Chapter 7
“He’s doing it all wrong.” Simon bit into his fist, glancing from the stage to Everett, who, like him, was waiting off to the side and following the presentation.
“We’ll hire a better presenter next time.”
“Next time? There won’t be a next time if this half-drunk bozo ruins our reputation.” Simon clenched his teeth, bounced on his feet as he deliberated, then rushed onto the stage.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Fowler has to go now.” He gave the presenter a tight-lipped smile and nudged him away from the mic. “I’m, uh …” The massive, hushed crowd behind the blinding lights shot up his heart rate and knotted his stomach.
Maybe he hadn’t thought this through.
He forced a smile. “I’m Simon Montague, the CEO. Barged in to give you some extra details, so you don’t say we directors do nothing.”
He paused, his heart beating close to his Adam’s apple.
And then a couple of people in the crowd laughed. And a few more.
Simon relaxed his hands, the smile turning genuine. “Let’s get down to business, then. The 10B model doesn’t have an ultra-wide camera—yet. That’s just something we told you to test your wits …”
As he went on, he spared a glance at Everett, who gave him a double thumbs-up. He must’ve been doing well.
And in the back of his mind, a little worry began to form—did that mean he’d have to keep doing presentations from now on?
***
After one hour at the airport, Simon was severely regretting not being able to travel in his private plane.
He’d finally gotten through the snail-like line at the security check.
He waited, with bated breath, for the second after he’d stepped through the metal detector and before the TSA agent gave him a nod to move on, as if he’d expected a hitch—for the security to say, “Hold on, we detect a mismatch between your body and soul. Have you been out of it recently?”
But no such silly thing had happened, and now he stood by the few seats at the end of the security check area, waiting for Shanna and Chris to get through.
Simon wasn’t looking forward to a journey with his almost-assassin, but ultimately, they’d agreed it was the least bad option.
He didn’t want to let Chris go back to San Francisco without supervision, in case the man who’d hired her found her again and got more info about Simon out of her.
He didn’t want to leave her with Dolores for the same reason—and he’d never want Shanna’s grandmother to be in danger because of him.
In fact, he didn’t want to leave Chris alone anywhere, in case she slipped through the cracks and left Simon without a lead.
And finally, there was the simple matter of efficiency.
He needed to get this bond broken, but he also needed Chris’s help to find the man who had it out for him.
So he might as well do the latter while he was accomplishing the former.
Chris was currently T-posing as the TSA agent patted down her black hoodie, opened to reveal a graphic tee of skulls and roses underneath, and carefully proceeded down her tights, torn at the knees.
The girl’s look was that of utter boredom.
“See, told you it was the piercings,” she said as he let her go.
But Shanna was another story. Her hand luggage had been stopped and redirected to another lane to be checked. She stood by the security agent unpacking her bag, smiling as if she had nothing to hide.
At least Simon hoped she had nothing to hide.
The agent started pulling out objects, all carefully wrapped in patterned scarfs.
A ten-inch stick made of glass or crystal.
A box with small wooden plates Simon thought were dominoes at first, but they had strange markings on them.
A small silver chalice with those same strange markings engraved along the border. And a … tiny black cauldron?
The officer held up the wand and said something to Shanna, his expression grim. Oh, shit. Simon headed toward them, preparing words for negotiation. Surely the officer could see Shanna wasn’t about to use the stick to stab the pilot, right?
Shanna laughed and touched the officer’s shoulder, and his expression cleared into a smile. He nodded, and Shanna waved her hands animatedly.
Simon stopped.
“I like bay leaves for protection, but Gran swears by acorns,” she said. “Of course, that’s the Wiccan way. I consider myself more of an eclectic.”
What in the operating system glitch was going on?
“And I’d need one of these?” The officer waved the stick.
“Unless you’re uncomfortable using it. How does it feel?”
“Fine, I suppose.”
“Then you can try.” Shanna beamed at him. “The most important thing is feeling comfortable. If using a wand feels awkward, don’t do it; rather, use your hands to draw connections on the grid.”
Simon cleared his throat, and the other two looked at him.
“Hi.” He raised a hand to greet the officer. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh, Simon.” Shanna’s smile extended to him. “This is Tarik. He’s learning to be a witch, so I gave him some advice.”
