Chapter 31
Expelled from the Wheelers’ cottage, Rory and Lincoln stumbled into the grassy courtyard, now filled with the eerie yellow light provided by a backup power system.
The shadowy figures of hotel staffers flitted to and fro as they delivered flashlights and LED candles to the various cottages.
The helicopter they’d commandeered still perched where they’d left it, right in the middle of the courtyard.
Lincoln grabbed one of the passing staffers and asked to use his cell phone.
“Sorry, dude, there’s no point. All the cell towers are down.”
“Dude?” Lincoln muttered to Rory. “I’ve never been called dude before. I usually get ‘sir.’”
“That’s the first sign of a complete breakdown in the social order, being called ‘dude’ instead of ‘sir,’” Rory said dryly.
He was in no mood for a billionaire tantrum.
Everything felt flat and meaningless right now.
He’d reached Mathilda too late. She was engaged to Duncan, and who could blame her?
Duncan Aberdeen seemed like a decent guy trying to protect his soon-to-be family.
And then there was the massive fortune and the aristocratic title.
Who could compete with all that?
“If the towers are down, we need a landline,” said Lincoln. “I need to call my team in Maui.”
“I thought you didn’t trust them?”
“Right now they’re my best option.” Lincoln snagged another resort staffer, who was pushing a cart loaded with bottled water down the path. “Where can I find a regular old telephone?”
She pointed toward the central building, which was tucked under a grove of palm trees and featured a wraparound lanai and an airy open-plan restaurant. “They have one in the reception office, and I think there’s one at the bar.”
“The bar works for me,” Lincoln muttered, turning in the direction she’d waved.
Rory didn’t budge. Something was telling him not to leave Mathilda right now. She’d seemed so confused. Were the aftereffects of that damn crystal still messing her up? If he left now, how would he find her again? The entire family might leave as soon as the power was back on.
It doesn’t matter, because she’ll be married.
But she’s not married yet.
She’s engaged. She said yes. That’s what she wants. Stay out of it.
Lincoln interrupted his silent argument with himself. “Let’s go, Rory. What’s the hold up?”
Rory shook himself back to attention. “What’s the plan here?”
“The plan is to get my team here and make them search this entire resort until they find my sample. You’ve seen what it can do. We can’t take a chance on it getting into the wrong hands.”
“So your hands are the right ones?” The arrogant assumption behind that statement rubbed Rory the wrong way. “I never asked, but what exactly do you plan to do with it?”
Lincoln’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“It’s a simple question. Assuming you can get this technology to work in a way that doesn’t hurt anyone, what do you plan to do with it? Are you going to offer it up for free as an answer to the world’s energy problems?”
Lincoln laughed. Then sobered. “That’s a joke, right?”
“Sort of. I didn’t think you’d say yes. So what are you going to do? Sell it commercially so it’s publicly available for a cost?”
Lincoln didn’t answer. Rory took that as a no.
“Okay, then. Will you sell it to the military?”
“Maybe. If they offer enough.”
“And if they don’t? If some other government offers more?”
“Look, I’m a businessman. I don’t know what point you’re trying to make here, but that crystal is my property. We have various options on the table about how to maximize our investment.”
Rory’s jaw dropped. He realized that he really never would understand Lincoln’s mentality, or that of others like him. “Are you saying you would sell it to China or Russia or Iran or Israel or any nation who stepped up with the highest bid? Do you have any red lines?”
“I’m saying it’s none of your business and nothing is decided.” But after a sidelong glance at Rory’s appalled expression, he added, “But no, we’re not going that direction. Dealing with foreign governments brings too many hassles.”
“Then what? I know you have a plan.”
Lincoln gazed at him stonily as workers scurried past them in all directions. None of your business, said his expression. Rory could fill in the blanks. You don’t have the right to question me. This is above your pay grade. Out of your league. This is billionaire business.
And then it clicked.
