I stand and check my watch—eight forty-five a.m. I have already made up my mind. I’m going to California, to Malibu, to have a talk with the principals at IIC face to face. It’s a weakness of mine, this impatience, to suddenly barge in where angels fear to tread. But I can’t help myself.
“I told you I’m going to assign agents to guard this house,” I say. “If you go out, Shanti, they’ll follow you at a discreet distance. They’ll work in shifts, and I’ll make sure they introduce themselves to you when they first arrive so you know who they are. But after that you’re to ignore them. Don’t feel you have to feed them or to let them use your restroom. These people are professionals. It’s their job to take care of you. They’ll be armed, but don’t let that intimidate you. They’re all highly trained. Like I said before, if a hit man checks out this block, he’ll see how well guarded you are, and he won’t be able to get out of town fast enough. You will be in absolutely no danger.”
Shanti also stands. “Will you find out why someone wants to hurt me?”
An overwhelming need to protect her sweeps over me. I’m not sure why. I squeeze her shoulder as I speak next. “I’m going to do nothing else but work on this case. I promise you, I won’t rest until it’s solved.”
Shanti hugs me. “Thanks, Jessica, and go with Krishna’s love. I feel he’s the one who brought you into my life.”
I remember how Krishna spared my life five thousand years ago.
“You might be right,” I say.
EIGHT
It’s noon before my flight lands at LAX. I rent a car—a Mercedes SL—and drive toward the Pacific Coast Highway and head north into Malibu. The day is bright and warm. The sea breeze feels invigorating. Along the way, I dial Lisa Fetch, the woman who visited me at my house and first told me about IIC.
I actually called her a couple of days ago, just to make sure she was all right. We ended up talking for hours. She’s a fascinating woman—she might even be classified as a genius. She’s at her best talking about mathematics. Since the subject has never been one of my strong points, I’m intrigued by people who have an instinctive grasp of its subtleties.
For example, Einstein’s theory of relativity cannot be understood without an insight into the mathematics behind it, and Lisa is the first person I’ve ever met who was able to explain the necessary math formulas to me in a few short minutes, and in such a way that I could understand them. Her vision of how numbers and time and space all fit together opened a fresh door in my mind, and here I thought there was nothing else for me to learn. Lisa is as much an artist with her equations as Matt is with his music.
Unfortunately, today, the instant she answers I know she’s in trouble.
“Alisa,” she says, sounding tense. “I was just going to call you.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It could be nothing. I’ve been unable to reach Jeff today. You remember him, he came to your house with me.”
“Of course, the policeman. Do you two live together?”
“We spend a lot of nights together, but he has his own place. Still, we talk every morning no matter where we sleep. We were supposed to have breakfast together. He never showed up, and he’s not answering his cell.”
“Have you been in to work today?”
“Yes. I felt too restless to stay. I’m worried about him—I don’t know what to do. I feel like I should call the police.”
“Don’t call them yet. I just arrived in LA—I might be able to help you. But it’s important that you stay away from work the rest of the day.”
“You’re really here?”
“Yes.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I want to talk to the person in charge of IIC. Who should I ask for?”
“There are several principals. Tom Brutran is the president of the firm, but everyone knows his wife, Cynthia, is the real boss. I doubt either of them will see you without an appointment, and they won’t give you one on such short notice. They’re busy people.”
“I think they’ll see me. Remember, I’m listed as a ‘person of interest’ in their files.”
“That’s true. Should I go there and help introduce you?”
“No. That would be a mistake. Under no circumstances do you want to connect yourself to me. You haven’t spoken of your visit with me, have you?”
“No. Jeff hasn’t either. Oh, God, do you think something has happened to him?”
“I can only hope he is okay. The more I learn about your company, the more they disturb me.”
“What do you mean?”
I want Lisa afraid. Her fear may be the only thing keeping her alive.
“I looked into the disappearance of your ex, Randy Clifford. He was killed by a notorious hit man named Marko. The man usually works for the Mob, but IIC paid him a large fee to make Randy disappear. He also wiped clean all his computer files.”
“Where did you get this information?”
“My sources are impeccable. I strongly recommend that you come down with a serious case of the flu and don’t return to work for the next week. I need time to figure out what IIC’s up to.”
“I told you what they are up to. They’re making tons of money on Wall Street and funneling it through dozens of dummy corporations.”
“That doesn’t explain how or why they’re doing it. Lisa, do you know a girl named Shanti Garuda? She’s originally from India but she now lives in Texas.”
“No. Who is she?”
“Someone I had an interesting conversation with this morning. Have you found out any more about the Array?”
“No. I finally asked a few friends at work about it.”
“What did they say?”
“It’s what they didn’t say. They clammed up fast.”
“Interesting. Listen, I’ll be at your firm in a few minutes. I’m going to go now, but I promise to meet you afterwards.”
“Wait! I can’t just sit around here and do nothing.”
“Lisa, you’re the one who came to me and told me IIC was dangerous. Since then I’ve done plenty of research on my own and discovered they’re more dangerous than any of us realized. Stay away from work and stay away from Jeff’s house.”