“The house is a crime scene. They’ll probably have the tape up for a day or so. It would be impossible to get anyone inside long enough to conduct a thorough search until tonight, after the authorities leave.”
The rage threatened to flare again. John clenched the phone very tightly. “As far as I am concerned, you are partly responsible for the unfortunate outcome in Stone Canyon. If you have any expectation of rising higher in the organization, you will follow orders. Understood?”
“Yes, Mr. Nash. I’m in Phoenix now. With the morning traffic, it will take me at least forty-five minutes to get to Stone Canyon.”
“Just get the damn drug.”
The parking attendant arrived with the car. John ended the call and got into the vehicle. He sat for a moment, hands gripping the wheel. He could still feel the heat generated by his frustration and anger vibrating through him, churning his senses. It was not a good sign. The rushes of sudden, almost uncontrollable rages were coming more often. He was beginning to suspect they were a side effect of his own, private version of the drug.
The stuff was definitely faster-acting and it was certainly expanding the range of his psychic powers. In addition to his natural hunter talents, he was developing hypnotic and strategic abilities. But there appeared to be a downside.
He needed to get back into the lab immediately.
Chapter Forty-nine
Eight-fifteen A.M., Stone Canyon…
They gathered on the veranda at the Glazebrook house. It was just a little after eight but the overhead fans and misters were already cranking at full speed, making the heat tolerable. There was a large pitcher of iced tea and five glasses on the table.
Myra poured the tea. When she handed a glass to Clare, she actually smiled.
“Thank you,” Clare said very politely. She wasn’t sure if she would ever feel entirely comfortable in the very heart of Glazebrook Territory, but she had to admit that much of the tension seemed to have dissipated.
Jake walked out of the house to join the small group. He was talking on his cell phone. He ended the call when he reached the table.
“That was Fallon,” he said, taking a seat.
“Well?” Clare asked. “What did Dumbass have to say this time?”
Jake smiled. “He said to give you his best.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet he did.”
“I believe he also said something about taking another look at your last application. He thinks you may have potential as a J&J agent, after all.”
“Hah.” Satisfaction swept through her. Revenge was sweet. “If Dumbass thinks he’s going to get me cheap, he can think again.”
Jake settled into the chair. “Be that as it may, he cracked that copy of the encrypted file that I took off Owen’s computer. It was Shipley’s personal diary of his involvement with the cabal.”
“Oh, wow,” Clare said. Excitement bubbled up inside. “Good stuff, huh?”
“There is a fair amount of information that will be useful in other, related J&J investigations,” Jake said, “but not nearly as much detailed data on the new cabal as Fallon wanted.”
Clare rolled her eyes. “Jones is a difficult person to please.”
“No argument there,” Jake said. “But in this case, I can understand his frustration. Looks like this new cabal is very good at keeping its secrets. Unfortunately Shipley was not high enough in the organization to know much.”
“Bad news for Jones & Jones,” Archer observed.
“True,” Jake agreed. “But Fallon says Shipley’s diary did provide a lot of details about the project here in Stone Canyon. That is proving extremely helpful because from that information he’s getting a fix on how the new organization works and its probable agenda.”
“Owen was the cabal guy all along?” Elizabeth asked. “The one you were sent here to find?”
“Right,” Jake said. “According to his notes, the cabal recruited him a year and a half ago. His first major assignment was to take control of Glazebrook, Inc. They figured that if anyone could do that, he could because he enjoyed Archer’s trust.”
Archer grimaced. “He sure did. For damn near thirty-five years. Still hard to believe he was the bad guy in all this.”
“Shipley came up with what can only be called a breathtaking strategy,” Jake continued. “Among other things, he was promised by his superiors that success would enable him to ascend to the next level of power.”
“What the hell did the cabal want with my company?” Archer growled.
“One word,” Jake said. “Money. Lots of it. Glazebrook, Inc., is nothing if not a cash cow. As I told Clare, your company also had other distinct advantages. It’s a privately held firm. There would have been no stockholders or outside board of directors to answer to when the money started to get funneled into the cabal’s own secret projects.”
Clare wrinkled her nose. “Define ‘secret projects.’”
Jake looked at her. “Shipley didn’t know what they were. But Fallon believes that the new cabal is in an acquisitions mode and is probably trying to take control of a number of privately held companies. He thinks it is assembling a strong financial base that will generate a reliable cash flow for the next several years.”
Elizabeth frowned. “The cabal is just out to make money? They didn’t need to form a secret club and kill people to do that. All that’s required is a business license.”
“It’s not quite that simple if you’re trying to put together a corporate empire that will generate an ongoing revenue stream that can be used to fund secret parapharmaceutical research,” Jake said.
They all stared at him. Every mouth was open.
Archer whistled softly. “Damn. These guys aren’t just out to re-create the founder’s formula. They’re planning to take it into full-scale production.”
Myra frowned. “It’s not just the Arcane Society that would look askance at an illicit drug lab doing unregulated pharmaceutical research. The Feds would be down on the new cabal in a nanosecond if they found out about it.”
“Any way you look at it, the cabal has a lot of good reasons to keep their empire building secret,” Jake said.
Archer exhaled heavily. “I thought Owen was my friend. Hell, after all we went through together.”
“His resentment of you began years ago,” Jake said quietly. “Fallon found that in the diary, too.”