“The billionaire bunker. Are you going to sell it to the consortium to power the bunker, and the other ones they want to build?”
Lincoln didn’t answer, but from his expression Rory knew he was on the right track.
“It’s the perfect way to power those bunkers.
I always wondered what the plan was if society really does break down and the power grid fails.
I figured it would be solar. But this is even better.
You want to make this technology available only to the upper one percent.
Or the zero point zero point zero point one percent, whatever it is. ”
“Look, I’m not the bad guy here. I’m going to lease it to the consortium in exchange for a place for my lab. I need to keep this tech safe. In the bunker, it’ll be protected from Tanaka and everyone else. After that, maybe I’ll find other uses for it.”
“Why don’t you try to mass produce it so it can benefit everyone?”
But before Lincoln could answer, he figured it out himself.
“Because you’d make too many enemies. This way, you don’t disrupt world markets. You get your money, your billionaire buddies get their safe haven, and the rest of us still have to pay our energy bills. Win-win-lose.”
“Look. What do you want from me, pilot Rory? Tanaka was trying to force me to sell the lab to him, is that what you want? You want to let the guys who beat us up win? I owe you, I’ll admit that.
You’ve saved my life a few times now. If you want a spot in the bunker, I’ll make it happen.
But we need to get a move on. So decide quick. ”
“If I say ‘no’?”
“Not a problem, as long as you keep all this to yourself. You signed an NDA, and that’s good enough for me.”
Rory heard an undercurrent of something in his voice. “But…?”
“But I’m not the only stakeholder,” Lincoln admitted. “And the others don’t owe you anything.”
“Who else?”
Crazy question, obviously, based on Lincoln’s flexing jaw. He’d probably give up his own life rather than give away that information. “All I can say is that if you’re smart, you’ll forget any of this ever happened.”
Rory weighed his options, which didn’t seem plentiful at this point. He could stick with Lincoln and help him deliver planet-transforming technology to a select few of the world’s wealthiest individuals, while snagging himself a spot in a luxury survival bunker.
Or he could cut ties now, while he had maximum leverage because Lincoln’s memories of being saved from the brink of death were still fresh. On the upside, Rory’s conscience would be relatively clear. On the downside, he’d have to keep a world-changing secret.
“What about you? Will you be living in the bunker?” he asked Lincoln.
“Hell no. I think the whole thing is ridiculous. I only bought in so I could keep my tech safe.”
“So your sister is suing because…”
This time Lincoln answered that question. “Because she thinks the family ought to take priority over my lab. You think I want to be locked underground with my half-sister and the rest of the Kerr family, who all despise me, by the way? Fuck that. So? Make a decision?”
The tension in Lincoln’s body language screamed at Rory to make up his mind. His boss had places to go, money to make, secrets to retrieve.
As for Rory, all he had right now was his gut instincts. He’d just have to trust them.
“Here’s what I can offer,” he finally said.
“I’ll stick with you until your security team arrives.
But then I’m done. I don’t want to leave this resort until I know Mathilda’s okay.
Instead of setting me up with a survival bunker, you let me walk away without paying back my signing bonus.
Saving your life a few times ought to be worth a million dollars, right? ”
Lincoln gave him a long stare, then nodded. “I can live with that. Now come on, help me call the team in Maui.”
Feeling a million pounds lighter, Rory joined him on the coral-lined path that led to the reception office. “Just curious, why do you need my help to call the team?”
“Because my phone is gone and I don’t know how to reach them. I don’t have their numbers.”
“My phone’s gone too.”
“You’ll figure it out. You’re very resourceful.” That grudging respect from Lincoln…Rory had to admit it meant a lot. “If you reconsider…”
“I won’t,” he said firmly. “Because you’re right. I am resourceful.” And from now on, he wanted to make sure his resourcefulness was in support of something he believed in.
