glad he'd chosen Gerhard as the target for his rage. The man had known too much.
Jeremy gave another shrug. "Don't see how I had a choice."
"Of course you had a choice!" Aaron cried. "You could have stopped seeing the girl!"
Jeremy's eyes narrowed as his forehead darkened. "That ain't in the cards, doc. Nobody comes between me and Dawn."
"Oh, come on! There must be dozens, hundreds of women—"
"No! Only Dawn. She's my one and only."
"Your one and only what?" Aaron said.
Julia raised a hand. "We're getting sidetracked here. What's done is done. What I don't understand is why you did something so reckless."
"I wanted the answers to certain questions."
"You didn't have to kill him."
"Did too. Told you: He was gonna come between me and Dawn, and I wanted to know what he'd found out and what he'd told her momma."
"And then you compounded it by leaving the body where it could be found. Why?"
Aaron said, "You wanted to show off your elaborate torture handiwork, didn't you."
Jeremy said nothing at first, but his expression told Julia that Aaron had hit this particular nail square on the head. Then Jeremy took a step toward him.
"Where'd you hear about—?"
"Stop this right now!" Julia said, jumping in before things escalated out of control. "It was a foolish thing to do but we'll have it taken care of."
Jeremy turned toward her. " 'We'?"
"Our people. The ones you want to stay on the right side of. They're experts in crime-scene cleanup." She'd call them as soon as Jeremy left. "Meanwhile, you will report to my office tomorrow for a booster dose."
Jeremy's eyes narrowed. "What's that gonna do to me?"
"Nothing you'll notice."
"Better not. I been feelin pretty good lately and I want to stay that way. Don't want nothin comin between me and Dawn. That's my numero-uno priority."
Aaron said, "Your 'numero-uno priority' is the therapy."
Jeremy shook his head. "You got that wrong, doc. I'm goin along with the therapy just so's me and Dawn can be together. Me and Dawn—that's all that matters. Anybody who gets between us goes down. 'Cause me and Dawn…" He grinned like a man who knew the world's greatest secret. "… we're gonna change everything.""