Absolute Zero (51 page)

“I’m paying off your debts. You don’t need any more stress in your life,” he stated, waiting for the outburst. She didn’t disappoint.

“What?
NO!
I got myself into that mess with my vanity. I deserve to deal with those bills. I came back with a new face and a new body and I did that to myself. Don’t you dare even
think
about paying those bills,” she blew out. “For a seemingly intelligent person, I got carried away. I admit that. It was dumb, but there is no
way
I’ll let you fix it,” she grated out as her head swiveled towards his.

“Too late,” he said simply as he shot her a look meant to end the argument. Her mouth opened and closed before she finally spoke.

“I’m paying you back, you arrogant…you…ugh! What is the
matter
with you?!” She thumped her head back on the chair, her eyes refusing to meet his any longer.

“I won’t apologize. You can be angry at me, I don’t care. Besides, there’s something much more important we need to talk about,” he stated softly.

“Would it be too much to ask that you go away?”

“Irene says you don’t want to go to your follow up appointment,” he ignored her last comment.

Her face immediately drew into an even deeper frown.

“It’s none of your concern,” she stated in a bland tone.

“It
is
my concern…”

“It’s
my
body,” she stated as if he said nothing.

“Wrong. This belongs to me,” he pointed a finger at her heart. “It just happens to be encased in this,” he waved his hand to indicate her body. “So yes, it
is
my concern.”

“What if it’s bad? What if…I just don’t want to go through that again. You have
no
idea.”

“You’re right, I don’t. Whatever the outcome, we’ll get through it together. You have to go, Annie. I’ll make you if I have to. I can be verra convincing, ya know.”

A spontaneous smile spread on her face before she could stop it. “Careful. Your Machiavellian tendencies are pouring over into your personal life,” she commented dryly.

“My…Ha. Maybe your Napoleon complex is clouding your assessment.”

“Is that a short joke?” she asked as her head turned toward his.

“Maybe…”

“Did you know that Napoleon was actually of average height? It’s true! He was always surrounded by his Imperial Guard which was made up of above average height men, so he just
appeared
short. So there…” she stated with a firm nod.

“Fascinating,” he replied as he hefted himself from the chair and stood before her. He reached both hands out, prompting her to take them with her own.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking you upstairs so I can make love to you. I get all hot and bothered when you start with your random factoids. Come on,” he grasped her hands and pulled her up and into his arms. She was done fighting.

“Can you do it hard? I think I’d like it hard tonight,” she whispered against his lips.

His answer was a loud, drawn out groan.

*****

Confidential.

Lovely. Faxed sheets with “Confidential” were just basically tossed on her desk for anyone to see.

Ian was right.
This place
is
a joke
, she thought as she swiped them off the surface and shoved them in the top manila folder before settling herself in the chair behind her desk. She immediately fired up her computer and waited with tapping fingers in the empty office. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, a fair reminder of her bedroom escapades with Ian last night.

Oh, that man
. The things he could do. If her body was an instrument, he played it expertly, she thought as a smile spread on her face. He had left early in the morning after practically holding her tightly to him the whole night. It was almost impossible to sleep with him rubbing her, kissing her, whispering the sweetest words to her. She would pay for it today at some point. She would most likely keel over from lack of sleep, emotional drainage or whatever else would serve to turn her brain to mush.

It was worth it.

Two days. Two long days until she would see him again. They would drag for sure…

The count on her inbox climbed as she watched it. Thirty three emails. Two of them were from Ian, she noticed. The rest were…

Temple University. That one caught her eye and she clicked on it immediately.

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject: Please call me as soon as possible.

No text. Just a subject. She checked the time on her computer and took a chance. Dr. Charles Brock answered on the second ring.

“Brock,” he stated in a clipped, almost impatient voice.

“Hello. This is Dr. Bennett? You left me an email…” she started before he cut her off.

“Why would the owner of your company call and ask for a complete listing of the projects and the funding we’re working with?” he asked. His tone was pure confusion.

Anne’s pulse sped up considerably as her hand clenched the receiver. “I…ahh…what?” she asked in a breathless voice.

“He sent an email yesterday. Is there something we should know about? That’s highly unusual, you know.”

“I’m not…did you…did you send it to him?” she asked as her fingers starting going numb from the tips.

“Yes. Can you please explain to me…” he was saying something else but the blood was rushing in her head, drowning out his voice.

“Umm…so. Ok…” she mumbled. “I need to…call someone and I’ll get back to you,” she managed to say.

“Please call me back as soon as possible. That solution is supposed to be here today, if you recall…”

“Right. Yes…” her eyes lifted and scanned the empty lab beyond the glass partition in the office. She slowly lowered the receiver until it clicked into the rest. Her movements were wooden as her mind whirled.
Rand
. She needed to talk to Rand.

Her hand picked up the receiver again as voices rang out in the office. She tried to steady her breathing, hoping they would pass by.

“Hey! You’re back! How are you feeling? You…whoa, you look pale,” Em stated with a look of concern etched on her face.

“Yeah, you do,” Ryan added as he stood next to her. “You missed it yesterday. McClellan came in here looking for you, right? I thought he left and Em comes up and we’re bitching about him being here and he yells from your desk that he was still in the room! I had a heart attack! I can laugh about it today but holy shit!” he grabbed his chest and his eyes were huge.