Tarik also smiled at Simon. “Your girlfriend is pretty cool.”
“She’s not …” Simon shook his head—what did it matter, anyway? “Are we free to go?”
“All good.” Tarik winked at Shanna and carefully packed all the stuff back into her bag. “And hey,” he called after them as they walked away, “don’t forget to send me the address of that Wiccan shop you mentioned!”
In the waiting area, Simon settled on a seat in the row overlooking the runway.
Chris sat at the end of the same row, drew her knees up, and stared at the airplanes parked on the tarmac.
On the other side, Shanna had chatted up a group of passengers, her cheerful voice drifting over to Simon as he pulled out the new phone he’d bought.
“Oh, Hawaii! I’ve never been,” Shanna was saying.
“Feels strange to go much further away before I’ve gone to closer places.
” The other person said something, and Shanna laughed.
“You painted it yourself? That’s so cool.
The best part about owning a surfboard, I’d argue.
A little bit, yeah. And some knitting, crochet, macramé … this one I did myself …”
Letting her voice slip into the background, Simon focused on the task at hand: finding out everything he could about what was happening at Aries by scouring the internet.
He didn’t know if that would help him make sense of either his supposed death or the assassination plot, but currently, there was nothing more to be done.
Someone must be spying on one of his employees, which is how they heard Simon was still alive and, unlike everyone else, didn’t believe it was a prank.
That meant it was better for him not to contact anyone at Aries.
Like Shanna had said, he had to disappear.
He withdrew as much cash as he could from a line of ATMs on the way here.
Using his credit card in New Zealand would be a risk, and due to his death conundrum, it might get canceled any day now.
He didn’t mind leaving a trail to San Francisco.
If another assassin was sent after him, that would draw them away from Gran Dolores, and the Bay Area was big enough they could go around chasing ghosts and false leads until Simon returned, hopefully with answers.
“Aww, he’s so cute,” Shanna exclaimed. “I have a golden retriever. Jinx. He’s staying with my grandma while we’re traveling.”
Articles. Nothing special, as he scrolled. Aries stock is up. Aries unveils the Ariose 15 Series. Aries CEO going to the Moon …
“Excuse me? No, I’m not,” Simon said at the phone. The article was several months old. Must have been him again. Raleigh. Well, when Simon came back, he’d let everyone know he was not going to the Moon.
Aries amidst stealing scandal.
Simon stopped scrolling.
This one was only two weeks old. Simon gulped as he rapidly scrolled through the article, soaking in the keywords. Making a contract with some scientist, rumors Aries wanted to steal her software …
“No, no, no.” He leaned forward, drawing the phone closer. Why didn’t they explain—there, another article on the topic. Fresh, only from yesterday.
Dean Everett, CFO of Aries Tech, explains the recent allegations.
“No member of the current management had anything to do with this. I’d ask you to be patient with us during this tough time of losing Mr. Montague, and I assure you, we will provide all answers and proof that Aries was not trying to cheat anyone out of their payment or property.
I’m calling a press conference for next Monday, where I’ll give you a full rundown and address your concerns … ”
“Leona, set a reminder for a week from now,” Simon said into the phone.
“Reminder set,” the smooth, even voice of his digital assistant replied.
“Hey.” Shanna stood a few feet away, inspecting him with a slight tilt of her head. “Everything okay?”
He almost wanted to tell her. Pour out his worries—that something was going awfully wrong at Aries, and he couldn’t be there to help.
To set it all right. To tell everyone he would never do something as vile as steal other people’s products.
At least he still had Everett, who was clearly trying his best to control the chaos.
And as for Shanna … Simon already knew no one would ever care about his company as much as he did. So there was no use in confiding.
“Everything is fine,” he said. As she moved closer, he stopped her with an “Uh-uh!” and turned off the phone. “Just in case of your … you know.”
She sat down. “I’ll try my best not to destroy all of your tech.”
“Met someone you know?” He nodded toward the passengers she’d been talking with.
“Oh, no. New friends. Old ones wouldn’t have remembered me, anyway.” Her voice was light, as if she were used to the process. “Lovely people, though.”
“And Tarik?”
“He was nice, too. Mentally, I think he needs to relax more before he attempts spells, but I can see why he’d be high-strung all the time. His job doesn’t particularly allow for relaxation.”