Maybe meeting Mathilda had taught him that. Or maybe surviving everything that had happened since the crash had opened his eyes. Life was unpredictable. If the next crash took him out, he didn’t want it to happen while he was protecting a billionaire’s greedy hoarding.
It took a few phone calls to track down the chief of security waiting at the Maui Four Seasons for Lincoln’s call.
The entire time, Rory itched to get back to the Wheelers’ cottage.
He intended to warn them that they were about to be invaded by a team of security professionals who were going to take the place apart to find that crystal.
But what he really wanted—no, needed—was to see if Mathilda was feeling okay, and like herself again. Maybe she’d seemed normal to them, but not to him. He knew something wasn’t right with her.
As soon as Lincoln hung up the phone, Rory stuck out his hand. “We’re good?”
“We’re good.”
They shook on it, and Rory ran out of the office and across the courtyard back to the cottage.
The door stood open. He dashed through it, calling out, “Mathilda! Duncan! Anyone here?”
It was completely empty. Everyone had left. The only person there was a staffer who was busy packing up the suitcases the family had left behind. She was in her twenties, with a vibrant green-and-blue tattoo of a jungle scene that made him think of Mathilda.
Would everything make him think of Mathilda from now on?
“Excuse me, I’m a friend of these guests, can you tell me where they went?”
“They said I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, especially anyone who showed up in the next few minutes.” She zipped up an overnight bag filled with sundresses and swimsuits.
“I’ll make it worth your while.”
She stopped packing, waiting for whatever amazing offer was about to come her way. The problem was, Rory had absolutely nothing with him.
“That helicopter out there in the courtyard. It’s all yours.”
She burst out laughing. “You must be desperate.”
“I am. This is about…love. The woman I love. I’m worried for her. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
“Is she the blonde in the yellow dress?”
“Yes, that’s her.”
The staffer’s dark eyes turned sympathetic. “She didn’t look okay to me. They had to carry her out of here. Too much sun or too many cocktails.” She shook her head and went back to her task.
“So you don’t know where they went?”
“Maybe they took her somewhere to sleep it off.” She gave an indifferent shrug. “Tourists. It’s always something.”
He gave up on getting anything useful from her. He ran out of the cottage to see if he could catch up with the Wheelers. Five adults, one of them unconscious…it shouldn’t be too hard to spot them.
Unless they’d left in a boat, he realized, his heart sinking as he reached the part of the property that touched the shoreline.
The resort had its own little beach, with longboats loaded onto a rack, a collection of surfboards, and a boat launch.
A golden half-moon had risen, offering barely enough light to see.
A boat must have taken off from it pretty recently, because a line of bubbles floated on the still dark water. Philip goddamn Phelps. He must have been hanging out at the bar while the family bonded, or he’d left his speedboat for them.
He sat on the dock and let his feet dangle over the edge.
He needed a moment to think, to let everything that had happened catch up with him.
The Wheelers cared about Mathilda, obviously, so they were probably on their way to a hospital.
She was in good hands, surrounded by her family.
What could he do for her that they couldn’t, except possibly put her in more danger?
Lincoln’s people, or the people above Lincoln’s people, might be looking for Rory to question him about the crystal.
Tanaka and his crew might be looking for him; he had stolen their helicopter, after all.
The last thing he ought to do was draw attention to whatever hospital or doctor they’d taken Mathilda to.
A few moments later, a large speedboat zoomed past the breakwater and stopped at the boat launch in a rooster tail of water. A SWAT team, or something that looked like it, jumped out and ran down the dock.
Lincoln’s team, here to search for the crystal. Eight armed men in black tactical gear and night-vision goggles chasing after one two-inch tall bluish crystal.
He watched them go, relieved that it wasn’t his problem anymore, then lay back on the dock and stared up at the stars. Up there, in the jetstream and the air currents and the wind, that was where he belonged.
But for the first time in his life, the world at thirty thousand feet didn’t hold the same draw for him. He didn’t want to be up there. He wanted to be down here. With her.