Nerds Are From Mars (24 page)

The man was somewhere between forty and fifty, with a military haircut. He was dressed in gray sweats, although a hint of muscle showed through the loose-fitting clothing. He could have been anyone, but when Darcie looked into his eyes, she knew the guy was some sort of bodyguard, a member of the advance team Fagan had mentioned.

“Dr. Bradbury, we need you and Ms. Ingram to come with us.”

“Sure.” Nolan looked over at Darcie. “Ready?”

“Yes.” When she turned toward her door, she discovered another man, a little younger than the first, waiting to help her out.

“We have to move quickly,” the first guy said. “I’m going to ask you to run over to the helicopter. Duck down and the wind from the blades won’t be as severe.”

Darcie had seen enough movies to know how this was done. Hunched over, she ran toward the helicopter. The man who seemed to be assigned to her helped her into the back seat of the four-person chopper. Nolan slid into the other seat. The doors closed.

A female co-pilot in the right-hand front seat turned back to them. “Buckle up. I’m Heather, by the way. Natalie and I will have you at Harcourt Castle before you know it. Oh, do either of you have a problem with air sickness?”

Darcie and Nolan both shook their heads.

“Good. Then we’re off. And not a minute too soon. Here comes the cavalry. Good thing our guys are down there waiting for them.”

Darcie peered down and noticed the flashing lights of emergency vehicles winding down the road toward the facility’s main gate. She spoke above the noise of the rotors. “But your guys don’t have any transportation, now.”

“They will. Fagan dispatched a van with more members of the security team, and they’ll be on the premises shortly.”

“Won’t the authorities wonder where Nolan and I have gone?”

Heather smiled. “I’m sure Fagan’s promised to deliver you when you’re recovered from your trauma.”

“Sure seems as if he’s interfering with the investigation by taking us out of the picture for the next few days.”

“Essentially, he is, but he’ll get away with it. I’ve spent five years working for the man, and I still don’t know how he operates because he doesn’t reveal his secrets. Just be glad you’re watched over by Fagan Harcourt. I’m convinced he has more power and influence than many heads of state.”

Darcie turned to Nolan for confirmation.

“She’s right,” Nolan said. “The guy’s an enigma. Your best bet is to relax and follow his plan.”

“Okay.” She settled back into the seat. From the moment she’d met Fagan, she’d trusted him. Now she was being asked to trust him with her life, and Nolan’s as well.

If her intuitive reaction to Fagan turned out to be wrong, she’d be in a lot of trouble and so would Nolan. But her psychic powers had just saved her and the man she cherished from being blown to smithereens. She was inclined to follow where her instincts led.

But she did have one more question, and rather than shout up to the co-pilot, she leaned over toward Nolan. “Is Harcourt Castle really a castle?”

“I’ve never seen it, but I doubt it. He probably just calls it that for the hell of it. Who would build a castle nobody ever gets to see?”

Darcie knew the answer. A Leo, king of the jungle.

Chapter Twenty

Bit by bit, Nolan allowed the ramifications of the explosion to edge into the realm of conscious thought. The brain was an incredible organ. Apparently it filtered disturbing information and gave him only what he could handle at any one time. If he’d been hit with the entire disaster at once, he’d have been reduced to a blubbering fool.

As the helicopter took him away from the scene, he began to process the extent of his loss. At first he’d been intensely grateful that he and Darcie had escaped with their lives. That was still his top priority, but eventually he’d moved past that miracle to consider the rest of the picture.

His car had been saved, although God knew what would happen to it if the police impounded it, which could easily happen. They wouldn’t have him, so chances were they’d at least take his car. He trusted Fagan with his life, but he didn’t trust the LAPD with his car.

Yet he knew the car was small potatoes compared to the loss of lab equipment and the facility itself. All the critical information was saved off-site, but rebuilding the lab and installing new equipment would take valuable time. Then he realized that Fagan had never once mentioned the loss of the lab or how that would set them back weeks, maybe months in the race against Sterling and Fagan’s dream of colonizing Mars.

Instead he’d focused on getting Nolan and Darcie to safety. Nolan vowed that once he was back to work, he’d go without sleep if necessary to make up the time they’d lost. Fagan deserved no less than total commitment to the cause.