Anne’s eyes darted around nervously before landing on the stack of manila folders. “He was here?” she all but whispered.

“Yeah, hey!” Em stated as Anne pushed from the desk and quickly ran to the lab, swiping her keycard and heading straight for the freezer. She pulled it open and her eyes scanned for the tray.

It was gone.

“Hey, Anne? Are you Ok? What’re you looking for?”

She ignored Em’s voice as she walked to the other freezer and opened it.

No tray.

“Oh my god,” she breathed out.

“Here, sit. Tell me what’s wrong. Anne?” She could hear Ryan’s voice and felt her body being pushed down onto a stool.

“Anne?” Em’s voice. “She looks like she’s in shock. Do you want to lie down? Anne? Do you feel like you’re going to pass out? Call somebody,” she heard through a tunnel.

“No!” she managed to gasp out. “Don’t…I…”
Deep breaths. Take deep breaths
, she commanded herself mentally.

“I’m just… It’s Ok. It’s Ok,” she chanted as her eyes squeezed shut.

“You’re still sick. You shouldn’t be here, Anne. I’ll take you home,” Em stated as she rubbed her back gently.

“No. I’ll be Ok. I need to talk to Rand,” she mumbled absently.

“I’ll call him,” Ryan offered. Anne concentrated on getting feeling back in her limbs as well as getting something resembling a half decent breath to enter her lungs.

“Voice mail,” he stated, pocketing his phone moments later.

“He wasn’t here yesterday; maybe he’s on a work trip?”

“Yeah, maybe…” Anne breathed out. “I’m just going to…sit at my desk,” she stated, attempting to stand from the stool. Both of her arms were grasped immediately by Em and Ryan.

“Here, we’ll help.” She heard as she let them lead her through the lab and into the office. They settled her into her chair.

“I’ll get you some water,” Em offered.

“No. Let me just sit here for a bit. I’ll be Ok. I just need a minute,” Anne mumbled as her head rested against the chair back and her eyes closed.

“All right. I’ll be back to check on you,” she added. Anne could hear her footsteps retreat to somewhere beyond her cubicle wall.

When.
When did he do it? When did he know? Did he…?
Oh god, did he sleep with me last night knowing…?

Her cell phone rang from within her purse causing her torso to spring up from the chair. She rooted through it before snatching the phone.

Rand.
Thank god…

“Hello?”

“Hey, ahh…Anne?” his voice sounded breathless.

“Yes?”

“He knows. Ian knows. He just called me. He fired me.”

A loud whoosh of air escaped her lungs. “Rand…”

“Look. I need your help. There’s a meeting I really need you to sit in on. They want to meet you. If it goes well, they’re going to make an offer to Ian. If he sells to them, we’ll have jobs. They promised. Anne?”

“Yeah?”

“Where are you?”

“In the office,” she stated before her tone lowered to an almost whisper. “It’s gone, Rand. All of it. I think he took it. He was here yesterday and he took it,” she responded in a low tone.

“Took what?”

“The solution, all five vials are gone,” she whispered.

“Oh. Are you sure?” he asked after a moment.

“I don’t know. Who else would have taken it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care about that right now. I’ll pick you up at your house. How soon can you get there?”

She hadn’t even agreed yet, but from the sound of his voice, he sounded absolutely desperate.

“Ten minutes?” She offered.

“Ten minutes. I’ll meet you there. Oh! Anne?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t tell anyone. If he finds out we have any connection to this company, believe me he won’t sell to them even if they offer more than anyone else. He’s vindictive like that,” Rand stated.

“Ok,” she ended the call and placed the phone back in her purse.

She sat and stared at her monitor as her heart thumped in her chest.

Calm down. Just…be calm.

“Was that Rand?” Em asked causing Anne to jolt in her seat.

“I have to go.” She pushed away from the desk and stood, not bothering to answer her question.

“Are you going home? I’ll drive you,” she offered as Anne stepped around the desk and passed by Em.

“No! No. I’m fine. I just need to lay down for a bit. I’ll be back in…I don’t know. I’ll be back later,” she called over her shoulder, willing her legs to carry her out the door to her car. She could collapse in it if she had to; she just needed to put on a good show to get there.

As soon as the engine fired, her cell phone began ringing causing her body to seize up. Her hand cautiously reached for the zipper on her purse before she grabbed her phone and looked at the screen.

An international number.

His
number.

Indecision coursed through her mind as her finger hovered over the screen. She tapped the green button instead of the red and took a deep breath before setting the phone against her ear.

“Hello?” she asked through unmoving lips.

“Hello, Anne,” he said in a grave tone or at least it sounded that way to her.

“Aren’t you…flying? Right now?” she asked cautiously.

“No, Anne. That’s the beauty of chartered flights. You can turn them around when you have to,” he stated.

“I thought you had to get back,” she stated in as calm a voice as she could muster.

“I rescheduled. Seems like I have more important things to deal with here in the States,” he responded in a low voice. “How could you do it, Anne? What did I say?” his voice turned condescending.

“What are we talking about?”

“Did I tell you and Rand
not
to work on that project?”

“Yes,” she responded sheepishly.

“And what did you do?”

“I…I worked on it anyway?” she answered.

“I fired Rand, you know. What should I do with you? Hmm? Such an odd predicament,” he seemed to ponder before continuing, “Did you do it for the money? Why would you go against me?”