Eventually Nolan thought of the silly things, stuff he shouldn’t care about in comparison to his and Darcie’s life or the ruined lab. But the loss of those things made him sad, nevertheless. He’d miss the rocket model he’d spent hours gluing together and had kept on his desk as inspiration. He’d miss the coaster from the last Space Expo, the one he’d had autographed by Buzz Aldrin.

Most of all, he’d miss the coffee mug Bill had given him, with his name on it and Ass-trophysicist lettered underneath. Bill had commissioned that personalized mug from a friend who did ceramics. Bill had laughed so hard when he’d presented that mug to Nolan on his birthday last year.

All that was gone, along with the chair that had cradled his butt for so many hours that it fit perfectly. The desktop computer had been state-of-the-art and he’d loved working on the thing. Thinking of it as a melted and twisted piece of useless junk was painful.

He didn’t realize he’d taken Darcie’s hand until she gave him a comforting squeeze.

“It must feel awful,” she said.

“Yeah, awful.” He sighed. “I’ve watched the news when people lost their homes in a flood or fire or tornado, and that seemed terrible enough. But you can’t blame nature for doing what it does. There’s no malice. But this . . . was intentional.”

“One deranged person.” She lifted his hand and kissed his fingers one by one. “Whoever it is, they’re not typical. Most people are good and they don’t go around destroying hope and lives. For some reason you’ve attracted the attention of someone who does those things.”

“Yeah.” Of course he thought of Blackstone, but even if it had been him, he couldn’t have accomplished this alone. “The security cameras will have footage of whoever came in today. I guess it’s pointless to speculate until Fagan lets us know what’s on that video.”

“Right.” She gazed at him. “He told you to call your parents. You’d better do that.”

“God, you’re right.” He took out his phone and debated whether to call his mother’s cell or his dad’s. In the end he dialed his mother. Of the two, she was the calmest in a crisis.

As he talked with her, he realized he’d made the right choice. She trusted Fagan as much as he did, whereas his dad would have questioned the billionaire’s actions and been concerned about obstructing the work of the authorities. After assuring his mom that he’d be secure in Fagan’s safe house, he told her he loved her and disconnected.

Darcie studied him. “Is she okay?”

“I think so. As okay as she can be after hearing somebody wants to kill me. But she knows I’ll be fine if Fagan’s watching out for me.” He glanced at her. “I didn’t mention you. I hope you don’t –”

“That’s fine. She has enough to handle emotionally without hearing about a new woman in your life.”

“She will hear about you.” He was very sure about that.

“In good time. When it’s appropriate.”

Heather called out over her shoulder as the helicopter made a turn. “Almost there!”

Darcie glanced out the window. “Nolan, you might want to take a look at this. We’re landing at Camelot.”

Nolan peered down as the helicopter swooped in toward a massive stone structure complete with turrets, flags, and crenellated towers. Sun glinted on a moat. “Holy shit. He built himself a castle.”

“With a drawbridge.”

“I see it. Jesus. I know he’s flamboyant, but I never thought . . . a castle?” Nolan laughed. “Have you ever stayed in a castle?”

“Not me. You?”

“Nope.” He was still dealing with emotional overload from the explosion and talking to his mom, but the prospect of spending a few nights with Darcie in what looked like an honest-to-God castle lightened his mood considerably.

As the helicopter touched down on a small helipad on the far side of the drawbridge, Heather faced them again. “Welcome to Harcourt Castle.”

Nolan chuckled. “I hope it has running water.”

“Oh, it does.” Heather’s smile was indulgent. “The outside may look medieval, but the inside has every luxury you could imagine. It’s also impregnable, as all castles should be. There’s no road up here, and the tower cameras maintain twenty-four-hour surveillance of the perimeter with a video feed to our monitors within the castle.”

“I see.” When Nolan had imagined a safe house, he’d thought of something more like a bunker, something small, maybe even Hobbit-like. He should have known better..

“Once you’re inside, they’ll raise the drawbridge,” Heather continued. “Actually that’s more for dramatic effect than safety. No one would get as close as the drawbridge without being detained.”

“Who would detain them?” Nolan had met two of Fagan’s bodyguards and had assumed that was all he had.

“Fagan’s people. He keeps a small security force up here at all times. You’ll be safer in Harcourt Castle than you would be locked inside Fort Knox.”

“Whoa.” Nolan glanced over at Darcie. “Sounds like this will be quite an experience.”

“And fun.” Her blue eyes sparkled with anticipation, as if she wanted to let the terror of the past hour fade a little. “I’ve always wanted to be a princess.”

“Not me. I always wanted to be the captain of a spaceship.”

“So you’ve said, but we have a castle at our disposal for a few days. Would you consider being a white knight for the time being?”

He thought of what she’d done back at the lab. “I think you’re the white knight, Darcie.”

“Yeah, but if I take the part of the white knight, that leaves you being the princess, and you don’t have the build for it.”

Heather laughed. “I can see you two are perfectly suited to stay in this castle. You have the necessary combination of imagination and irreverence, much like my boss. Natalie and I will get out and stretch our legs while you deplane. The Pages have come to escort you to your quarters. Have a great time.” She hopped down from the chopper, as did the pilot.

Darcie glanced at Nolan. “The Pages? This is fun, but it’s also bordering on weird.”

“I know. I don’t care if we’re staying in a castle. I’m not dressing in tights.”

She surveyed him. “Personally, I think you’d look great in tights.”

“Not doing it.” Someone wearing medieval livery poked his head into the chopper. “Dr. Nolan Bradbury?”

“That’s me.”

“May I request that you and your lady follow me to Harcourt Castle?”

Nolan checked and Darcie had a similarly dressed dude ready to hand her out on the other side. “Sure, why not?”

After waving their thanks to their helicopter crew, Nolan and Darcie were escorted across the drawbridge. Nolan leaned toward the Page who’d handed him out of the helicopter. “Do I have to wear tights for this gig?”

The Page didn’t crack a smile. “Only if you choose to, Dr. Bradbury.”

“Does Fagan?”

“Occasionally. When the mood strikes him.”

Nolan was suddenly glad his eccentric boss wasn’t here, because sure as the world, if Fagan decided to dress in tights, he’d expect Nolan to do the same. Nolan respected the guy and would remain loyal to him forever. Lately, especially after this incident, he could admit that he loved Fagan Harcourt, who was becoming like a second father to him. But there were limits.

The wooden drawbridge looked like the real deal, created from huge planks held together with metal bands. The links of the chains used to raise and lower it were bigger than the tires on his Firebird. The castle had been built on a massive scale, its crenellated towers rising at least ten stories into the air. Anyone at the top of those towers would have a hawk’s-eye view clear to the Pacific.

“Look at his crest.” Darcie pointed to the shield-like plaques mounted on either side of the entrance.

Nolan glanced at the crest on the left-hand side as they walked by. It featured an ornate scarlet H above a diagonal slash and a scarlet rampant lion below it. The background was gold trimmed in black. He looked at the Page walking next to him. “Is that Fagan’s family crest?”

“I couldn’t say, Dr. Bradbury. You’d have to ask him about that.”

“I will.”

Darcie chuckled. “I wouldn’t put it past him to design his own if he didn’t like the one that came from his ancestors. That lion tells me he’s known all along what his zodiac sign is. He might have already had his chart done but didn’t want to rain on my parade.”

“Or his,” Nolan said. “You were right about his reaction to the idea. He doesn’t fake excitement. I’ve seen how he behaves when something holds no interest for him. He quickly moves on. He told me once that life’s too short to allow other people to bore you.”

“I like that. I – oh, wow.” She paused as they stepped through the entrance to the castle into a courtyard right out of a fairy tale.

Nolan found himself staring, too. The courtyard was covered with flagstone, except for the planters, which were everywhere and filled to overflowing with carefully tended flowers and perfectly sculpted hedges in the shape of animals and birds. Several fountains splashed merrily.

The living quarters encircling the courtyard rose three stories above them, and each level featured stained-glass windows that sparkled like gems. Chrystal chandeliers, all turned on, of course, gave the multiple panes an extra brilliance. Several stone staircases wound gracefully from the ground floor to balconies on the second and third levels.

Darcie turned in a circle, her expression dazzled. “I don’t suppose I’m allowed to take pictures with my camera phone.”